FOLDFORMING Charles Lewton-B ewton- Brain
Brynmorgen Press
Copyright Copyright 2008 20 08 Brynmorgen Press
All designs are the property of the artists. Edited by Tim McCreight & Abby Johnston. Illustrations by Jeff McCreight. All photos by Charles Lewton-Brain unless otherwise noted.
For ordering visit www.brynmorgen.com Print ISBN 978-1-929565-26-9 Mobi ISBN 978-1-929565-55-9 978-1-929565-55-9
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any storage and retrieval system except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, magazine , newspaper, web posting, or broadcast.
Dedication Dedicati on
To Erhard Brepohl, Dee Fontans, Aniko Lewton-Brain, Erika Kulnys.
This book is, literally, the culmination of 30 years of work. The development of foldforming would not have been possible without many people, and it will not be feasible to list all the people who have contributed over the years. That said, there are some who were essential to its development and to the creation of this book. Klaus Ullrich, my German teacher, taught me that the marks of process are compositional design choices. Every hammer or file mark is a design decision as well as part of a process. This emphasis on watching process and truly seeing the metal led directly to foldforming. Kurt Matzdorf was my advisor in graduate school and fostered the first codification and documentation of the process. Bob Ebendorf, John Cogswell, and Jamie Bennett all contributed at this time. Family supported me then as well, Daina Kulnys, Erika and Aniko. Dee Fontans, my spouse, has been a beautiful part of my life, and a complete pillar supporting me and my activities. I have been a lucky man. Many professionals, colleagues, and advisors helped as well. Alan Revere, Robert Kaylor, Thomas Mann, Tom Joyce, and Kate Wol have all been pivotal influences for me. Tim McCreight, besides being a vital role model for me, has been the driving force and, along with Abby Johnston, a patient editor of this book. I thank them for all their hard work and suggestions as we brought this book together.
Contents Introduction
Before We Get Started... Mental Pictures Foldforming and Natural Forms 1
Overview of the Folds
Categories of Fold-Forms Line-Folds T-Folds & Chasing on T-Folds Cross-Folds Rolled-Folds Woven-Folds Scored- and Bent-Folds Shear- and Forge-Folds 2
Materials & Tools
Properties of Metal Deformation Annealing Working Metals Hot Metals for Foldforming Tools Hammer s Mallets Opening Tools Anvils, Stakes & Vises Additional Studio Tools 3
Basic Line Folds
Basic Line-Folds Other Kinds of Line-Folds Alternate Line-Folds Miscellaneous Line-Folds 4
T-Folds
Techniques, Principles & Variations Basic T-Fold Unfolding variations Variables in T-Folds Wedge T-Folds 5
Miscellaneous Folds
Cross-Folds
Rolled-Folds Pleated M-Folds Pleated-Folds Woven-Folds Hydraulic Press-Folds Tube Forming Belly Buttons Hardness Dams Folds derived from paper models Forge and Shear-Folds Corrugations Combination Folds Appendix
Family Tree of Foldforming Health & Safety Equivalent Numbers Temperature Conversions Suppliers
Betty Helen Longhi , pleated copper
Introduction
Foldforming is a conceptual, physical, and intuitive approach to metalsmithning that is informed by the natural characteristics of metals. Rather than forcing form upon a material, this system exploits the inherent qualities of plasticity, ductility, and elasticity in metals, offering a significant new series o procedures that are extremely efficient for generating hundreds of unique, three-dimensional forms. Using the inherent characteristics of metal to generate forms teaches a deep understanding of the material and instructs us in the way forms develop in nature. Foldforming presents innovative and time-saving techniques that can replace or augment traditional goldsmithing procedures. Foldforming has been recognized by the British Museum Research Laboratory as a completely new approach to orking metals with hand tools, chosen by the Rolex Awards for Enterprise Committee, and has been featured in a book on innovative developments in science and invention in the world. The seeds of foldforming originated in Pforzeim, West Germany during the 1950s and 1960s at the Fachhochschule für Gestaltung. The approach of using process as a trigger for design, was explored by professors Klaus Ullrich, Reinhold Reiling, and others. In the case of fusing, for instance, this turns the mistake, “I melted it” into the discovery, “What a lovely surface.” Before this innovative approach, jewelry education was bound up in tradition, preciousness, and old trade attitudes that discouraged experimentation and sharing of information. The German government reformed the educational system in the 1970s, merging the “trade” system (the Fachhochschule) with the “university” system. Changes in the school system made it more difficult to gain admittance without having a high school diploma, and, in some cases, instructors who did not have a high school diploma were terminated. This caused a shift in the student population from skilled working professionals, to younger, inexperienced, unskilled middle- and upper middle-class students. Ullrich was now teaching students who only had a couple of years of art training, poor technical skills, and who found working in metal a struggle. Ullrich instructed his students to play with the metal and to use the marks of that process as design elements in their work—to consider the scratches and hammer blows as graphic marks that could contribute to the design process. This more spontaneous, process-driven approach reduced working time because the characteristics of the metal ere allowed to direct the forms as they developed. Professor Ullrich found that energetic discussion of design could begin almost immediately. Even students with limited technical skills could quickly acquire a vocabulary of design elements with which to work. During the 1960s and 70s, Gasthörer or, visiting students, were attracted from all over the world to study under Ullrich and Reiling. I remember hearing that at this time as much as eighty percent o the student body was made up of people who had already completed apprenticeships and masters programs but who came to the Fachhochschule für Gestaltung to improve their own design and compositional skills. After completing their periods of study, many of these people returned to their orkshops and galleries, while others entered the industry as educators, designers, and technicians. As a student of Professor Ullrich, I, too, learned the concept that the shapes and surfaces resulting from process can lead to design choices. Since 1980, I have pursued this concept of “forming using metal characteristics” into a recognized system. I conducted many workshops, using them as informal research labs where ideas and experiments led to exciting results with great potential. By 1983, this process-oriented approach had yielded a vast number of forms and textures. In 1984, I enrolled in the State University of New York at New Paltz where I undertook graduate studies. With Professor Kurt Matzdorf’s support, I began an intensive investigation of folding sheet material, manipulating it, and unfolding it. It was there that “forming using metal characteristics” was structured into a system, and
foldforming developed into a distinct branch of that system. My work has since expanded to include forms that are not derived from folds, but are related because they rely on exploiting the metal’s inherent characteristics. Examples include the use of hardness dams and selective collapsing of tubing by selective annealing. Currently, there are hundreds of people using foldforming in a number of countries including Australia, Canada, England, Germany, and the United States. There are now a number of discrete avenues of research available involving folding techniques. Each avenue provides great numbers o individual marks or process elements that are distinct enough to be worthy of naming.
