PROJECT BEGINNER METAL Construct a Collage Pendant from Recycled Tin Cut, stack, and rivet elements from colorful tin containers to create a reversible pendant with a wooden core. by Christine Terrell Almost everyone has memories of an old coffee, cookie, or tea tin put to work as a catch-all to store household caches like screws, coins, and pencils. While these tins are lovely in their own right, don t overlook their potential to be repurposed as a raw material for your metalsmithing projects. The impressive array of color and imagery is more than enough to recommend lithographic tins, but they also happen to be great fun to work with since they re simultaneously strong and thin. Their lightweight nature is a boon for earrings, but that quality doesn t always translate well for pendants. While searching for a way to add heft and rigidity to the material, I struck on the idea of a medallion with a heart of wood. Since riveting requires metal on both sides, it made sense to make the medallion double-sided. I constructed my first pendant with just two circles of tin, but quickly realized it was more interesting to layer circles on each side to make tiny collages. FCT-MW-040218-02 2015 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. facetjewelry.com
materials Lithographic tins, amount and style determined by design 1 8 -in. (3 mm) craft hardwood, amount determined by design 20 22-gauge (0.8 0.6 mm) copper or silver wire, hard, 4 in. (10.2 cm) toolbox Riveting additional tools & supplies Circle template Handheld shears Disk cutter (optional) Fine-cut hand file #0000 steel wool Dot adhesive Rawhide mallet (optional) Flatnose or linesman pliers Flush cutter Jeweler s saw with #0 saw blade 220-grit sanding stick (optional) Black acrylic paint 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cut the base circle. Your pendant can be any size you choose; mine is 13 8 in. (35 mm) diameter. Choose a piece of decorative tin. Use a circle template and scribe to mark a circle on the tin [1]. Use shop shears or a disk cutter to cut out the circle [2]. Cut the smaller circles. With your shears or disk cutter, cut out 1 3 smaller, coordinating tin circles. File the edges and refine them with steel wool as before. Play with the placement of your circles until you have a pleasing collage [4]. NOTE: If you use shears, don t cut the circle directly from the large piece of tin like you would from paper. First, cut out a square of metal around your circle and then trim the remaining tin to the scribed line. Rivet the circles. Use dot adhesive to temporarily hold the pieces together. Use a fine-tip permanent marker to mark 3 4 rivet positions. Place your drill bit into a flex shaft, and drill the first hole through all the layers. Use a fine-cut hand file to remove any tin outside of the scribed line, and then use fine #0000 steel wool to smooth the edge. Be careful not to file or use steel wool on the painted surface. TIP: Because tin is so thin, it can be difficult to file. Make sure you use a fine-cut file and push the file along the edge of the tin. If you try to file at a more perpendicular angle, the tin will catch and distort. To de-bur the edge of the tin circle, hold the metal flat against your bench pin and run your file at a shallow 10 15 angle across the arc of the circle [3]. NOTE: Choose a drill bit that is as close to the same size as your rivet wire as possible. Since I am using 20-gauge (0.8 mm) wire, my drill bit is a #67 (0.032 in./0.81 mm). The wire should fit snugly in the drilled hole. Cut a 1 in. (25.5 mm) piece of 20 22-gauge (0.8 0.6 mm) copper or silver wire. NOTE: If the wire is soft, harden it with a rawhide mallet on a steel bench block. Hold the wire firmly in a pair of flatnose or linesman pliers so that only 1 mm (1 32 in.) of wire extends above the jaws. Brace the pliers against your bench block, and use a riveting hammer or the rounded end of a ball-peen hammer to tap the end of the wire until the tip mushrooms over [5].
7 Thread the straight end of the wire through the hole in your collage from the painted side of the tin and use flush cutters to trim it 1 mm from the tin at the back. Place the assembly on a steel bench block and use your hammer to create the second side of the rivet [6]. Flip the assembly as needed to refine and secure the rivet. Repeat to consecutively drill and set a rivet at each mark to complete one circle collage, then repeat the process to create a second riveted circle collage. Create the wood core. Use a pencil and the circle template to mark a circle the same size as your base tin circle on a piece of 1 8 -in. (3 mm) craft hardwood [7]. Use a jeweler s saw with a #0 blade to saw out the circle [8]. Use the fine file to refine the wood circle until it is symmetrical. NOTE: Don t get too detailed at this stage; final filing and sanding will be done after you have riveted all the pieces together. Rivet the tin to the wood. Use dot adhesive to adhere one collage to one side of the wood. Determine the top of your pendant and mark the edge of the wood at that point [9]. Using this mark as a guide, adhere the second tin collage to the other side of the wood. If either collage isn t flush with the wood, remove it and gently file the rivet heads to flatten them slightly. Mark 3 4 rivet positions. NOTE: For this size pendant, I like four equally spaced rivets. You need a minimum of three, but you can set as many as you would like for your design. No matter how many rivets you choose, plan to set 8 9 play with your food tins Tin has become a frequent guest material for many artists in recent years. Most are attracted to the lovely floral and advertising tins of bygone years, but I have an affinity for the bright colors and patterns of those from more modern times. I ve become particularly interested in adding a personal touch by scribing and distressing the surfaces. The tough, enamel-like finishes are great blank canvases for a variety of distressing experiments. The effects are rarely predictable but always intriguing. your bail rivet last. Drill your first hole through all layers and set one rivet, then drill the second hole and set the second rivet. Once two rivets are set, you can drill all of the remaining holes and set the rivets consecutively. Finish the edges. Use the fine-cut file or a 220-grit sanding stick to remove any excess wood or metal to make the edge of the assembly as smooth and symmetrical as possible. To de-bur the tin circle edges against the wood, hold the assembly flat on your bench pin and file at a 10 15 angle, as before [10]. Create a tight mass of fine steel wool and vigorously rub the piece all along the edge [11]. Dab a small amount of acrylic paint the same color as your base tin circle onto the wood with your fingertip or a small paintbrush [12]. Clean up any paint To add more visual interest, use a circle template and scribe to scratch designs into the tin.
Process photos by Christine Terrell. 10 11 12 13 14 a note about tools What we commonly call tin is mostly cold-rolled steel with a painted finish. If you work primarily with precious metals, you may not want to expose your tools to the rigors of steel. Consider purchasing inexpensive shears, files, and cutters for working with tin. that may have gotten on the metal, and let the edge dry for a few minutes. Make the bail. Bails can vary widely in design, but I like simple, capsule-shaped bands. Use your shears to cut a small, rectangular piece of tin (my bail here is approximately 3 8 x 3 4 in. [9.5 x 19 mm]), then round the corners. Use your file and steel wool to refine the edges as before. Scribe in any designs you wish. Mark and drill centered holes at each end of the rectangle. Bend the rectangle over an awl at the midpoint to form a U-shape [13]. Adjust the curve so both sides are symmetrical. Fit the rectangle over your riveted circle at the point where you planned to put the bail. Make a mark through the drilled hole on one side of the bail onto the circle. Remove the bail and drill all the way through the assembly at the mark. Fit the bail back on your assembly, and rivet as before [14]. Slide the finished pendant onto the chain of your choice. By making a separate collage for each side, you can make your pendant reversible. ASK THE ARTIST: CHRISTINE TERRELL What qualities do you look for in your jewelry materials? Unlike most jewelers, I think, The less precious the better! I use some vintage tins, but my collection leans heavily toward modern tins that, on first blush, seem to have little to offer. Finding or creating beauty from mundane materials is the interesting part for me. Contact: www.adaptivereuser.com