doing Repousse with Jewelry

agate99999 - Monday, July 13, 2009 - 10:30pm

Greeting Everyone,
I am a totally self taught when it comes to jewelry making and doing chasing and repousse. I have watched and read many of the blogs that appear here and that has given me the desire to continue to try doing this art form. I would welcome any suggestions and hints on how to improve. My picture is not the best as I have a camera that shoots out a red lazer beam just as the picture is snapped. Biggest problem I have is how do you get rid of all the little marks at the base of the image after you have raise it. All my tools so far are home made using heat treated concrete nails. I haven't tried using a pitch bowl yet. I am using a wooden block with small indentions in it. The metal is 20 gauge Sterling .032"

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I have the same sort of

visitor - Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - 11:01am

I have the same sort of camera. Try photographing it somewhere where there is more light. I think that you are off to a really good start considering your tools. Besides the wood, you can also use leather and a stack of newspaper. If I work larger than jewelry size, I use the ball end of the chasing hammer and the top of a tree stump. To smooth out the marks, I suggest getting the largest masonry nail and smoother the end to a wide flat shape. Make sure that there are no sharp corners. You want a very slight radius to it. Polish it and then scoot it along over the marks as you hammer. If that doesn't work. resort to filing and sanding. Tedious, I know. The other option would be to cover the whole with such marks so that they are deliberate.

marilyn

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Thanks for the reply

agate99999 - Thursday, July 16, 2009 - 9:15am

Thank you Marilyn for the nice remarks. You did get my attention when you suggested using newspapers and leather. I can see that working for the chasing part as the newspapers would provide a firm backing to chase on. But when you are wanting to push the metal out with the repousse do you cut holes in the paper to allow the metal to go out? That part ia am still a little unsure of at this point. I went to a second hand tool dealer and bought some old metal punches that I plan on heat treating and polishing up so I can have a wide area to smooth out the small dings.
Thanks again
Glenn

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Making some sort of

visitor - Thursday, July 16, 2009 - 9:37am

Making some sort of depressions would help when pushing the metal down and out. The leather and newspaper pads will depress some on their own when you hammer down on them. The end grain of a stump or slice of a stump is also good to hammer down on. The rubber innertubes to semi-tractor tires can be stacked up and used in a like manor. The bigger problem is when you want to reverse the metal and chase into the raised area. If you were using pitch, this would fill on its own. Using these other materials means cutting something into the basic shape and packing the cavity. This does not work well. Charles Lewton Brain has a sort section in his book about chasing "on air." This works if carefully done.

marilyn

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chasing and repousse

gauchitogil - Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 10:33pm

I started as well with nails and in thin silver or copper the work quite good. You don´t need a pitch bowl. As well you can use just a piece of wood and put the pitch on. Some cheap and easy pitch can be done with bitumen and ash. It´s a very soft pitch but you can work on it with a hairdryer or hot air gun. Put some talcum on the pitch before you stick the piece and it will come off more easily. So very quickly you can change the sites you work on.

René
www.landsmann.com.ar

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