Project 3 from Youngnstudly. Catergory: Decorative Metal Art

[youngnstudly]

I've been fighting a nasty cold for over a week now, so this year's Valentine's Day gift came a little late. My "sweetie" (actually my stepmother ) was more than understanding. Every holiday and special occasion over the last 6 years has led me to create my own gifts for family and friends, including a recipe for Copper and Stainless roses.

To "spice" things up, I usually use different heat treatments and combos of dissimilar metals throughout, though I didn't have access to an Oxy/Acetylene torch with it's smaller tip. A big tipped propane torch from the store was used (the coloring effects aren't nearly as good using a bigger torch tip!). This year's gift is (another) stainless vase with 1 copper rose, 1 stainless rose, and 1 rose consisting of copper and stainless both (which is the rose I welded to the stem).

The vase is 20 gauge perforated 304 stainless which have hemmed over 24ga. stainless strips on the top and bottom edges (done before the material was rolled in the slip rolls). I rolled the flat material into a cylinder that is approx. 6" tall and 4" in diameter, and welded a stainless 20ga end cap on the bottom.

The roses use misc. scrap tubing for the stems and a simple generic pattern which I shrink the size on for the inner leaves of the rose, and expand the size of the leaves for the outer portions. Between 2 and 4 layers of leaves can be used, and I used 3 and 4 layers on mine this time in 20 oz. copper sheet and 22 gauge stainless. A pop rivet holds the leaves together and allows you to use a snug fit between the rivet's backside and the inner diameter of the tubing.

As seen in one pic, I had to use a sleeve on the heat treated rose to connect the stem and flower portion. The bottom of the stems are crushed flat and turned with pliers so that I can situate the flat (tab) portion on the vase's bottom as I wish to. Lastly I drill each of the flat portions of the stems and the vase's bottom for 5/32" pop rivets.

The copper rose was soldered since I didn't have copper rod to TIG with, and I soldered the "all stainless" rose to save on time. The leaves on the stems are pop riveted in place as well.

The most difficult part was welding the stainless parts as they didn't really want to stay put, and I couldn't use a magnet to hold things together. The vases upright seam gave me fits while tack welding since I forgot to wipe the perforated metal down. The 10' metal shear at my old job leaks like crazy on the backside (where the drop is captured), so the perforated metal had a little motor oil between the perforations.

My stepmother has every variation of metal roses I could think of making, plus copper bird houses and other "useless junk", so now I need to come up with a different project! I don't even like roses!