Enter The Dragon

[Moon Willow]

What a stunning piece of craftsmanship. I love unexpected textures, esp that which I get from a hammer my OH's Grandfather bought sometime b/n 1910-1920. Using letters is a great idea, so thanks for the tip!


Mel

You're welcome Mel, you'd be surprised when you look around how many objects you can use for texturing

Carlton

[Nick martin]

Really nice design there, looks fantastic!

Nick

[Moon Willow]

Thanks Nick .... Carlton

[Vanessa]

What a beautiful cuff. Stunning!

[Petal]

That's drop dead gorgeous! Love the texture and the mix of copper and silver. Oh and the shine is just fabuulous.

[Moon Willow]

Thanks Vanessa and Jules for your kind words

Carlton

[metalsmith]

I don't order too many at any one time because I find the longer you keep them the more
brittle they become!
Carlton

But of course, being metal, they are micro-crystalline: perhaps we should be annealing our saw blades to increase longevity

Great dragon btw!! How will you preserve the high degree of polish you've achieved? I struggle when it comes to copper

[Moon Willow]

"Metalsmith" Annealing saw blades, that's interesting, have you tried it ? What will happen to them ?

Copper is a nightmare to keep sparkly, come to think about it most metals are, I purchased this wonder stuff a few years
back and I haven't really used it until I did the dragon cuff.......very expensive but it seems to work, just paint it on and leave to dry.

The cuff has been lying around for a month on my sideboard and it's still bright, below is a pic of the box.

[Dennis]

Yes, Protectaclear comes up on the forum from time to time and is probably the coating of choice. However I am too mean to buy it as I don't do copper or brass often enough.

As for annealing saw blades, if you have bought a batch of blades and they keep breaking, you can make them more usable, by a quick flick with the mini-torch while in the frame, but not highly tensioned and then air cooling.

For silver, there is hardly any difference in sharpness or longevity, but they don't snap so much.

[Moon Willow]

Yes, Protectaclear comes up on the forum from time to time and is probably the coating of choice. However I am too mean to buy it as I don't do copper or brass often enough.

As for annealing saw blades, if you have bought a batch of blades and they keep breaking, you can make them more usable, by a quick flick with the mini-torch while in the frame, but not highly tensioned and then air cooling.

For silver, there is hardly any difference in sharpness or longevity, but they don't snap so much.

Yes Dennis

Same here, that's the first time I've put the 2 metals together and it's not going to be a regular practice,
polishing copper or brass is a nightmare.......way too much grain in the metal.

This expensive bottle of nectar will last me a lifetime.

Carlton