jcornell Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 The Russian Rose is truly a clever blacksmith project. One of my first instructors made one, but I never understood his explanation of how it was made (I had to wait for this forum for that). The problem with the Russian Rose is that while it looks just fine looking down from the top, from the side and from the bottom it looks goofy (and very un-rose-like). What it's missing is the bottom part of the rose, the leaves that cover the rosebud before it opens. The technical name for this part is the sepal. I've cobbled together a way to craft a sepal. I use thin gauge sheet aluminum (something I have lots of) which in my case comes from the lids of cat food cans. I mark out a circle on the can and then give the circle five spikes. I've tried four, five and six and five seems to be the happy medium. I then cut out the shape. Taking a needle-nose pliers, I align the pliers on the right side of one of the spikes, making sure that the tips of the pliers are in the center of the circle and make a clockwise twist. Once the twist has curled up enough metal, I crimp it. I then move to the opposite side of the circle and repeat the process on the spike opposite the first crimp. This is repeated for each of the spikes. This crimping turns the flat circle into a cone shape. Using a nail (or other spike) I make a hole in the tip of the cone sufficient to slip over the stem of the Russian Rose and slide it into place. Finally, using the needle nose pliers, I turn back the spikes so they are pointing towards the stem. The sepal can be crimped in place, brazed, soldered, or if you're impatient. glued in place using JB Weld. In the words of one of the threads here, the Russian Rose is blacksmithing, but this sepal is fabrication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
781 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Thanks for sharing. I made a lot of one piece roses and agree it needed a bottom of the flower. I ussually hide the bottom by making a boque and butting them in a vase' I will try your technique Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Thats a good idea, I have made many russian roses, and like you said the bottom always looks goofy. I did something very simialr to your idea. But i used some 20ga sheet metal. Im very picky about what the end product looks like, so thats why i used the sheet metal, so the color would be the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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