Dee Fontans Bracelet Sterling silver, garnets, moonstones Mixed T- and line folds
Before We Get Started...
As a teacher with several decades of experience, I have found it useful to complement technical instruction with reflection on the way we process ideas. The bulk of this book is devoted to the process, procedures, and results of foldforming, but before we get started, I’d like to take a few pages to set the stage because these ideas and considerations helped engender foldforming.
Tradition Tradition is at once a great strength for goldsmiths and a terrible trap. Traditions exist for a reason, and the original reason is always a good one. Unfortunately, conditions change and sometimes, even though the reason no longer applies, we continue to blindly use the same procedure or technique. An illustration of this tells of an American general observing a motorized British artillery team in action during the Second World War. The American leaned over to the British general and said, “What does that man do?” pointing to a man who stood at attention behind the gun and busy crew. The British general did not know and when he looked into it, he found that the man was there to keep the
horses from bolting, horses that were, by that time, long gone from the team. There are many things we do in everyday life and in the workshop that make almost as little sense as this. It is important to evaluate tradition and procedure in the knowledge of process. We should all periodically examine the working procedures and traditions that we learned in school to be sure we are not accidentally adding unnecessary steps or missing opportunities for innovation. This doesn’t mean that we should throw out all our habits, but that we remember to re-evaluate them every once in a while.
reciousness and Serendipity Preciousness is an issue of some importance to metalsmiths and especially jewelers. It is in the nature of our field that the cost of materials and the time involved end up placing a high value on the objects e make. By contrast, a potter may smash many pieces from a kiln load to avoid having unsuccessful ork live on in their history (a policy I find vaguely suspect, as if those pieces weren’t part of you as ell). Jewelers would have difficulty in doing that with many of their pieces, at least if the decision as based solely on design reasons. I notice that I work freely and surely when I work with copper, and find myself somewhat hampered when I am working with sterling silver and gold. Therefore, copper and other throwaway metals are especially useful for working out artistic ideas and sketching in metal. The results can then be translated into precious metals. Preciousness is also a saving grace that forms a special characteristic of metalsmithing because it forces us to choose serendipity—the lucky accident or golden chance. Imagine this situation: You have finished a piece after untold hours of work, and take it to the rouge buff one last time, only to have it snatched from your fingers and sent caroming around the polishing hood. Presented with a gouge across the surface, you realize that repair would be extremely difficult so you look at it again and say, “Nice gouge.” You then proceed to gouge up the surrounding surface to match, wipe your brow and think, “...saved that one.” By making the accidental moment intentional, by choosing it and altering the piece to match the accident, we bring the work into some kind of balance again. We usually do not stop to realize that we now have discovered a gouging tool; a new way to texture metal that is extremely fast, (though, in this case, too hazardous to use). This unwillingness to scrap a piece is influenced by the preciousness of the materials we use. This is our advantage; that preciousness itself forces us to choose serendipity. Serendipity is, I believe, the driving force behind most innovations in the arts, science, and every field of human endeavor. Many anecdotal examples could be given, but what interests me is that serendipity refers not to the event itself, but to the perception of it. Without someone choosing the serendipitous moment, it does not exist. Recognizing or synthesizing serendipitous moments can tell us things that may be useful in our work. Being open to observe what is happening and comparing that event with others helps me to stay fresh. With each recurrence, I become more likely to use these moments, and faster at connecting these observations to others.
rocess and Procedure There is a fundamental difference between process and procedure. Process is what really goes on, hat actually happens when we work with a material. Process can be described in scientific terms or paraphrased to create an easily understood mental model of what is occurring. Examples of process include using heat, squishing a material so that it flows like clay, using subtractive removal by abrasion.
A procedure is a way of affecting a process; it is a recipe, a technique. For any single process, there may be dozens of procedures to obtain a similar end result. Mixing chocolate flavoring into milk is a process; stirring, shaking, whipping, and so on, are all procedures. If we know only procedures, we can be stopped by a technical problem. If, on the other hand, we can come at a problem through its process, we find that we have creative options for solving technical problems. To illustrate this, imagine a person who was taught how to cook an egg only by frying it (a procedure). Armed with only that information, this person is doomed to a rather boring menu. If he looks past that single procedure and instead thinks of the process (How can I cook an egg?), then he will be led to all the possible procedures for cooking an egg. These might include piling gunpowder over the egg and setting fire to it, using a magnifying glass, or even the proverbial sidewalk. By going to the process, he discovers almost unlimited procedural options. Some will not be appropriate for one reason or another (eggs cooked by gunpowder might leave something to be desired), so the next task is to make the appropriate technical choices. I believe that goldsmithing skills should be taught through the use of process rather than procedure. This allows a student to build an understanding of process without feeling trapped by techniques or lack of skills. As we know, there is no right way to do things, merely variations of more or less appropriate approaches to the technical problem at hand. By attempting to always define the process, new and different solutions to problems present themselves. Eventually, the apparently ridiculous answers you may have come across could prove to be the correct solution under a different set of conditions. By mentally listing some possible answers, you begin to develop an understanding of process, and what is occurring in a technical procedure. This can lead to faster solutions for the technical problems that we all experience. Craftsmanship is also enhanced with this approach to orking. Conducting experimental series can be a useful process to help learn about the working properties of materials. The idea is to perform a series of related experiments where only one variable is changed in each piece in the series. This allows us to observe and understand the nature of the material being tested. This was the method I used to explore foldforming, and clearly it has been a valuable tool for me. Mental Pictures
I find it helpful, both in teaching and as I pursue my own experiments, to have a mental image o hat’s going on beneath my fingers. Here are a few mental models that may prove useful as you explore foldforming. METAL AS CLAY
Most people have, at some point, in their life held a handful of clay or dough. It is more like metal than you might think. When metal is folded or hammered, it flows. A colloid like clay is a mass o particles in a lubricant, a fluid that allows them to move in response to pressure. To make the point, compare it to paper. If you fold a piece of paper, the fibers in that specific location become bent, period. Regardless of how you work the paper in one spot, adjacent areas will not get thicker or thinner; there is no flow. Metal is supremely pliable. Traditional silversmiths have been proving this for centuries. A tall cylindrical vase can be hammered up from a flat disk of metal. Nothing is removed and nothing is added; the radical transformation from disk to vase is the result of movement within the metal itself. It is not a metaphor but an accurate description to say that the metal has flowed.
