Here is what I created on my second attempt at chasing/repoussé. As you can see, I’ve definitely got a LOT of practice ahead of me, but I didn’t want to post my first try until I had worked my second (just to make sure that the first try wasn’t a fluke, and that there still might be signs of something decent down the road).
I chose another copper flower partly because Kathy wanted another one for one of her scrapbook albums, but also because they can bring a lot of various skills together in one piece (straight and curved lines, circles, etc.), *AND* they’re organic in form so mistakes are a little more forgiving!
Since Kathy had an ink stamp of a flower that she likes a lot, and it is about the size I was wanting to work (not as small as the first, but still fitting within a 3″ square of copper sheet), I had her stamp the design on the copper and got to playing.
What I discovered (besides needing LOTS more practice as mentioned) is that I now have 9 more punches (and counting) to make. If I had them on-hand, I certainly would have used them, but I worked with what I had since I didn’t want to stop long enough to make them!
I’m currently up to 20 punches (liners, embossers and planishers) I’ve made so far, and can very easily see that a “basic” set of punches will barely get you by, at least from what I am finding out in my extremely limited experience. And, that’s not even counting texture punches (I still only have one of those, so have a score of them to make, too!).
So, if you don’t make your own punches and choose to buy them, you would without a doubt benefit from buying one of the larger “sets” that are offered (or combine a couple smaller differing sets), as if you find yourself becoming as enamored with this craft as I seem to be, one of those smaller sets certainly won’t get you very far!
Every time I revisit Saign Charlestein’s website (SC Studios LLC, metalsmithing-tools.com) to look at his punches (see my post Chasing/Repoussé: First Try to see why), I can’t help but drool over his selection of forged chasing hammers he has to offer while I’m there. There is no way I could give them credence here, so you’ll just have to drop by his web site and see for yourself!
Yes, I already have a couple nice chasing hammers, and with slightly domed faces they are excellent for much of the lighter forging and general forming work I use them for, but for the same reason I use a flat-faced hammer when stamping, a domed face striking a punch or stamp can be more “off point” than “on point” much of the time (at least for me), especially when my focus is on the working end of the punch or stamp (where it should be), and not the striking end.
I find this especially affects my own chasing/repoussé as the punches and/or the metal surface I’m working on is often at various angles that constantly change (adding to the complexity of the domed surface of the hammer meeting the punch’s striking-end squarely), but am diligently working on improving my accuracy. The hammer I use for stamping is way too heavy for chasing/repoussé, so I might pick up an inexpensive chasing hammer with a flat face perhaps if my diligence doesn’t pay off.
The hammers Saign makes though, with hand-forged heads and hand-formed Osage orange handles (with the flex a chasing hammer really should have when used for chasing/repoussé), truly appear to be the “masterpiece of a tool” he describes them to be (besides just being so awesomely beautiful pieces of art unto themselves). Perhaps one of these days, when I have increased my skill in chasing/repoussé a thousand-fold or two, and my silver craft becomes more than the hobby it currently is, maybe I’ll find one under the tree some day (in case Santa’s reading this). 😉
Even though there is some work on this flower that I like, and a lot that I need tons more practice on, I do indeed see some of my silver work in the future using chasing/repoussé! As a matter of fact, Kathy has a paper die of a small cross that has little fleur-de-lis symbols on each of the upper three ends and will surely give it a try sometime, but think I may need to make smaller versions of some of the punches I have before I do!
And here is a shot of the back side…
I learned a few more things this time around…
* Although I’m getting better at lightening my thumb pressure on the punches, I still have moments where I catch myself pinching it too hard. My left thumb still has a bit of numbness in the tip, but it’s slowly going away.
* I need to ALWAYS look at my punch tip before I start hammering! I have caught myself more than a few times either: a.) Picking up a punch I had set down and start using the wrong end, or b.) Using the wrong punch by mistake (my 1/8″ teardrop planisher instead of the 1/8″ round planisher for example). Either of these errors can easily leave behind blemishes or marks that were not wanted and have to be cleaned up.
* I will likely be kept quite busy between chasing/repoussé projects and making punches that I keep finding a need for (which is cool… I have tool steel on hand and enjoy making them!).