hey guys. i need ideas/ pictures to go with said ideas of things that i can make my girlfriend for valentines day. they need to be simple because i have limited forge setup and not a whole lot of blacksmithing experiance ( i do mostly blades). i have serched roses on here and all the ones i find need to be welded and i dont have a welder. any suggestions or other ideas would be most appreciated. thanks

Drop back and punt...buy a pizza

lol i dont think she would appreciate that much.

i had made her a heart in the Brian Brazeal style a few weeks ago. not remembering that valentines was just around the corner i went ahead and gave it to her....stupid me should have waited because she loved that :/

hey...refine that design and put a 3 carat diamond in the middle...you'll be golden for a month..maybe....otherwise, I have some copper roses ready to go somewhere,but we'll need to talk

one piece roses, mokume pendent (actually very easy, use quarters, unless she has a nickle sensitivity) silver earrings (Brian Brazeal demonstrates them, but you need tooling)

Make a trivet using those four hearts and collaring.

Phil

actually i do have some diamonds lying around, just never could figure the right way to mount them

you got diamonds.......she got hands.......case solved....or we can deal in copper roses

one piece roses, mokume pendent (actually very easy, use quarters, unless she has a nickle sensitivity) silver earrings (Brian Brazeal demonstrates them, but you need tooling)

Make a trivet using those four hearts and collaring.

Phil

hmmmm, i like the sound of the mokume pendant. if you could direct me to some instructions for the one piece roses, im gonna try and search them but my tech skills are even worse than my present-coming-up-with skills lol

rthibeau, that is something i have thought about many a time, but i fear she would kill me for that XD

so i found what they call bottle cap roses. i have pleanty of caps (i am a fan of the Fallout games, so collect caps) and i could probably solder them to some brass rod i have and then twist the rod together to make a bouquet. what do yall think?

if you feel comforatable making the bottle cap (just picked up New Vegas, loving it) roses, then make them, get a vase (simple is good with the vase, glass. . . you can pick one up from wally world) fill the clear vase with marbles, and put them in, just a suggestion, but I may also do that for my wife (I dont have anything yet. just one of those big cards from hallmark)

I made a hair dryer holster for mine... :/

she loved it...since she drops the dang thing everyday.

What's the link for the bottle cap roses? I tried to search the site, but nothing was found.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/23441-throw-away-bottle-cap-fun/

Here you go.

For mine, I didn't weld them to the rod. I flattened the rod a bit above and below where I stacked the caps to hold them while I put them together, then put a drop of canopy glue from the hobby shop in the flower and then on the base of it. Worked pretty good and dries completely clear.

I also burned the paint and seals off of them with a torch, then wire wheeled them to bare metal before cutting the petal breaks in them. I found out that it saves a lot of time just throwing a handful (or more) of caps into the forge while I'm letting the fire die down and moving the rest of my gear back into the garage after a session. You can do a clean bunch of them in less time than it takes to do one with a torch, then go straight to wire wheeling with less steps in between.

I cut the petals on mine in 5, 4, and 3 cuts instead of 4, 3, and 2 like in the demos. Makes for a more bud like appearance rather than a mature flower.

I made a hair dryer holster for mine... :/ she loved it...since she drops the dang thing everyday.

i love that, so incongruous

Heres mine-
Made from $.25 Mokume.... about $1.50s worth. Shhhhh, Don't tell anyone

am so impressed with you lot!! but have to say, if your ever really stuck, how about giving her a hammer.....

or is yr workshop space hallowed ground? ;)

I would never give my wife a hammer. She's likely to use it on me! :P

You have at least two methods of making a rose without welding:
- A "Round Rose": basically a round disc that is dimpled and slightly domed mounted on a stem
and a
- one piece rose that is rolled up, sometimes referred to as a "Russian Rose": basically you take a round stock, flatten about 10 to 12 inches at one end, nick some notches about one inch apart, then roll up the flattened length starting at where the flattened part meets the round stock, then adjust the pettles with pointed pliers.

Maybe someone could provide more detailed steps in making a rolled up "Russian Rose".

Make a brand of your initials. with her GOTH tendencies it should be well appreciated. EH?

Look at BP1005 The Raffi Rose for a unusual, one of a kind, rose.

The Russian Rose by J Cornell is another simple to make rose.
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.

lots of information here on quarters mokume
http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/13522-mokume-gane/

My piece looks a whole lot better after it has aged a bit from skin contact.

Phil

One piece rose or Russian rose can be found here Link removed at the request of Anvilfire.

Or if you want to make a different type here are some pics of Beth's first copper rose (pre pickling), and another steel rose and some details/pics of how they were made.



the basic parts for this rose



Petals formed to shape centre one has a screw inserted ready for fixing.



stem sketch

If rivetting them on I use a washer to form the rivet over



Then you can glue your felt pad onto this ready for adding the rose oil essence to give it the pong



You have an option of rivetting the petals onto the stem or using a bolt/screw to secure them, or you could attach them flat to a stem that is forged to a penny end with a hole punched/drilled through the centre and rivet or bolt the rose on this would give a flat mounting as in this one.



Which started life as a Brian Brazeal heart shape forging and kind of grew.

The back of which can just be seen here



and fitted into the heart here



Which then got attached to a candleholder for a church candle



Have fun with whatever you decide to make, I am sure the other half will love it.

I took the bottle cap Idea and expanded it a bit- I cold worked coins into the blanks, cut, formed and cleaned the petals, and am gonna do a bit more work on it monday when I have access to the colleges metal shop.

Make a brand of your initials. with her GOTH tendencies it should be well appreciated. EH?

not shure what you mean by this, seeing as how you have never met my girlfriend........

BUT for all of my friends who put up the really good information, thank you! i never expected so many replies. i am going to try and make some Mokume tommorow morning and if that dosnt work out i will do the bottle cap roses

thanks for all the help. the mokume turned out really well i think she will love it. i know the pictures arnt the best but hopefully you can see how it turned out. i think i might trim down the back to reduce the weight because it is slightly heavy.

Nicely done!
Phil