METAL AS GEL-FILLED BALLOON
Here’s another mental picture, not meant to confuse the metal-as-clay image, but presented to illustrate another important aspect of metalworking. Imagine holding in your hands a balloon filled ith jelly, or one of those blue ice-packs before freezing it. When you push your thumb against the bag, the effect is transmitted throughout the entire lump. Press straight down on a piece of paper and not much happens. Press straight down on the balloon and it will transform into a thinner, flatter, larger form. So it is with metal too. We can affect areas some distance from the working area—a push on one place will distort areas distant from the spot being pushed.
etal distributes fo rce throughout its mass. Pressure on one spot will translate to movement elsewhere
STRESS POINTS AS FORMING TOOLS
It is possible to use work hardness to build a structural tool in the very sheet itself. When we strike metal with a hammer, the blow creates a tough spot, a “frozen” section that is harder than the unstruck areas around it. To say it another way, annealed metal has a given amount of capacity to move. Each hardening event (and this would include hammer blows, twisting, pressing in a die, etc.) will use up some of this capacity. This occurs locally, which means we can control the location of the hardening and use it to our advantage. In foldforming we call such work hardened places “dams.” Levering a work hardened area against a malleable area is a common tactic in foldforming. One example of a dam is the ruffling effect in a line-fold where the open side has been forged. Foldforming and Natural Forms MODELING NATURE
As you’ll see throughout this book, the results of foldforming frequently look like forms found in nature—seashells, animal horns, leaves, flowers, folded blades of grass, and other organic growths. This demonstrates that foldforming works at the boundaries of the natural limits of the material, where nature’s rules begin to show. The same laws that dictate form in nature are reflected and reiterated in foldformed metal. I think this phenomenon lends foldforms a kind of natural beauty that transcends the results more often obtained through the traditional process of imposing a shape on material. An example of this is the Rueger Fold that resembles a ram’s horn or seashell. In both the metal and the natural object, spiral forms develop because of greater growth or stretch on one side than the other. It is not a coincidence that these forms resemble each other—they’re being built according to the same rules. The breadth of this observation is vast. A geologist who was learning about foldforming told me that the flow, displacement, and surface resistance that we were exploring in metal were similar in several ways to geological processes. The earth itself, according to him, exhibits many of the same effects that occur in foldforming.
When something looks like something else, there is most likely a relationship. Many foldforms model nature so closely that I believe they offer the potential for greater understanding of the mechanics and constraints of organic growth. This aspect of foldforming is one of the reasons I continue to be fascinated with the process. LOW ENERGY, HIGH ENTROPY FORMS
When nature makes a shape, she usually expends the least amount of energy possible on it. Nature does not waste a calorie. Biologists call these structures low energy, high entropy forms, and they have found them in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and materials. The efficiency of these naturally occurring forms is demonstrated in pod and plant-like foldforms. These shapes can be made in metal incredibly quickly, often in a matter of minutes. The simple process of folding, working, annealing, and unfolding often results in forms that cannot be produced by any other method, and that are frequently new to the field.
Rauni Higson Lotus Candlesticks Sterling silver 12 inches tall photo by The Metal Gallery
Chapter One
An Overview of the Folds
Most foldforming involves four basic ste ps:
Principal variations include the style of the fold, the number of folds, and the ways a series of folds react to each other. Some types of foldforming (scoring and bending, for instance), involve setting up a weaker place in sheet metal so that the metal will bend or fold on a specific line. Other avenues o related folds include interwoven and tube folds. Because this process uses the metal’s own characteristics—basically doing what the metal wants to do anyway—radical changes in cross section and surface can be made in only a few minutes. The speed with which flat sheet metal can become a three-dimensional form can seem like magic. The tools used for this are familiar to most metalsmiths: hammers, mallets, anvils, and sometimes a rolling mill. Complex high-relief forms are produced from single sheets of metal often with a single annealing. These shapes can resemble chased, constructed, and soldered forms, but are produced in a fraction of the time they would take by conventional techniques. For instance, the traditional way to make a square ridge on a piece of sheet is to solder on a square wire, a process that not only anneals the sheet, but threatens firescale and solder spills. In the foldforming technique called Line-folds, we can obtain an almost identical look that avoids those problems, does not involve soldering, and usually takes half the time.
Foldforms are often so beautiful that they can be used as finished objects by themselves, but I think their best use is as starting points or components of more complex pieces. An example of this might be slicing up a foldform, manipulating the elements and reattaching them, or soldering a foldform as an element in a constructed structure. It is also possible to “chase on air” using a T-fold technique, a process that can shorten a chasing procedure by hours. Foldforming offers a major new series of procedures for production work, creating unique textures and surfaces that work well as components for casting. A number of production shops now use foldforming as part of their working vocabulary.
Starting with Paper Models There is an important difference between the malleability of metal and the way that paper bends, but even so, I’ve found that paper or sheets of thin plastic can be used to find ideas for starting foldforms. Working with paper allows rapid investigation of starting folds for metal.
Because paper and metal behave differently, there are some limits in work ing with paper models. Still, pap er can off er valuab le insights. I remember a ten-hour plane flight in which my experiments with napk ins and notepaper yeild several new f olds. This Ward Fold shows the dif ference between paper models and metal forms.
Categories of Foldforms
Over the last two decades, foldforming has yielded hundreds of diverse forms. In fact, it is so easy to ork up ideas for foldforming that my original policy of naming new folds after the originator has become unwieldy. In the early days, when a person came up with a new direction in foldforming (not merely a variation on an existing fold), I named that fold for them. Some of those names will appear later in this book. Other folds, such as line, star-pod, T-folds, boat, etc. are ones I have discovered.
