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WeirdWondrous β Shifting Gears
Published: 2013-10-03 07:00:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 783; Favourites: 17; Downloads: 6
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Description
Glue Some Gears on it and Call It Steampunk.Heading to a Steampunk convention in a few weeks time and hope to have some glass to show as well as metal crafts.
Figured I needed some gears, cogs and wheels to match my otherwise rather gear-free collection.
Here's something I made - milled in sprockets, satinated the surface and didn't clean off the firescale and oxidations like I used to. Gives it a rainbow hue and areas of white.
The finish doesn't last forever, it will eventually turn to "regular" silver, but it looks nice like this as well.
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Comments: 15
Could you retain that beautiful patina if you laquered it?
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By the way, do you know/want to know, the liver of sulphur +stuff rainbow technique?
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Ha! You and some other dA people beat me to it! 
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Thanks for the description Sarah, I wondered if the gears were stamped or rolled in. I also assumed you rolled it to bend it round (like rolling sheet metal to make tubes). I guessed wrong on that one.
I have seen interesting patterns in the metals I have heat treated, so I like this finish a lot!
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No, I fold it over the anvil horn pounding it with a soft rubber mallet not to hurt the design.
Or in some cases, bend the strip with my fingers. Heh.
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I keep forgetting how malleable that is, I'm used to working with harder metals.
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Answered all my questions [see conversation with HollowDestruction], except one. Β Seems kind of a shame that the finish will eventually wear away. Β I'm guessing there's no way to seal it, then..?
A really interesting piece. Β I'm sure folks at the convention will really like it. Β Might get orders for more, even.
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You could seal it with varnish, but it will wear off and get mottled and ugly too.
I need some kind of industrial-strength coating, like uv-set clear acrylic enamel...
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There ya go.. something you can bake on. Β
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Or is it a cast piece? It probably is, since it's professional. Ignore the previous comment D:
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Oh, nonono! I cast very few of my pieces!
I milled the gears into a silver strip.
Or rather.. I had some old silver scraps, melted it, cast a bullion, milled it to a strip, annealed it, placed the steel gears on it (since brass ones distorts I had ordered steel ones for the purpose), taped them in place, milled the strip, bent it round, soldered it, filed it, sanded and satinated it!
So no casting here. It's unique in a steampunk series of hand made rings.
Thank you for asking, actually! Not many people care or have the sense to recognise the work behindΒ hand made work over casts!
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I didn't even know they made steel gears that size! Learn something new everyday. That was why I asked before, I didn't think brass that gauge would take any kind of rough handling.Β
That's really cool though!
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Forgot to mention "flaring the ring" to get that concave profile on it. You do it with two large dome punches. One set in the vice, place the ring between, put the other dome over it and hammer away carefully not to crack your solder.
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Did you hammer in the design with real gears, or do you have magically textured metal? I would have thought the clockwork would be too delicate for texturing
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