I tried my hand at working with copper for the first time, making some roses for my wife and mom for Mother’s Day. Overall, I really enjoyed working with it. It’s quite amazing how soft it is when annealed, and how quickly it work hardens.
I was going to try my hand at ‘flame painting’ the copper once the roses were made, but I ran out of time (my forge is set-up outdoors, and I had a few weather delays). Nevertheless, I liked the way they looked as-is.
The stems and calyx (the pointy bit underneath the flower) are both made of mild steel, and the petals were 18 gauge sheet copper. The copper was actually quite hard to come by – I thought for sure that Metal Supermarkets would have some, but they only had a few small pieces kicking around in their dead-stock rack. And boy oh boy, is it expensive stuff!
For my wife - hidden in a bouquet of other roses
For my Mom - tucked into a rose plant in her garden