In an attempt to make this information easier to understand, I have grouped the folds into categories, or families. Each of these is discussed in greater detail later in this book, but I think it will be helpful to include a short introduction here. It is important to point out, though, that the real power of foldforming comes from the combinations of multiple folds. Just as we teach language by breaking it down into words and letters, the objective in the end is to reassemble those parts into a unique new structure. That’s where the magic happens! Line-Folds
A basic line-fold is made by folding a piece of metal, flattening the fold edge, annealing the metal, and unfolding it.
Several varieties of line-folds.
T-Folds
T-Folds represent an enormous number of starting points for investigation of form. The primary advantage of a T-fold is that two fold edges are formed at once, which immediately makes the forms more complex. They also offer a wide range of options, including the size, shape, and location of the three flanges or panels of the “T.” Using a vise to pin the legs (or not) as the metal is hammered influences the outcome considerably.
T-Folds. Primary variables are achieved by whether the fold edges are forged and how the sheet is unfolded.
In this cross section view of a T-fold the fold edges are mark ed with arrows. Most f oldf orms have fold edges.
Cross-Folds
While a T-fold has two fold edges, and is thus more efficient than a plain line-fold, if you are trying to make fold edges, a cross-fold will give you three at once. Cross-folds can be used to make three parallel line-folds much closer together than possible any other way.
Cross-folds are made by creating a structure with the cross section of a cross, or plus sign: +. In this example, two folds ha ve been made, the second running at a right angle to the first.
The cross section view of this fold shows where the name comes from.
Rolled-Folds
Rolled-folds owe their name to the fact that they are made with a rolling mill. Rolled-folds are either a package folded up evenly and put through the mill (as with the Heistad Cup) or are folded so that
one side has more layers of metal than the other.
Heistad Cup, showing several views of the cup simultaneously.
Good Fold (rolled-fold variation). This illustrates the smooth curves typical of this form.
Woven-Folds
Woven-folds involve simple interweavings that are used to lock different parts together (as in an Adams Fold) or are worked while interlocked, or even just left folded together as a shape. An example of this last is “Boondoggle,” which many children learned in summer camp. People who know a lot about simple interweavings that can be adapted for foldforming include those who do chair caning, pastry work, sewing and ribbon work, leather strip work, and basket makers. Children’s rainy day book projects are a source for ideas. Everything you learned to do with gum wrappers as a child can be brought into metal.
This example of a woven-fold is made by interlacing two strips of metal, in the same way that many of us wove lanyards with boondoggle at summer camp.
dams Fold. This complex form illustrates what can h appen when combining fo ldforming techniques. In this cas e, line-folds were woven together.
Scored-Folds
When folding paper, it is common practice to run a scribe along a straight edge to make a dent in the material. This process is called scoring. In traditional metalworking, a crisp mitered corner is created by removing metal, usually with a scraper, a graver, or by machining. A simpler (but cruder) approach is to compress metal along the area to be bent by either striking it with a sharp steel rod or against the edge of an anvil. All of these methods are also called scoring. In my experiments with foldforming, I refined a method by using a rolling mill and a tough wire to create a controlled indentation along a line I want to bend. After rolling, the metal is annealed and bent with fingers along the groove that was pressed into the metal by the wire. Another way of doing this that produces the same effect is to tape a wire onto the sheet metal and then planish it evenly on an anvil surface. Depending on the thickness of the sheet and the intended use, the bend area is sometimes soldered to improve its strength. There are a number of folding options that are possible only by a sequence of scoring, soldering, and unfolding. I prefer using a separating disk for most scoring and bending procedures. Straight scoring and curves can be done freehand. To obtain a sharp bend, score until a line shows distinctly on the reverse side of the metal. Bend the sheet with your fingers, then solder from behind to strengthen the fold. Bending up a curved scored line will give dimension relative to the degree to hich the curve is folded. If, after soldering, you gently unfold the piece again and flatten it, you will obtain a curved line-fold.
selection of forms showing the sensuous curves achieved by folding after scoring with a separating disk.
Shear- and Forged-Folds
Examples of shear- and f orged-f olds, singly and stack ed.
Pleated-Folds
These are folds that are pleated, similar to the fans we made as kids. They can be pleated in a number of different ways beyond the simple back and forth “venetian blind” approach. Angles of pleating can be alternated and widths varied to produce differing results. The main key to pleating sheet metal evenly is to start in the middle of the sheet and work outward.
Examples of p leated-f olds. This foldf orm is particularly easy to repeat consistently.
Betty Helen Longhi Pleated Brooch Sterling silver and niobium 3 inches by 1½inches Photo by the Peter Groesbeck
Chapter Two
Materials and Tools
Properties of Metal
As stated earlier, foldforming springs from letting metal do what it wants to do naturally, or as I’ve described it before, “forming using metal characteristics.” It makes sense, then, that we start with the terminology that metallurgists have developed to describe those characteristics. The following descriptions are a bit oversimplified, but are sufficient to give studio metalsmiths a basic understanding of the material in their hands.
ardness Hardness in metals refers to its resistance to being dented—the way it behaves under impact. This is different from hardness as it relates to gemstones, where the term refers to the ability of one material to scratch another. Hardness in nonferrous metals is measured by pressing a hardened steel sphere or a diamond cone into the surface at a given pressure. The depth and diameter of the resulting dent is measured and the numbers read on a gauge that gives a hardness number. The two most commonly used systems are the Brinell (which uses a sphere; results written as “75HB”) and the Rockwell (which uses a cone). The Rockwell device has several scales that are used for different kinds o materials. The relevant scale for us is called the B-scale, and results are written as “RB41.”
The Rock well system tests hardness by p ressing a cone; the Brinell system is similar but uses a sphere.
Ductility is tes ted by stretching a sample under a k nown load or f orce. Malleability and tensile strength are usually measured with sideways force.
uctility Ductility refers to the ability of a material to stretch. It is a measure of how easy or difficult it is to
elongate or draw it out. The more ductile a metal is, the more it can be drawn, chased, raised, rolled, and forged before it needs to be annealed.
alleability Malleability refers to the capacity of a metal to deform or bend. A metal that can be bent and rebent ithout breaking (such as household aluminum foil) is described as being very malleable. A brittle metal that cannot bend without breaking has little or no malleability. Clearly this is relevant for metalsmiths, because the greater the malleability, the more easily and efficiently a metal can be orked.
