heres a little hook i did with actually quite a big flower for my friend for a gift - i made a mess of the inside of the flower, but there you have it !

Nice job Beth ! Punched holes are so much cooler than drilled ones.
Lots of detail on the petals, I like it !

Nice work Beth, I think the flower looks good. The texturing adds a nice dimension to it. Did you punch the top of the hook and rivet
the flower on , or turn up the top and shoulder and pien the stamen?

Dick

Beth, I don't know what you mean by, "i made a mess of the inside of the flower"? It looks good to me. Very nice design and well executed. It has a lot of life to it. Nature isn't perfect either. You know what they say, we are our own worst critics.

very nice!

Well Done

Beautiful texture on the petals.

How did you do them?

And I agree; the puched holes look good.

Very nice! Well done.



Mitch

thankyou guys - yes i did rivet the flower onto a loop at the back - BUT it was not a very good fit visually, but good enough to be hard to get out again! so i welded that blob on the front as a quick fix, i was in a hurry, but randy, thankyou for your comments - thats the bit i dont like - i dont like to resort to using the welder as a decorative tool - i dont really like welded decoration, i would rather the rivet had fitted and looked distinct. i suppose thats why i dont like using the welder, i only do it when i have messed something proper up! i know she will like it though, she makes dresses with big flouncy fowerson, and so thats why i did her a big flouncy flower. i just used a little leafing hammer on the edges of the petals, and ent over and over it to make them thin and more delicate - john b showed me how to do that a while ago, and i think its a good texture for flowers. its pretty :)

ps naz - thanks - i have not been very good at punching holes on smaller material like that - i kind of skid about and dont always get centre, but i agree with you, you cant get that lovely informative Bulge round a drilled hole do you? :)

Beautiful piece Beth.....You're too hard on yourself, the center looks great and if you had got rid of the teeny BB's around it I never would guessed it was welded, besides it's probly magnified 8-10x ......or maybe a Bee left those??? :D

I like it and do not see anything wrong with the inside! I also like punched holes but find that I have to get them done quite quickly as I don't want to use many extra heats because of the scaling away of my nice surfaces. So I have settled on punching with a tapered punch that gives me a near fit for my screws. I do not punch clear through but just to the point where the plug stops against the anvil... then I drill through the thin skin at the hole base and use a good countersink to refine the fit at the hole top. This way I get the best features of both punched and drilled holes and do so in a very efficient way. My method is similar to the forepunched methods of a very fine farrier that I know (though he finishes his holes with a Pritchel punch rather than a drill). This method minimizes distortion on the back side of the punched surface so that just a few light taps usually repairs the damage and I can often get two holes (or even more in heavier material) punched in a single heat.

Looks beautiful to me, i don´t mind the center being welded. Good job.

Outstanding!

Snap! Oh... I got distracted by your avitar.... at least you did something to the weld. Many forget that the weld is metal and just leave it sitting there. As it is metal we can heat it and punch it, carve it or what ever. Good job.

Also for punching the flower, that can be done cold. Just have a good punch on top and a hole plate of close to the hole size that you want and just give it a good hit. Makes it easier to center the hole up, too.

I like it and do not see anything wrong with the inside! I also like punched holes but find that I have to get them done quite quickly as I don't want to use many extra heats because of the scaling away of my nice surfaces. So I have settled on punching with a tapered punch that gives me a near fit for my screws. I do not punch clear through but just to the point where the plug stops against the anvil... then I drill through the thin skin at the hole base and use a good countersink to refine the fit at the hole top. This way I get the best features of both punched and drilled holes and do so in a very efficient way. My method is similar to the forepunched methods of a very fine farrier that I know (though he finishes his holes with a Pritchel punch rather than a drill). This method minimizes distortion on the back side of the punched surface so that just a few light taps usually repairs the damage and I can often get two holes (or even more in heavier material) punched in a single heat.

Excellent description of methods using a bit of machining to finish off the forging yet retaining the fine forged details. Thank you. Spears.

Beth, what mess??? It's beautiful!!

Good on you for riveting the head on, I make loads of flowers and I just mig it... I know that's like a dirty word around here though!!

Your friend will be absolutely delighted with it!!

The punched holes are great too, to stop the punch skidding about on the round stock, I use a tool, kind of like a very blunted rounded punch to create a round, flatish "divot?" (if that's a technical term, I'm not sure!!) It starts to spread the metal and creates a flat area for the punch to seat on.

Great stuff!!

Nice one Beth !

Nice job....maybe think about anti spatter spray, it will make those little balls come right off nice n' easy

I would be proud if I had made it.

Good on ya for "hiding" the weld! As a professional welder my biggest pet peve is to see a nice piece of art work and the see a big (or small) weld! For goodness sakes, you went to some much time and effort to make a nice element and then there is this WELD starin ya in the face! There are so many ways to hide a weld if you will just take that little bit of extra time and do it. Beth, you did just that, you hid the weld...in plain site! Very well done, all of it. I really like the whole thing.

I think it's a real nice job, good proportions and the textures
bring life into it. Self criticism is helpful to push us to constantly create better work, but it can be maddening at times! Good project!

ps naz - thanks - i have not been very good at punching holes on smaller material like that - i kind of skid about and dont always get centre, but i agree with you, you cant get that lovely informative Bulge round a drilled hole do you? :)

Use a round or bob punch prior to punching the hole. (Like a tiny ball peen hammer...that's what I use.) It creates a nice natural countersink for the screw head to sit in, and makes it a bit easier to center the punched hole. With practice, the bob punch step and the two holes can be accomplished in one heat.

I've got to get me some flower blanks! That thing is BEAUTIFUL!

Thomas, sometimes with artwork, the weld can be a feature, I don't see a problem with it, but I get what you are saying and I don't like to see some unsightly blob poorly done sitting there either. All in the eye, as they say...

As the old maxim goes "If its a cock up, feature it"