Fabricating Dimensional Metal Jewelry

Class Preview

Learn six sophisticated soldering and forming techniques that will elevate your designs from simple to standout!

Heat Rivets

Meet metalsmith and jewelry artist Lisa Colby as you get started making metal jewelry with dimension! First, learn how to cut and texture discs for an articulated necklace. Then, forge and drill bar links and connect everything together with dynamic heat rivets for a surprising design element!

Dimensional Accents

Follow along with Lisa as you create a circular copper pendant that’s custom-textured to your liking. Learn how to form and attach a textured bail and watch Lisa’s techniques for dapping and attaching a gorgeous saucer using the riveting technique you learned in Lesson 1.

Fold-Forming

Start fold-forming with Lisa’s approachable technique! You’ll learn how to create a crisp crease in your sheet metal and add texture with a riveting hammer. Lisa shows you how to anneal work-hardened pieces until they’re soft enough to open, revealing beautiful leaf shapes. You’ll even double fold-forms, which can be transformed into earrings, brooches or anything else!

Doming

Explore doming techniques as you form copper into a synclastic piece: one in which each side curves in the same direction, such as a wide hoop earring. Lisa shows you how to dome using a wooden dapping block, forming and refining the earring. Then, solder into place an earring post you make yourself!

Dapped Hollow Forms

Put your new skills to work as you transform a dapped form into a hollow structure. Discover ways to solder a disc to the back of your piece and learn how to safely cut away the excess and file your pendant. Then, learn the trick to soldering hollow forms a second time and neatly attach a jump ring bail.

Box Hollow Forms: Using Tubing

Working with tubing opens up a world of opportunity! Explore techniques to easily create a hollow box form as Lisa shows you how to use an inexpensive tool to cut symmetrical pieces from tubes. Then, shape the tube to your liking and prepare the piece for soldering with tricks to achieve a perfectly flush rim.

Box Hollow Forms: Soldering

Learn how to solder the piece you started in Lesson 6 until all sides of the hollow box are firmly secured. Pickle or leave your work as is, based on your aesthetic preference, and file it down. Add jump rings and any other details you desire, resulting in a dynamic finished link or pendant!