PROJECT BEGINNER METAL High Relief, Low Risk: LEARN CHASING & REPOUSSÉ Transform a common tin container into a custom decorative trinket box. by Laurie Jane Kern FCT-MWON0216_ART05 62
materials Used tin with lid tools & supplies Pitch bowl with pitch Heat gun Sandbag or rubber ring Bowl of cool water Steel bench block Rawhide mallet Wooden dowel (optional) Particulate respirator Flex shaft or rotary tool with 80-grit radial-bristle disks Painter s tape (optional) Paper template and rubber cement, or carbon paper, tracing paper, and a pencil Lip balm, olive oil, mineral oil, or flourless non-stick cooking spray Cookie sheet or disposable aluminum cooking sheet (optional)* Spoon* Butter knife, spatula, or silicone pot scraper or stir stick* Pliers Refrigerator or bucket of cool water (optional) Chasing tools: variety of shapes and sizes including soft-edge liners, rounded embossing tools Chasing hammer, lightweight Mineral spirits, nail-polish remover, or acetone Molding material (Silly Putty, Play-doh, plasticine clay, or Bubber) 2-part epoxy resin (optional) Solvent dyes, alcohol inks, permanent markers, or paint or patina for steel (optional) Spray sealant *Dedicated for nonfood use Have you ever been given tins full of cookies during the holidays or bought those curious mints which seem to be everywhere these days? What do you do with the tins once they re empty? It seems a waste to throw them away, but hoarding stacks of old tins is a waste of space. Adding chasing & repoussé to a tin lid allows you to reuse those tins and make them into small works of art you will be proud to show off. 63
1 2 3 4 5 6 Prepare your pitch bowl. A day before you start your project, place pitch into a cast-iron pitch bowl, and use a heat gun to heat it until it s molten and level. Let it cool overnight. NOTE: If you want to get your feet wet and try this technique before investing in pitch and a pitch bowl, see Pitch & Pitch-bowl Alternatives, next page. Remove the lid. Choose a tin [1]. (Most tin is actually cold-rolled steel with a painted finish.) Open the lid, and use chainnose pliers to gently undo the hinges [2]. Remove the lid, and set the base aside. Prepare the lid. If the lid has embossed imagery, place it face-down on a steel bench block, and use a rawhide mallet to gently tap a wooden dowel against the tin to flatten the embossed areas [3]. NOTE: Since you ll be pushing from the inside out when you repoussé the tin, any remaining embossing will be smoothed into the design. Some lids have a frame as part of the design; if you want to keep it, cover the frame with painter s tape before sanding. NOTE: Don t heat the lid to burn the paint off. The heat will form an oxide layer on the tin, which is hard to remove. Also, you do not have to anneal the lid. The metal is so thin it is not required. Attach your design. Choose your design, and make sure it fits on the lid of the tin [5]. I made this box as a way for the tooth fairy to make nighttime exchanges; you can use my tooth Template (left), or come up with one of your own. Use rubber cement to adhere the template to the tin [6]. You can also use carbon paper and tracing paper, or draw your design on the tin free-hand. Template 2015 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Use 80-grit radial-bristle disks in a flex shaft or rotary tool to remove the paint from the top of the lid [4]. You can use sandpaper or chemicals to remove the paint, but it will take longer and require additional safety precautions. SAFETY NOTE: Always wear a particulate respirator when grinding or sanding to prevent inhaling any dust. Add a release agent. Coat the inside of the tin with a release, such as lip balm, olive oil, mineral oil, or a flourless nonstick cooking spray [7]. Use a generous amount to ensure the lid will release easily from the pitch; don t forget to cover the side walls and the edge of the tin to assist in its removal later. Fill the lid with pitch. Use a heat gun to gently warm the pitch in the pitch bowl. facetjewelry.com
7 8 9 10 11 12 NOTE: If your tin is large and does not fit in your pitch pot, fill the lid with pitch and place it on an old cookie sheet or disposable aluminum cooking pan. When the pitch is warm, use a spoon to scoop up enough to fill the lid. Heat the pitch until it s level. Repeat to fill the lid to the rolled edge. Allow the lid to cool [8]. Place the lid on the pitch bowl. Warm the pitch in the bowl, and then use a butter knife, spatula, or a silicone pot scraper or stir stick to smooth and level the surface of the pitch. TIP: Silicone kitchen tools are great for pushing around warm pitch in a pitch bowl. After it s cooled, the pitch peels right off of the silicone. pitch & pitch-bowl alternatives If you haven t done chasing and repoussé before, it s highly unlikely that you have a pitch bowl (and pitch) ready and waiting. Here are some convenient alternatives to get you started. (A pitch bowl and real pitch do work better, so if you find you like the technique, you ll want to invest in the proper setup). Pitch alternative: You can use any rigid, non-drying clay as a temporary pitch alternative. You can place a lump of it on a board, fill the inside of the tin s lid to do the lining and final chasing, and place the lid on the extra clay. For repoussé, you can push the clay into a large lump and set the lid into the mound. Pitch-bowl alternatives: You can use a small cast-iron frying pan instead of a pitch bowl. Or, you can build a frame box, a low-walled wooden box into which pitch is poured. Both of these choices can be harder to work with than a bowl, since a pitch bowl has a round bottom and is supported by a rubber ring or sandbag, allowing it to be rotated in any direction. Make sure to use a sandbag under the pan or box to allow you to tilt the work. Use pitch-dedicated