I've always loved riveted jewelry, that industrial, contemporary kind of look. Last fall, we purchased a small hand-held riveting machine from Metal Clay Findings as it promised to make the riveting process easy.
Angie tried it out before our November show and made some very playful copper reverse dome earrings with rivets as decorative elements.
One of the goals I set for myself this year is to create more riveted jewelry. So last week, I decided to play with some brass and copper strips and to finally try out the riveting machine.
First, I started by taking a 1/2 inch wide piece of copper strip and textured it with a texturing hammer.
Then, I got out some metal punches and made designs on a 1/4 inch wide brass strip.
I measured the length of strip I wanted with a Sharpie and cut the strips with some metal shears.
Now it was time to rivet the two pieces together. The riveting machine has an attachment on one side that makes a perfect rivet-sized hole and the attachment on the other side beautifully bends down the rivet to hold it in place. Although it felt a little awkward on the first try especially because the earrings were so small, the process itself was very simple.
Now that the rivet was in place it was time to put Baldwin's patina on the metals to age them and to highlight the textures.
The last step was to drill a hole in the top of the brass center to attach an earring wire.
Voilà! My first pair of riveted copper and brass earrings. I decided to put them on a long pair of sterling silver earring wires.
I really enjoyed the process of making these earrings and it was fun to change from working with metal clay to working with metal sheet-and I love the riveting tool! I have a feeling there just may be some more riveting afternoons in the future!