Tensile Strength Tensile strength is related to malleability in that it is a description and measure of the furthest extent of malleability. The formal definition is this: Tensile strength is the maximum amount of stress that a metal can withstand before it breaks. Deformation
There are two kinds of deformation: elastic and plastic deformation. Elastic deformation occurs when a piece of metal is pushed, bends in response to pressure, and then bounces back when the pressure is released. If the metal bounces back to its original position, then deformation has occurred within the elastic zone. Elastic deformation is intrinsic to a particular metal and also dependent on the degree o ork hardness present. For example, 18k gold will behave differently than 14k gold, and work hardened 14k will act differently than 14k gold that has been annealed. The more work hard the material is, the more pressure you can put on it within the elastic zone, and the more springback there is. The degree to which this can happen varies from metal to metal. If the pressure is such that after deforming the metal stays in a new position, then its elastic limit has been passed, and it has moved into plastic deformation. Plastic deformation indicates that you have actually altered the form of the metal. Bending a straight wire into a circle and hammering a flat sheet into a bowl are both examples of plastic deformation—a pretty magical transformation when you come to think of it.
In elastic ela stic defo de formation, rmation, the sample springs sp rings back bac k to its original or iginal shap s hape. e. In plastic def ormation, the th e metal is be nt.
Marne Ryan, Plaid Vessel Vessel 14 14 Copper, 12 by 9 inches. Made using pleated line folds, starting from a 20 gauge sheet that was 24" square. Photo by George Post.
The degree of plastic deformation available, like elastic deformation, depends on the metal (or alloy), and its degree of work hardness (that is, how much plastic deformation has been “used up” before you got to it). Plastic deformation deformation has a limit, limit, and and usually it’s easy to see. Set a sample sample o metal on an anvil and hit it hard until it breaks—you’ve just found the limit of plastic deformation.
While it might sound a bit crude, this is actually a useful experiment when you first start to work with a new metal or alloy. Not only will you know what the plastic limit is, but you might be surprised at how much abuse the metal can take before it cracks. Foldforming works closer to the plastic limits than most metalsmithing, and that is one of the things that makes the process faster than traditional ways of working with sheet metal. While careful, tender hammer blows will work with foldforming, it is the wickedly forceful blow that calls forth the most interesting forms. For each metal there is an optimum point in the stress at which to anneal. Copper, for instance, can withstand an 85% reduction before annealing. This means that a sample o copper one millimeter thick can be rolled to an amazing 0.15 millimeter before it needs to be annealed. Sterling silver is best when annealed after reducing the thickness by 45%, while 18k gold has a preferred reduction of 75%. In practice this means that it is more efficient to judge when to anneal by careful measurement rather than the more subjective device of annealing when the metal feels tough. Annealing
Metals are made of crystals, crystals , geometric geometric elem ele ments ents that natu natural rally ly organize organize themsel themselves ves into one one of a sm small all number of structures called crystal lattices. When stressed, each crystal gives up a bit of its form and its location in the matrix. This results in a harder material and is called work hardening. When heated, metals have the remarkable ability to re-form new crystals, using a bit of this one and a bit of that one to start over. We call this process annealing, and without it, this book would end here. Like most metalsmiths, I was taught that the indicator for annealing temperature was the appearance of a “dull red.” This highly subjective term, however, comes from a pre-electric light era hen studios were much darker than they are today. A designation that was open to interpretation in the best of times is now nearly meaningless, and in fact misleading. By the time a red color shows up in a normally lit room, the metal is much hotter than it should be. Overheating enlarges the crystal grains of the metal which make it more likely to tear or be damaged during any forging, drawing out, rolling, raising, and chasing. For all standard precious metals (except for nickel white gold) and all base metals, metals, the the best cry cr ystal structu structure is i s created cr eated by working working the the material material fairly heavily heavily and ann annealin eali ng, followed immediately with a quench in water. Nickel white gold is air cooled instead. Clearly, a device to indicate temperature is needed, and fortunately there are several options available. availa ble. See the the chart below. Each metal and alloy has a specific ideal annealing point, but a general rule of thumb is sufficient for our needs. My favorite method is to watch the flame color. It will turn distinctly yellow-orange at the moment the metal surface reaches about 800° F (425° C), which is a temperature that approaches the annealing range of most jewelry alloys. In practice, by the time you have recognized the yellow flame and have reacted to it, the temperature will have risen and you will be at about the right temperature for all the metals that we are concerned with. Allow the metal to cool to below 500° F (260° C) before quenching. I recognize this temperature by holding my hand hand an inch or two above the the metal. If I can tolerate the the heat, it’s OK to qu quench ench.. Quenching before this not only undoes the annealing action, but can cause severe stresses in the metal. Quench only in water. Quenching in pickle can trap pickle in the crystal structure. Steel is usually worked hot, in which case, annealing is not necessary, but because there are times hen it’s helpful to anneal steel before working it cold, let me include the instructions here. Anneal steel by heating it to a bright red color, then cool it as slowly as possible. The very slow cool can be
effected by heating the steel in a kiln and then turning the kiln off and allowing it to cool to room temperature—the longer the better. This is the opposite of what we do to anneal silver, gold, and base metals. Another way to extend the cool-down period is to insulate the steel in refractive materials like kitty litter, pumice chunks, sand, silicon carbide, vermiculite, ashes, or crushed fire brick.
