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Description
Finally back on the horse- schoolwork and regular work kept me too busy recently. So! 1/4"rod, about 5" long. Upset the ends, heat then beat the rod so there's a bit of a flat surface on either side but it's still mostly round. Heat, twist, repeat. I left it on the rod as long as I could, since that made gripping and turning easier- you can cut and upset the end nearer to the end of the process, which gives you more material to work with. Once you've got a straight, twisted piece, you heat it up again and use a wooden mallet and the horn (or a thick, round piece of wood) to curve it. Making a circle's harder than it looks- metal, believe it or not, isn't inclined to line up with the platonic solids. You use a wood hammer instead of a metal one so you don't bash the pattern out, see.

The pin is basically the same as a nail with a scrolled end; rod squared, then drawn and pointed. When I got the length and thickness I wanted I rounded it up again, chopped it off the rod, flattened the blunt/cut end and then scrolled it. You can get about half your scroll done before you need to put the ring into it. The ring will jump a lot, by the way, unless you've got something holding it back- I hung it around a hold-down (not press under, just hanging freely around the rod) and that seemed to work all right.

I'm quite satisfied with this. I realize it could be a lot prettier, but it challenged me at my current skill level and I still got everything done okay. My sister (who may well be biased) immediately asked me to make her a bracelet when she saw it, so I'll take it that it looks all right, though I want to see what others have to say about it before I make any conclusions.

Description
Finally back on the horse- schoolwork and regular work kept me too busy recently. So! 1/4"rod, about 5" long. Upset the ends, heat then beat the rod so there's a bit of a flat surface on either side but it's still mostly round. Heat, twist, repeat. I left it on the rod as long as I could, since that made gripping and turning easier- you can cut and upset the end nearer to the end of the process, which gives you more material to work with. Once you've got a straight, twisted piece, you heat it up again and use a wooden mallet and the horn (or a thick, round piece of wood) to curve it. Making a circle's harder than it looks- metal, believe it or not, isn't inclined to line up with the platonic solids. You use a wood hammer instead of a metal one so you don't bash the pattern out, see.

The pin is basically the same as a nail with a scrolled end; rod squared, then drawn and pointed. When I got the length and thickness I wanted I rounded it up again, chopped it off the rod, flattened the blunt/cut end and then scrolled it. You can get about half your scroll done before you need to put the ring into it. The ring will jump a lot, by the way, unless you've got something holding it back- I hung it around a hold-down (not press under, just hanging freely around the rod) and that seemed to work all right.

I'm quite satisfied with this. I realize it could be a lot prettier, but it challenged me at my current skill level and I still got everything done okay. My sister (who may well be biased) immediately asked me to make her a bracelet when she saw it, so I'll take it that it looks all right, though I want to see what others have to say about it before I make any conclusions.