Wrapped Rose In a wrapped rose, the petals and stem are all made from a single round rod. The calyx and leaves are formed separately. Gordon Williams showed me how to make a wrapped rose, and introduced me to this particular method of making leaves. I've added a few embellishments to the process in steps 3, 4 and 8. Materials are: 18" piece of 1/4" mild steel rod 1.25" disk of 3/32" thick steel plate Tools for this project include:
hammer with cross peen vise forge sharp hot-cut chisel cutting plate "petal pick" needle nose pliers flat jaw tongs with longitudinal groove butt punch two-finger swage hardwood stump or block welder "tooth pick" bolster stake 3/16" punch triangular file hardwood block or stump hold-down tool wire brush If you've got good hammer skills and all goes well, and if you have all the tools at hand, this is a three hour project. By the time you've made your fifth or sixth wrapped rose, that three hours might get down to about an hour and a half. Probably you don't have a butt punch, so here's what it looks like: You can make it by upsetting the end of a 1/2" rod, then using an angle grinder followed by sandpaper to get the shape right. A "toothpick" is simply a piece of steel (preferably a red-hard steel like H-13) with a long taper down to about 1/32" thick and 1/8" wide.
If you don't have a "two-finger swage", it looks like this: You can make it by welding two partially tapered 1/2" or 3/8" rods onto a plate. A bolster stake looks like this: Step 1: Bend the rod to an "L" Bend the first 5.5" of the 1/4" rod to a right angle over the radiused edge of your anvil face. Leave a bit of curve on the inside of the bend.
- first blow, make the bend - second blow, straighten the hump - third blow, straighten bent-over portion Step 2: Flatten the bent-over portion of the rod Hammer the bent-over portion of the rod flat, using vertical flat blows at first, then angled "stroking" and "pushing" blows to spread the rod. Your objective is to get the flattened portion to about 1/2" wide without lengthening it too much. IMPORTANT: finish the flattening by drawing out the metal closest to the bend like this using the edge of your hammer and the radiused edge of your anvil. This is important because it leave a stiff "spine" that you'll wrap the petals around.
Step 3: Form the petals Starting about a half inch away from the bend, use a chisel to cut slots in the flattened portion of the rod. The slots should leave about 3/16" of uncut metal. In the photos below, note that a hold-down is used to hold the workpiece against a mild steel plate on the anvil face. This protects the anvil face from the chisel. Clamp the bottom edge of the flattened portion in your vise, and use a triangular file to notch the tops of the slots. Starting with the petal farthest from the stem, draw out the petals using stroking blows on the anvil face, then stroking blows at the radiused edge of the anvil. Each petal will grow 30 to 40 percent in length and will spread a bit sideways. Draw the middle of the tip of the petal a bit farther and thinner than the two sides, to give its edge a rounded shape. Only work the petals when they are glowing red or orange, or they are likely to split or break.
Step 4: Wrap the petals Start the wrap by using the step on your anvil and a thin cross peen to create a tight bend: There are several ways to do the wrapping. You can clamp the stem in a vise, hold the petal strip with tongs and pull while circling your vise. This method will often break the petal strip. You can hold the stem in tongs and use the vise to squeeze as you roll the piece. This works fine but is a little bit awkward. Or, you can hold the stem in tongs and use flat-jaw tongs to squeeze while you roll the piece. I like this last method best because it takes less time, so less heat is lost. Also, squeezing with flat jaw tongs gives you a lot of control. By adapting the angle of your tongs while you are munching on the petals, you can keep the roll neatly stacked.
Whichever way you do the wrapping, make sure you work at orange heat, and make sure each petal bends to fit the layer underneath it. Ideally there will be no air gaps between layers. Finish by welding the wraps together at the bottom of the rose, then grinding away the welding bead to form a sort of dome at the bottom of the rose.
Step 5: Make the calyx Draw a five-pointed star on the 1.25" disk, with points that touch the outside of the disk but leave room in the center of the disk for a hole the size of the stem. Cut out the star (using a chisel on the cutting plate, or a plasma cutter) and clean up the edges using a file or grinder. Punch or drill a hole in the center of the star.