Working Metals Hot Some metals are too rigid to be worked at room temperature, but become malleable when very hot. Steel and titanium are examples of this, and most of us have an image of a blacksmith hammering red hot steel to illustrate the point. Other metals can only be worked at room temperatures, and become brittle when hot. Som Somee bronze bronze and brass brass alloys a lloys are examples examples of this; this; they they are called “hot short” short” by the the old-timers. A third category of metals and alloys can be worked both at room temperatures and when heated. Copper, silver, and gold are among these, though in each case it is important to work within a fairly narrow temperature range. Striking a piece of red-hot sterling, for instance, will cause it to shatter. Ways to Read Annealing Temperature
• Temperat emperatu ure stick stickss (Tempil ar e waxy w axy crayon cra yonss that contain contain glass powders powde rs that that change change (Tempil Sticks) Stick s) are color at specific temperatures. They are sold by welding supply companies, and come in a variety of temperature ranges. You’ll need to know the proper annealing temperature for the metal you are using to know which ones to buy. Drag the crayon across the metal to make a stripe, then heat until the mark melts. • Borax-based Borax-base d fluxes fluxes such as Handy Flux go from gray to clear at exactly 1100°F (593°C). A disadvantage of this method is that it leaves a glassy residue on the metal that must be removed with pickle. • Th Thee outer outer section se ction of a normal normal gas flame flame turns turns yell yellow ow at anneal annealing ing tempera temperatu ture. re. • Blue Blue carpen car penter’s ter’s chalk tu turns white at ann annealin eali ng tem temperatu peratures. res. • Ivory Ivory Soap turns turns black at ann annealin eali ng tem temperatu peratures. res. • When a bamboo bamboo skewer skewer or similar piece piec e of wood rubbed rubbed on the the metal metal leaves a trace that that looks like it was drawn with artist’s charcoal, annealing temperatures are near. • A line drawn with wi th a permanen permanentt marker marker like a Sharpie disappears dis appears when you have have reached re ached annealing temperature. Metals for Foldforming
Precious Precious Metals M etals Foldforming techniques lend themselves to being used with most metals, including precious metals like fine silver and golds over 20k. To my surprise, platinum works very much like copper and fold-
forms beautifully be autifully.. Very soft metals like fine silver can make effectively strong foldformed objects because thickness strength can be exchanged for structural strength. That is, the ribs and changes in the cross section created in a complex form make the structure so strong that it compensates for the lack of tensile strength in the metal. It is important to acknowledge that a piece of metal is not necessarily weakened by thinn thinning ing parts parts of it. I was explainin explaining g this this on once ce to a class and an eng engineer piped pi ped up and said, sai d, “Oh! You mean you have an increased crosssectional moment of inertia.”
ase Metal Metalss Base metals have the double advantage of being inexpensive and having good workability. Brass alloys and nickel silver work well, but copper is my favorite because it provides instant feedback and does not require too much physical work to foldform. Standard aluminum is so plastic it makes copper look stiff. Titanium works as well, though it is best worked hot. Niobium, like pewter anneals at room temperature, so it is functionally always annealed. Niobium works well with rolled-folds, but not as well with forged ones where the highly stressed fold edges tend to break. To gain a similar effect of a more ductile metal in a stiffer material, simply hit it harder, or with more blows.
Steel My early work with foldforming used nonferrous metals and was confined almost entirely to work that could easily be held in one hand. In 1997, I gave a series of demonstrations at the conference o the the Artist–Blac Ar tist–Blacksm ksmith ith Association Associ ation of North Ameri America ca (ABANA) (ABANA) in Alfred, New York. The conference as a memorable moment for me, made better by having Tom Joyce working with me, using a gigantic power hamm ammer to form qu quarter-i arter-in nch steel. I foun found the the blacksmith blacksmithss to be enth enthu usiastic about about foldforming, and able to quickly understand the concepts.
Teri Kinnison, Two Bracelets. Sterling 14k double-clad gold. 1½ inches wide. Both bracelets were made using forged pleated olds. Photo by David Da vid Vogt. Vogt.
Since those demonstrations, the blacksmithing community has pursued foldforming on a largescale, creating forms that are six feet across or more. One artist sent me a photo of his house, where he had used foldforming to shape a piece of copper that was three feet wide and seventy feet long. He orked the entire piece with line-folds and other shapes, and then wrapped it around the top of his house under the eaves. In most of this book, nonferrous metals are manipulated against resistant areas that result from selectively work hardened metal. Foldforming steel is a bit the reverse in that the material is naturally resistant to deformation at normal temperatures. The only way to unfold a large piece of steel is to heat it. The process involves a well-anchored vise, a stout pair of vise-grips on the other end, and a lot of sweaty pulling to unfurl the form. Because heat does not travel well through steel, it is possible to selective sel ectively ly heat only only those those areas are as where you want bending bending (or un unfolding folding)) to happen.
This Rueger Fold demonstrates how f oldforming techniques allow the inherent properties of metal to mimic the rule of nature. If it was measured and graphed, this gentle scroll would adhere to the numerical Fibonacci Series.
Tools
The tools needed for foldforming are simple: hammers, mallets, pliers, vises, anvils, and the occasional stake. Some procedures, like scoring and bending, need special tools like separating disks used with a flexible shaft, wire of various hardnesses and materials (iron binding wire for instance), and chasing tools. A hydraulic press is used for one category of foldforms and a rolling mill for another category. Safety equipment is also necessary, good noise protection in the form of earmuffs (the best quality and least expensive are available through gun shops), eye protection, gloves, and a barrier cream. Hammers
Hammers that are useful for foldforming include forging and planishing hammers. This rounded synclastic peen is rounded like the surface of your thumb. The hammer has curves in the same direction. It is a very efficient shape for pushing metal in a given direction. When pulled (that is, struck at a slight slant towards the hand that holds the hammer), metal volume can be rapidly driven. The synclastic face, because it is curved, is more forgiving than a straight-across hammer, as is often supplied from tool sellers. A sharp hammer requires that you be perfect with your blows. Even one degree off, and the hammer dents the surface of the metal. A curved, synclastic-peen on the other
hand, delivers the same blow over a range of six degrees or so. This means that even if you are not perfect, you deliver the identical blow. Besides permitting a consistent blow, the curving face lets you forge just inside the fold edge itself, getting the most movement out of the metal while not hammering the actual edge into a dangerous razor-thin edge. The sizes and weights of the hammers you need depend on the type and thickness of the metal you are using. The thicker and harder the metal is, the heavier the hammer you will need. Larger work requires larger hammers. While I personally like to see the marks of process and flow in the object, it is also possible to use lighter hammers and controlled blows to produce smooth results.
orging Hammers Forging hammers are designed with a narrow peen and a heavy weight that makes them particularly effective for moving metal. A selection of traditional silversmithing hammers typically includes several forging hammers of various shapes and sizes, and these will be helpful to anyone working ith foldforms.
