roses?

[junker]

So my mother's birthday is really soon and I want to make her a mini-rose and bend the stem around to make a ring... so what is the easiest rose to make (doesn't need a whole lot of detail, going to be small)?

[Drako11]

Well there is a tutorial on Anvilfire.com on how to make roses. You could try shrinking that down, but I think it might be to complicated to shrink.

Just throwing out an idea here: If you had two real small chisels you could form the end of the stock into a small ball then start cutting downward a little from the outside in with a sharp chisel. (Not cutting off pieces, just sort of "dicing" the end) Then take the other small chisel, a dull one, and use it to shape the "diced" end into petals.

OR if you don't want to go to those extremes, just form a ball like before and use a small chisel to "draw" petals on the ball instead of cutting and shaping.

Not sure if any of these will work, but just trying to help with what little experience I have! : )

[Mark_C]

take 1/8" round, hammer about 3-4" of the end down to a flat ribbon. forge shallow divets into one edge of the ribbon, about 1/4 the ribbon thickness, at 3/8 or 1/2" intervals using a hot cut, or if you don't have a hot cut, use a wide chisel locked upside-down in a vice. divets will be the edges of each petal.

Now that you've got the divets forged, further flatten and draw out each petal, then dress the tips of each petal down to being nice and thin, I like using a ball pein for this. keep the ball pein handy and swedge the lower portion of the petal-end of the ribbon, so the rose bud will curve under at the bottom.

Now take the 3-4" where you forged the petals, and bend it 90 degrees from the rest of the stock. Now simply heat and roll the ribbon into a rosebud. Curl the petals outward, to taste, with scroll tongs.

the remaining stock is normally the stem, and is forged to your taste prior to curling the bud. You should forge to whatever your ring plans are before forging the petals.

Actually....... I think I learned this FROM anvilfire . . .

I've never done one that small, but you better believe I am going to now! My girl would love a rose ring . . . good idea. lol

[junker]

i was wanting to make the leaves out of some 1/4in copper wire i have... and the stem/ringloop out of steel so it'll last... actually i was thinking about using a stainless bolt for the stem, though this'd give it a nice contrast and make it less maintenince for her:D

[CTBlacksmith]

You could make a copper rose with a steel or brass stem. you could even use copper for the stem if you want. to make the rose you just cut out six to eight petals. the "petals" are shaped like a figure eight but no holes in them. each "petal" then forms two petals. you drill a small hole in each petal directly in the center where the stem would go. to shape the petals i use the cross pein of a small hammer to spread out the ends. once all of your petals are formed you can make the stem. if you wanted to make a ring you could use a piece of nickel silver wire flattened out enough to form the ring. then you would leave enough wire above that so that when you stack the petals on the wire you have about an eight of an inch above them to form a rivet head. before you place the petals on the wire you want to draw it out and taper it. this will let the petals slide down onto the stem but it will keep them from going past a certain point. once the ring is formed and your petals are made you can stack them on. whenever i make one i put each petal on top of the previous one with the edges of the petal just touching. looking down on them it looks like they are in a spiral. form a rivet head on the stem once all of your petals are on. then take a chasing tool or even a center punch and lightly tap it over the rivet head so it looks like the center of a flower. bend all of the petals up and then take needle nose pliers and curl the very edges of them back down. now if you really want to make it special you could add a piece of felt onto the center of the flower and put a few drops of rose scent on it so it would smell like a rose. sorry it took so long to explain it but once they are done they look great.

[CTBlacksmith]

i think that there is a video on youtube of a blacksmith doing what i just describen but using a nail instead of wire. i will have to find that

[CTBlacksmith]

here is the link to the video for the copper roses. it should be pretty easy to modify one to make a ring. Or you could go for a bracelet and have the band look like a stem and with leaves that wraps around the wrist.
YouTube - Museum of America: Blacksmith pt 2 Making a Copper Rose

[junker]

ok, so that looks really cool... i would deffinently have to shrink down everything, but that is deffinently a good way tp do it.

[Mark_C]

oh yeah, nice video and nice rose