If you haven't punched steel before, there are three keys to success: Make sure the workpiece is hot! Position the punch accurately and watch the tip of the punch as you hit the punch. That way you will not accidentally move the punch. Hit once, then reposition the punch in the dent Hit until the punch "bottoms out", but no more because if you keep hitting it you're likely to mushroom the tip of your punch. Quench the tip of your punch after every two or three hammer blows. Turn the workpiece over and you'll see a dark "eye" where the punch cooled the metal. Position your punch right in the middle of the "eye" and give it a good "whack". Watch the tip of the punch, not the end you're hitting. For this step, it is not important for the metal to be hot. Steel that's less hot shears more easily. Move the workpiece to a bolster block and drive the punch all the way to knock out the biscuit.
Draw out each of the star's points to about twice the original length, using the radiused edge of your anvil face and a rounded edge of your hammer face. Finish the points by grinding the edges straight. Heat the star to bright orange. Place the star on a wood block, stump, or bolster block and drive a center punch or ball punch into the hole in the star's center to form a small dome. Repeat until the hole is large enough to fit over the stem of your rose and slide all the way to the rose.
Slide the star up the stem of the rose and weld it in place. Grind or file off any bead that doesn't look right. Step 6: Shape the petals and sepals Heat the whole rose and bend the sepals to a pleasingly random shape. Needle nose pliers are good for this. Take care not to get the rose too hot because paper-thin petals can burn up easily. Slow heating is best.
Heat the whole rose again to an orange-red and open up the petals using a long, thin, flat "toothpick" tool. Don't open the petals too far, or the blossom will look like it's about to die. Open the outer petals first, then work you way in layer by layer. To open the petals, push the petal pick between layers and pry gently. It works well to push the pick in deeply at first and pry gently, then raise the pick a bit and pry again, so each petal is bent out more at the top. You can fine-tune the petal shapes using needle-nose pliers. Step 7: Make the leaves and leaf stem This rose will have only three leaves. Cut off the last 7.5" of the 14" rod, and make a point on it.
Next, isolate the leaf from the rod by using half-faced blows on the far side of your anvil face, on just two sides of the rod. This forms a "chin" that is the bottom of the leaf. Roll the piece right and left on the anvil edge, while using light hammer taps to round off any sharp corners. Place your workpiece on the anvil face with the "chin" up. With heavy blows, flatten the leaf to a uniform thickness. "push" and "pull" strokes can control the leaf shape as it forms. You want to end up with a leaf shape of uniform thickness.
Using a chisel and light hammer taps, give the leaf a center vein and side veins. Texture the leaf by tapping with the cross peen of a hammer, parallel to the side veins. Hold the leaf in a vise and, with a sharp chisel, put serrations in the leaf edge. Make sure you use the chisel at approximately the angles shown below, or the serrations will look silly. Put serrations in both sides.
Using a "two-finger swage" and a chisel or thin fuller, crease the leaf right down the middle. Re-heat the leaf and place it with the with the "V" upside down on a block or stump of hard wood. Soft wood like pine doesn't work very well. Place the butt punch on the ridge of the "V" and hammer hard. Shape the tip of the leaf to make it lively.
Cut off the first leaf and make another just like the first. Cut them both off, leaving just a short stem about 1/8 inch long. Make a third leaf, but don't cut it off the rod. Instead, using the radiused edge of your anvil, draw out the stem on one of the leaves, to a diameter of about 1/8" and a length of about 3 inches. Weld the two cut-off leaves to the drawn-out leaf stem. Weld the drawn-out leaf stem to the rose stem.
Step 8: Make a thorn Every rose needs a thorn. One way to add a thorn is by building a tall welding bead, then grinding the thorn to shape. If you haven't built a tall bead before, here's the trick: zap the spot where you're building the bead. Let it cool briefly. Zap again. Keep doing that until the bead is tall enough. If you try to build it in a single step, it will just melt into one big blob. Finally, clean up your rose with a wire brush, sand blasting, or whatever method you prefer. Steve McGrew March 7, 2013 Incandescent Ironworks, Ltd. www.incandescent-iron.com If you would like to give the rose a bronze patina, you can heat the rose gently at the opening of your forge, or by using a butane torch. It certainly doesn't need to be red-hot; a low black heat is plenty. Brush vigorously with a brass "toothbrush". Gordon Williams points out that a bit of gauze can be dipped in rosewater, then pushed down into the center of the rose where it can't be seen, and the iron rose will smell like a real rose. Guaranteed to win a lady's heart!