Forging hammers come in many sizes and weights—what distinguishes them is a rounded, polished cross peen.
For me, the best hammer f ace for foldf orming has a narrow peen with a soft, rounded shape.
aising Hammers Raising hammers are useful for thinning metal. There is one essential type that I call a “thumb hammer” because the striking surface is a large flattened oval that resembles the pad of a thumb. Such hammers are available from most jewelry supply companies.
This close-up of a raising hammer shows the shape I describe as similar to the shape of the pad of a thumb. One of the reasons I like this description is that it is consistent with the way I use this tool to press metal into shape.
lanishing Hammers Planishing hammers are used for smoothing and compressing. Most planishing hammers have one flat face and one slightly crowned face. The crowned face is by far the one more often used. The flat face is designed for smoothing convex curves. I don’t recommend it for general use because the sharp edge ill leave a nasty mark if the blow lands at an angle.
Planishing hammers are instantly recognized by their polished faces. They are made in many weights and several shapes. Most have one flat and one slightly domed face.
Chasing Hammers In foldforming, I use chasing hammers to drive stamps and chasing tools, and for this, I prefer a medium-sized tool (e.g., 10 oz.). A ball-peen hammer can be used instead, though the smaller face requires a bit more control to be sure the hammer finds the tool.
Chasing Hammers
Special Hammers Blacksmiths use a forging hammer with each peen set at right angles to the other: one in line with the hammer handle and the other at right angles to it. This hammer allows you to change your forging direction by simply flipping the hammer. A related tool, also drawn from blacksmithing, has the hammer set at a 45-degree angle to the handle for the same reason. I have also found uses for blacksmiths fullers. These tools are a cross between a hammerhead and a punch. They are set into position, sometimes by an assistant, then the upper face is struck with a hammer or mallet. A hammer can be set into a vise so the metal is forged from above and below, like a fuller. To avoid damage to the hammerhead, clamp it above or below the eye, not over it.
ssorted mallets, inc luding rawhide, plastic, and a dead blow.
allets Mallets of various kinds are necessary for pushing, flattening, and smoothing metal. Leather mallets that are 2½-3 inches in diameter are used most frequently because they are heavy enough to move the metal. They will, however, leave a surface imprint in some metals. For smaller pieces, use lighter and smaller mallets. Paper mallets are great for fine work, and are most appropriate with soft metals because they do not damage the surface. Smaller and odd shaped leather mallets for pinpoint work can be made from rawhide dog chews. You will be surprised what a useful selection of leather hammer shapes they offer. To make a mallet, drill a hole through the dog chew, then insert and glue a hammer handle in place. Wooden mallets are sometimes helpful with precious and base metals, and they are also useful hen working hot steel because they will move the metal without marring it (even if they do get a bit burned up). Nylon, Delrin, and other plastic mallets have their proponents, but I find they are often too light to move metal effectively, and hard enough to mar the surface of soft metals. Plastic mallets can sometimes be brittle, so inspect them periodically for cracks. Weighted plastic mallets, also known as dead blow mallets, deliver an effective blow that has no recoil. I like to use tapered mallets for pinpoint hammering. Pointed mallets made from buffalo horn are useful, and I’ve even used a leather dog chew in the shape of a bowling pin, mounted on a hammer handle, as a pointed mallet. Commercial suppliers for metalsmithing and automobile body work will have hammers in Delrin, nylon, and other materials readymade in various shapes. Like wooden mallets, these can be easily shaped for specific needs. Here’s an idea that might help when you’re trying to figure out which tool to use. If something looks like something else, there is probably a functional relationship between them. You can deepen your understanding of what you are doing by calling each by the other’s name. For example, a punch is a hammer without a handle, and a hammer is a punch with a handle. Once you have done this, you can sometimes find new uses for the tool. Here is an example. In foldforming I sometimes need to get very close into an inside right-angled area. In this case, I hold the hammerhead in my hand like an over-sized punch and strike the top peen with a mallet.
With a little rethinking, a ha mmer can be seen as a punch with a h andle.
Opening Tools Often you need help opening foldforms, beyond what the fingers can do. My favorite tool is a small pocketknife with a fairly narrow blade, and a locking mechanism. I’ve also made a number of opening and prying tools from screwdrivers by grinding the end into the shape of a canoe paddle. I have used a modified oyster knife, or a blunt butter knife that I narrowed slightly by grinding. Some people like to use a plastic tool to pry soft metals, and there are a number of plastic and wooden tools made for potters that can be used for this purpose. A wood or brass wedge will work and I know of one person ho makes small prying tools from old credit cards. The basic rule is that whatever opening tool you use, it should be made of a material that will not damage or mar the metal. When opening foldforms made with steel, you will need tools with long handles to keep your hands away from the heat. Make these tools with a T-bar handle, so that the blade portion of the tool protrudes from between the middle fingers of the hand like a push knife. This, combined with a paddle-shaped end, works very well with steel.
nvils
Opening tools for larger work. For small scale foldforming, use butter knives or screwdrivers with rounded blades.
A solid anvil surface is necessary for foldforming, and it is a good idea to use the heaviest anvil you can afford. If you are making jewelry, the anvil surface needs to be smooth and preferably polished. The size and weight of the anvil will vary according to the scale of the work you do. Jewelry-scale ork can be made on an anvil not much larger than your hand. These can be purchased commercially, but makeshift alternatives are also possible. I have used motor parts, a short length of railroad rail, and the bottom of an antique flatiron. Many vises include an anvil surface that is suitable for smallscale foldforming. The height of the anvil surface will depend on your build, whether you sit or stand, and the force of the blows you will deliver. A person hammering lightly will usually want the anvil higher than a person delivering heavy blows. Blacksmiths like to have the top surface about knuckle height. Stand ith your arm at your side, making a loose fist, and position the top of the anvil where your knuckles fall. This height can also be measured by taking up your most often used hammer and extending your forearm so it is parallel to the floor with your elbow comfortably bent. The surface of the anvil should be at the height of the hammer face. For most jewelry scale foldforming, I prefer to stand and use an anvil surface that is around abdomen height. At the preferred height, my arm is in an L shape, the forearm parallel to the anvil surface and the hammerhead on the anvil surface.
nvils can be bought new, used, or improvised from found materials.
