King of Kings ::: The Crown Project :: Part 1: Making the Crown

29Aug10

i’m not going to talk a lot. just make you look at pictures. ok, maybe a little back story.

so i went to school with some amazingly talented people who are now members of SSION, the best thing in KC (now that my grandma moved to KY). SSION was to have a show at a gallery in nyc, of course i would go, and i would come bearing gifts! there was to be a closing performance which coincided with fashion week, which meant i could kill many birds with one stone as well as hug my friends! this was to be sept 11, but alas, it was not to happen, nor would i get to see my darling nano. “Go to the opening,” she said, one week before that date, the same day i had a dentist appointment, the day after my doctor’s appointment, the very day my things were supposed to be finally finished at the casters (they had all my originals!) EPIC DRAMA – if i could even manage to get there, what could i make in a week from only wire and sheet metal that clearly expressed my love and devotion to my darling cody?

it turns out i made this:

sorry for the crappy iPhoto image manipulation, but i only got so much time in the day

more on the process:

i tested the design and scale by using paper first.

this big piece of 24 gauge brass sheet has to be cut down. it's too floppy to saw well, but scissors or shears cause it to warp. it needs to be flat so i can laminate the sheets together...

annealing sheet metal to flatten for laminating; the dark spots are shellac. that was a messy mistake. removal: rubbing alcohol, soak, scrub.

i laminated them together with double sticky tape, stuck my drawing of very tightly packed leaves on top, and sawed for like, a day and a half.

once it's cut, i have 4 of them, just that they're all stuck together!

most i cut all the way with the saw blade, but a couple needed finishing with the dremel (this one at the corners). i use a diamond cut off wheel. i'm happy with it.

look at all that brass dust! this is why under my fingernails is green. i am so gross!!

after burning off the tape and paper to separate the leaves (which got crazy hot madness and burned off all the zinc leaving them coppery pink) they go for a soak in the pickle

after the pickle, rinse, dry, i had to sort them all by size, then lay out the design. i used the extras to make a bracelet

guessing at the amount of space/wire to leave. half of them broke anyway, but the ones that didn't, this actually worked out ok, i think a little bigger next time.

wires to be soldered to the leaves have to be flat - perfectly flat - or there won't be enough surface contact for the solder to flow and bond. TEDIUM!

i am in love with paste solder. firstly, it comes in a syringe, which is neat. secondly, it stays put. thirdly, i can friggin see it. fourthly, i don't have to touch it. love love love. ps it looks like fish poop.

ok, soldering done, now into the tumbler.

afterburn on soldering board from leaves and stem wires

oh poo! it's a tangly mess. they needed to be work hardened, but in retrospect, everything that happened next would have worked just as well.

these leaves broke in the tumbler, they need to have new wires attached. sigh.

the tumbler ate a few, leaving stubs of wire that had to be ground off so that i could attach new wires. this was massively unfortunate. i think we'll skip the tumbler next time, as the leaves didn't end up shiny anyhow.

branch #1 - all leaves attached, still too much play and movement. i had to add some wire between the stems to get the spacing right, which kind of hurt. for branch 2, i added the wire spacing as i went. this was much less painful. why do i make such sharp things?

time to solder these babies down. hammering the stem flat afterwards helped remove some of the play, but not enough.

now is the time for two to become one

soldering all the wires to the branch got hot. real hot

i really really love the firescale, but its messy and doesn't tarnish well. preserving this look is a project for another day.

after the first pickle, the brass is completely copper from all the heat. it's almost impossible to avoid since the hard solder has to get hot enough, which is hot enough to burn off the zinc.

the crystalline structure of brass after hydrogen peroxide pickle! this texture is not desired. and still some copper!! aagh! when can i afford to work in gold please?

scrubbing away at the remaining copper, solder, and pickle. this joint didn't hold either, had to resolder it (yes, after all this!!! more heat!!!)

not bad, but the peroxide left a bit of sludge on the branches and it took a long time of stiff brass brushing to get here, still with the funky texture

this dremel wheel leaves a ground texture, many tiny lines, that when i put on the protective wax, dulled a bit. there are so many grooves it should tarnish interestingly.

leaves ground down to shiny brass using dremel diamond cut off wheel. this took ages, but the resulting texture was fantastically soft.

proportion, weight, and fit are all working out. time to add the bands.

the moment i realised, hey, this is actually going to work!

bound with steel wire for soldering. they just kept coming apart, and you had to do it all at once... finally got it though!

there was a hole, so i filled it. this worked pretty well, except for when the wires melted around the steel wire, trapping it. that was fun.

one last go, bound and stuffed, this crown is ready for it's final solder (fingers crossed

the head takes a rest in the box i made to store the crown. it took a bit to cut through. should have used a bigger knife!

i don't need the whole head, so i have to cut it off. this was gruesome only in theory. ps styrofoam does not cut like butter.

in between these two images, there was another 24 hours of sanding, grinding, polishing, waxing, cursing, and a little marine gluing. none of it was photo worthy, nor was there time. but it was all worth it:

3/4

profile

a tiny Kk and 10 on the inside of the leaf. i have a maker's mark!

it's so very graphic. and just a tad off kilter

is this jewelry anymore? no.

the wire that touched the head is plain, so you hold that from the front, and hold the bound joint in the back, and gently set it on your head. it stays put on it's own. i got lucky with that.

frontal view. i thought my face was distracting. this is perhaps not a good solution.

right

left

this is the back of the crown

i made this nice box and lined it with anti-tarnish tissue to help the crown age with grace. i left it at the hole though. hope it's still there when i bring the crown back!!!

ithe perfect size box, covered in white duct tape, a big brass safety pin to keep it shut. added a tassle too, of course.

then, the crown hit the streets of nyc… stay tuned, unless this crashed your browser!!!

Filed under: headgear, metalsmithing   |  1 Comment