'hokay. first. It's going to be both very easy, and a lot harder than it looks. The trick is going to be getting smooth curves. Get some copper sheet, 20g at the thickest, you could probably go with 22g. It you can get it about 1" wide, that would be optimal. Get some dowels the approx, size of those heads and get some flat nose pliers.
What are flat nose pliers? They are jewelry pliers with a broad flat tip, and NO, no really NO ridges on the inside to of the tines. Those are for making the sharper corners.
Get dowels the correct size for any rounder curves.
Then, practice. Practice using the tools until you are comfortable making clean bends.
It would help to have a little butane torch, to anneal (soften) the work hardened copper. Turn the lights low, so you can see the glow clearly, and heat the copper until it is a dull red. Do this on fire brick or some other fire safe, heat retaining surface. Then douse the copper in pickle (a mild acidic solution) to remove any firescale (that icky black stuf) Quick run with a polish cloth, and they should be good for further mangling.
The tricky bit is closing the loop on the cookie cutter. The optimal method is soldering it, but that takes still more practice. Or you could bend the two ends outward and rivit, leaving yourself a handle of sorts.
When you have the shape you want, polish polish polish.
You need to be careful to avoid scratches, particularly to the surface that will be the inside of the cutter. Scratches would hold dough and prevent a clean release.
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Date: 2009-09-08 04:07 am (UTC)What are flat nose pliers? They are jewelry pliers with a broad flat tip, and NO, no really NO ridges on the inside to of the tines. Those are for making the sharper corners.
Get dowels the correct size for any rounder curves.
Then, practice. Practice using the tools until you are comfortable making clean bends.
It would help to have a little butane torch, to anneal (soften) the work hardened copper. Turn the lights low, so you can see the glow clearly, and heat the copper until it is a dull red. Do this on fire brick or some other fire safe, heat retaining surface. Then douse the copper in pickle (a mild acidic solution) to remove any firescale (that icky black stuf) Quick run with a polish cloth, and they should be good for further mangling.
The tricky bit is closing the loop on the cookie cutter. The optimal method is soldering it, but that takes still more practice. Or you could bend the two ends outward and rivit, leaving yourself a handle of sorts.
When you have the shape you want, polish polish polish.
You need to be careful to avoid scratches, particularly to the surface that will be the inside of the cutter. Scratches would hold dough and prevent a clean release.
so. Still wanna do this?