pliers to turn the lid over and place it on top of the pitch pot. Don t press the lid down into the pitch, just let it sit on top [9]. This makes it easier to remove later. Allow the pitch to cool completely. Test the pitch by pressing a butter knife or spoon into it; the utensil should not sink into it. If you allow the pitch to cool overnight, it will be cool enough to work with. To quickly cool it, place the pitch bowl in a refrigerator, a bucket of cool water, or outside (if it s cold). Line the design. Select soft-edge liners [10]. The liners on the left of the photo have sharp corners, whereas the liners on the right have soft, rounded edges, and are less likely to punch through the tin. Use a lightweight chasing hammer (I use a 22 mm hammer, left in photo, and a 30 mm hammer, right) [11] and a light touch to gently line the design [12]. Try not to pierce the lid with the lining tool. Once you ve finished lining the design, slowly peel away the paper to verify that the entire design is marked and the lining is continuous [13]. If it s not, complete the lining in those places. 65
13 14 15 16 17 18 Remove the lid from the pitch. Warm the pitch to soften it. The pitch should not be runny, as that will cause it to stick too much to the lid and it will require more effort to remove. Apply the heat slowly, push the pitch away from the lid to expose the sides, and then gently lift the lid using one of the following techniques: Use pliers to grab the rolled edge of the tin (be careful not to bend the lid). Use a butter knife (no sharp edges) to get under the edge of the lid and gently lift up without bending or denting the lid. Use a paper towel with mineral spirits, nail-polish remover, or acetone to remove extra pitch left behind inside the lid [14]. Only worry about pitch that s on the design area; you ll return the lid to the pitch later, and any pitch left behind will be removed during the final cleanup. Place the lid back in the pitch. Coat the outside of the lid with your choice of release. Warm the pitch pot and level the surface. Place the lid inside-up on the pitch. Press the lid into the pitch. Use your fingers to push the pitch up and over the corners of the lid to secure it in place [15]. Allow the pitch to cool before working on it; the tin can dent if the pitch is too warm. Repoussé the design. Use a large, rounded tool to gently punch and build up the volume inside the lines [16]. Work slowly, and build an even volume [17]. Consider which parts will be the foreground, background, etc. Smooth the transitions from the various depths as much as possible. This will help reduce lumps and bumps on the outside of the tin. Use a molding material to check your progress (see Check Your Progress, next page). Create a design with large, raised areas like the project box (shown open, above top), or use smaller tools to form more intricate, linear designs, like these larger boxes (above and right). Chase the design to refine the forms. When you have finished the repoussé [18], warm your pitch and remove the lid from the pitch pot. Remove any extra pitch from the outside of the lid. Coat the inside of the tin with a release, and fill it with pitch. Place the tin back on the pitch pot [19], and do your final lining, undercutting, planishing, and texturing [20]. ) 66
19 21 20 22 Process photos by Laurie Jane Kern. check your progress When doing repoussé, there s an easier way to check your progress than removing your piece from the pitch. Use Silly Putty, Play-doh, or a non-drying clay like plasticine or Bubber (which has become my new favorite as it seems to hold its shape best). Soften and massage your choice of material, press it into the metal, and carefully lift it out. This impression is fairly close to what your metal will look like from the front, but remember that the repoussé is reversed. So, if an area on the left of the impression needs work, you ll need to work on the right side of the metal. Remove the lid from the pitch, and use a solvent to remove all the extra pitch. Check for tears. Hold your lid up to the light. If you see any light around the design, you pierced through [21]. I ve found that this mostly happens during the final lining and undercutting. If you are good at soldering mild steel, you can solder the opening closed. If not, use your fingers or tools to push the crack closed, and put some 2-part epoxy resin on it from the inside after you finish the project. mild steel. You can even find patinas for steel online. Seal the lid with a spray sealant to prevent it from rusting. Slip the lid back onto the tab hinges on the base. Use pliers to bend the tabs back into position [22]. Thanks to Gene Olson of Mettleworks, www. mettleworks.com, for answering my questions and sharing images of his tin projects. Finish the tin. If desired, you can apply a patina or paint the tin. You can use solvent dyes, alcohol inks, permanent markers, or any other type of paint that will adhere to Additional reading: Ganoksin, www.ganoksin.com/ borisat/directory/library/subject/79 Chasing & Repoussé: Methods Ancient and Modern, by Nancy Megan Corwin, www.brynmorgen.com ASK THE ARTIST: LAURIE JANE KERN What was the first piece of jewelry you ever made? It s not jewelry, but I made my first piece of chasing and repoussé a few months after taking a class with Nancy Megan Corwin in 2009. It was a small raised bowl that could fit in the palm of your hand, with a double spiral visible from the inside and the outside. When I took my second class with Megan, I showed her my bowl and she expressed a desire to add it to her collection of chasing and repoussé works. I was initially conflicted, but knew that having a piece of my work owned by Megan was an honor. She made me a wonderful repoussé tool in trade for my bowl. Contact: www.theadventuroussilversmith.com 67