How to Make a Textured Cuff from a Plain Blank or Sheet Metal

Wide Hammered Brass Cuff Bracelet

I made this pretty pounded cuff bracelet from a very plain wide cuff blank and just a hammer, steel block, pliers and with the metal bits and pieces laying around my bead board.

You could make one using your own design of course by using a piece of sheet metal you cut yourself or a metal cuff blank made flat.

I like raw brass or copper because these take a patina but you can use any metal and experiment.

First take cuff blank and flatten it a little by bending it.   Don't flatten using a hammer because you are going to make it cuff shaped again. 

You are going to lay your metal cuff blank on top of your steel block and put pieces of metal between your blank and the block.  These have to be reasonably flat or they will slide around when you start hammering.  You don't want them to slide because you want nice print in the metal and not a distorted one. 

Very Wide Textured Brass Cuff

I used several flat brass heshi beads, washers, and 12 gauge brass wire twisted into the shapes I wanted.  You place your little metal objects one piece at a time under the bracelet blank on the side that will face outward when you finally bend it back into a bracelet, and hold the blank firm and still while you hammer directly on top of your little metal thing. 

You want to hit hard enough to see a dent make a raised form on the place you are hitting the hammer.  That's how you know you hit hard enough.  Move your pieces around and check your impressions as you go so you can see what you like.  Experiment with very hard hits and some softer ones.  You can use pennies and other small coins.  Hardware like little flat nuts or the heads snipped from screws would look good too.  Don't use anything that will shatter.  Don't use rocks, glass or gemstones.  Use protective eye wear and keep your fingers away from the sharp edges of your sheet metal.

Don't try too hard to make a definite design.  Plan you design with flexibility because since you are doing this by hand the pieces slip a little sometimes and the dents are not perfect.  My design looks a little like curling vines and I am sure my next cuff will look very different.

When you are finished with your design turn the blank over and add dents, shapes or texture  by hitting it directly on the good side.  You could add scratches with a nail or your dremel tool if you want. 

Wide Brass Cuff

 Finish the bracelet by bending it back into a cuff again with your hands.  I like to bend the edges on mine with a pair of pliers but you leave yours flat or use what ever method you want to finish the edges.  I pound the edges to thicken them and also to work harden the shape of the cuff.

The edges on my cuff are pounded hundreds of times so they are thicker than when I first started and smoothed with my dremel tool. They don't have that cut feeling.  The cuff is held on the bottom edge on the block while you hit the top edge.  I shape the cuff with my hand and set it on my block in the "c" shape and pound the edges.  This is very very noisy!  It takes a long time and my edges would be thinker a little more if I would have done this longer. 

A lot of work went into this bracelet as well as punishment to the family and neighbors with the pounding noise.
Finally I removed any sharpness with my dremel tool and felt around the edges for any places that might snag. I applied a light patina with liver of sulfur and it was so vivid with color I decided to leave it that way. It's sealed with Renaissance Wax on the inside and out.

This cuff is very wide at 3" and will fit up to a 7" wrist.   I can make a thinner one by special request.

Let Your Creative Juices Flow!

I've been really stuck. My kitchen table slash bench looks like a tornado hit it.

I tried my usual method of touching and feeling my beads, filigrees, stampings and making little piles and moving things around on my bead board.

When you get stuck or blocked or your creative juice gets clogged, sometimes you just need to let go.

Yup, let go! Stop it! Lay it down! Drop it! I said drop it!

Did you drop it?

Now get on with the rest of your life outside your craft world. (That sounds mean.)

Your creative juices just won't flow if you are stuck and you try to force them.

I'm not telling you to give up crafts. I'm just telling you to lay it down. Let go with your vise grip, your choke hold, so you can let yourself live and enjoy yourself and get out of the slump.

Go do something. Go for a walk. Get some fresh air to that brain. Do something nice for a family member. Call your grandmother.

Refuse to even think about the artwork for a while. Don't even look at your stash.

I know this sounds silly but inspiration can come when you least expect it if you let go.

