Got all my chores done yesterday and decided to light the fire.
This started out as a 5 x 5 x 1/8" piece that I cut from an old fire place insert.
Pickled it over night and put a finish on it.
And as is tradition in my hobby, my wife has already claimed it as hers.
Seems as she gets the first of everything!

Very nice holder. How do you make the pillow looking swell in it?

I can see why she glommed onto it before you could sell it. Very nice, I like it.

Frosty

Impressive bit of work.

Very nice indeed.

welder19

Boy I tell you what. That is art right there. To take something hard as steel and make it look plush as a pillow. Great work. I would love to see how that was done.

What tooling did you need to do this?

Actually, this is the first time I have tried one of these.
Cut a 5x5 piece out of some scrapp from a old fireplace insert.
All done on a coal forge.
Started by using a cross peen to put the texture all around the edge, then used the heel of my anvil and the cross peen, so as not to mess up the testure, and curved all 4 edges down in a slight radius.
Took a heat and used a ball peen on a wood block, and drove down the middle to form the bowl shape. Touched up the bowl area with the flat face to get rid of the peen marks, and did some touch up on the rest. It's only about 3/4" deep. The candle is 2 1/2" across. The up-turned corners were a last second change before I called it done.
Pickeled it overnight, then wire wheeled and heated and brushed with a brass brush.
The finish is just linseed.

That is down right beautiful! As with my shop, the wife always claims the first one...

What do you use for a pickle?

White vinegar. Let it set over night and the scale just flakes off.

Very Nice! That is a fine texturing job. Of course I'll have to try it but I know my first (couple) of tries won't have nearly that much success.

Look real nice. My wife would have grabbed it up too.

The candle plate looks great. What do you use to pickle the metal ??

White vinegar.
Put the item in a plastic container with just enough vinegar to cover, then put a lid on it.
Let it set over night.
Releases 98.3 percent of the scale. (I calculated it!)
Then just rinse and dry, hit lightly with a wire wheel.
Nice and shinny.