Mine came suddenly while I was in the kitchen making dinner for my family!




My refrigerator is covered with magnets and this one happened to catch my eye from a trip to California.

I got it! I'm inspired by a refrigerator magnet! Mission San Juan Capistrano!

A flood of images comes to mind and the cobwebs are gone!

Beautiful Mission San Juan Capistrano!

Cabbage sized roses, fushia bougainvillea and swallows fill my mind!

Bees buzz and the sun heats my face.

The swallows, high upon the walls, flit back and forth from their nests catching bugs in the garden.

What Divine perfume!

When I sleep, colors fill my room! I know what I'm going to do!

I have all these beautiful brass stampings of swallows and flowers and even a cross with a pretty floral design that I had bought from Jill's store Brass Bouquet.

I joined my pretty brass findings with jump rings and pretty chain Jill calls Ariel and finished it with a small lobster clasp.

I called my pretty necklace Mission San Juan Capistrano!

Make a Pendant From a Briolette

Make a Pendant From a Briolette Experiment with Hammering for Different Effects

I made this pendant with a beautiful big deep ruby red faceted glass briolette but this is just an idea. You pick your own briolette and metals and beads to use. My briolette measures 25mm long and 18mm in diameter.

A bright 5mm dimpled brass bead accents this pendant and pretty filigree bead caps. The accent bead you use will need to have a hole large enough to accommodate 20 gauge wire doubled. The bead caps can't be so big that they stick out past the edges of the briolette. When you bend the wire up they need to lay flat and fit snug. Experiment.

To Create this lovely Deep Red Faceted Glass Briolette Pendant I used 20 gauge wire because this briolette is heavy. You decide what you need. I threaded the side drilled holes with the wire and took the ends of the wire and added vintage style filigree bead caps and made sure they laid flat against the briolette. I then brought the wire ends up through a 5mm dimpled shiny brass bead. The doubled brass wire was made into a sturdy double loop with about a 3mm opening. Tip - When you wrap a double loop try to keep the wires side by side when you make the loops and wraps. Stick the point of the round pliars through the loop to shape it and align the loops. If you carefully lay your wrapped loops on a metal block you can hammer the wraps and the loops to make a faceted look or just leave it plain. Be careful to not hit your accent bead. Twisted wire would look very nice, too.

The pendant hangs from a Hammered Brass 10mm Jump Ring. I took a link from a big 10mm round chain and hammered it to make my jump ring. Hammering really changes the look of jump rings and chain links. Make sure they keep their shape when you hammer them so the ends meet properly. You might have to bend and align.

Create a Beautiful Cagework Brooch

This brooch is made with Brass Bouquet's drilled Petuna Filigree, A flat brass filigree, A Big 12mm Copper flower Bead cap, A copper pronged brooch back, 20 guage brass headpin, and a brass bead cap. The cobalt bead is my last one and is over 20 years old. I was in my 20's when I found it in an old man's sewing box when he gave me various buttons and things as a gift.
I joined the main pieces together with the 20 guage headpin and wrapped it very tight in the back. I did a wire wrapped loop in the back and flattened it after I made sure the ensamble was tight. Then placed the flat filigree on the brooch back, then the Petuna filigree (which I bent a little because of the little hump on the back from the headpin loop). I bent the prongs and pinched with flat pliers. :)
Thank you Jill for your wonderful inspiring pieces of filigree!
Kathy Noda - Bajuna Jewelry and Custom Beaded Creations

Take Your Time

Research and take your time. You are selling a one of a kind piece of art! Not just a piece of jewelry. Do your homework. What do people like? They like class. They like to make a statement about themselves. They like to show style. They have class. Present yourself as being in the buyers' shoes. Would you buy that? For that much? Is this a good investment? Will it be timeless and be fashionable in years to come? Does it look like it was mass produced or an individual work of art?
This set is called "For the Love of Turquoise" . It won the Brass Bouquet May 08 Jewelry contest! - Thank You Brass Bouquet! http://www.brassbouquet.blogspot.com/ http://stores.brassbouquet.com