When an anvil is at the p roper height, a comfortable blow will land with the hammer para llel to the anvil’s table and the f loor.
Farrier’s anvils offer a variety of shapes for odd forging situations, and are fairly affordable. These anvils have a relatively soft top surface, which means they are easily dented. This is not all bad—a blacksmith told me that working on a soft anvil surface eliminated his tendonitis which had been exacerbated by striking on a hardened anvil. If you are hammering correctly, you will dent the steel because you will always have a softer metal being worked between the hammer and anvil. In real life, even the best of us will occasionally hit the anvil surface and dent it, so my suggestion is to have several anvil surfaces around; a regular anvil (dentable) for general and heavy duty work, and a lovely hardened, polished anvil for careful work. Most anvils are made of cast steel with only the surface (or face) hardened. If the whole anvil is hardened, the anvil will make a sharp ringing sound when struck. While the noise may be annoying, another, possibly more serious drawback is that vibration from striking the hardened steel can contribute to fatigue and injury. To reduce the ringing sound, put a stump on carpet or a rubber mat, and place the anvil on the stump. The noise can be dampened further by placing a very heavy-duty magnet on the side of the anvil. (I salvaged a magnet like this from an old stereo speaker.)
Stakes Many foldforms are forged over curved surfaces. The horn of an anvil often works well, as do a variety of silversmithing stakes. Perhaps the best all-purpose stake is the combination T-stake, which
has a cylindrical section, a flat plate, and a ball-shaped tip. This serves well for almost all general foldforms that require the use of a stake. For jewelry-scale work, and for unusual situations, having access to a collection of stakes is a great benefit. If you’re not fortunate that way, it’s often possible to ury-rig a stake from other tools. For instance, in the same way that a hammer can stand in as a punch, hammers can do double duty as stakes. Clamp a hammer, peen up, into a well-mounted vise to use it like a stake. This arrangement doubles the effectiveness of forging—having a peen below and one above increases speed and creates forging texture on both sides of the metal. It takes a little practice to line up the points o impact—I like to start with gentle blows as I get started. When using a hammer this way, do not clamp it over the eye, (the hole in the hammer head where the wooden handle is inserted) because it might crack.
This medium size combination T-stake provides a range of useful surfaces at an affordable price.
Vises A strong vise is critical for foldforming. As a general rule, the larger the vise, the better, though size is related to the work you do. Other factors that are important considerations for foldforming are the idth of the jaws, the weight of the vise, and the drop, or the distance from the top edge to the threaded rod that runs through the middle. And of course to be fully useful, any vise must be well mounted onto a sturdy support. Almost any style of vise can be used, but if you are buying a tool specifically for foldforming, look for one in which the top of the jaws is flat and smooth. If the tops are angled or have a step, use a grinder to change the shape. Similarly, if there are marks in the top surfaces of the jaws, they should be removed too. T-Folds are made by hammering the metal down against this surface, and marks there ill be transferred to the underside of the “T.” Vises with replaceable jaw inserts are ideal for foldforming because they allow you to replace the toothed steel jaws with Delrin, nylon, hardwood, or other non-marring materials. As with all metalsmithing, the fewer marks you make on a piece, the less time it will take to finish it. The old adage is this: If you don’t want a mark in the metal, don’t put it there. In addition to using hammers with polished faces, this applies to the jaws of the vise. If your vise does not have removable jaws, make protectors by folding a sheet of thin-gauge copper over the top and around the aws of the vise, clinching the corners tight with a mallet in what looks like “hospital corners” when a bed sheet is folded tightly in place.
It is a good idea to have several vise options in the workshop for foldforming though a single, standard vise will do. My favorite vise is made by Wilton Company. Though they are expensive, I have found that these vises are solidly built, well designed for heavy-impact work, and the jaws have nice flat tops.
Use copper sheets to make jaw covers for a vise with rough surfaces.
Specialty Vises
Post or Leg Vise Another great vise for foldforming is a table- mounted blacksmith’s post vise, (also called a leg vise). This vise has several advantages: the top surface is smooth, (though slightly rounded), and the construction is sturdy so there is little chance of damage. The force of impact is transmitted through the leg to the ground, which allows each blow to be very effective. Perhaps best of all, leg vises are built for speed. Because they are designed for blacksmiths, who need to clamp metal quickly before it cools, the jaws are made to open and close quickly. A normal jeweler’s vise has a fairly tight thread, such that a 360-degree rotation of the handle will only open the vise about half an inch. Post vises have coarse threads, which means that a full turn of the handle will open the jaws an inch and a hal or more. Leg vises come in different sizes. The most common has jaws about four or five inches wide and stands about three feet off the floor. I have several others that have the same width jaws, but with a shorter leg that are intended to be mounted on a stump, and I have seen some jewelry-scale leg vises that are for bench-top use. All of these varieties mount against an edge, and all, even the small ones, open and close quickly. New post vises are expensive, but used equipment can sometimes be found through farm auctions. Because these tools are used by blacksmiths and farriers, contact with those communities is a good place to start a search.
ipe Vise Pipe vises used by plumbers have two sets of jaws that swivel, one above and below. They have a stepped indentation on each side of one of the jaws to permit a pipe or rod to be firmly gripped, and because the entire head of the vise swivels, this position can be altered easily. Because they are designed to hold pipe, they provide a strong grip on a stake or any similar thick rod. The distance
between the jaws and the threaded rod is larger than in a regular vise, which allows for larger foldforms. As with the leg vises, the threading is reasonably coarse which speeds up opening and closing the vise. Best of all, they have become really cheap—a vise with a 6-inch jaw sells for around $60. On the down side, the tops usually need grinding, and the teeth on the jaws are typically quite sharp. The jaws can be replaced with softer materials as described above. For me, the largest drawback of this style of vise is that because you sometimes have to juggle your piece and the vise at the same time while tightening, it can interrupt a smooth working rhythm.
Leg vises (also called post vises) are made to transfer f orceful blows into the f loor. They are rugged, sturdy, and efficient. There was a time when most farms had on e, and used models are still around.
Saw Vise These are unusually long-jawed vises used to hold handsaws for sharpening. They can be useful in foldforming, and can stand in for a bending brake in a pinch. Modifying Vises
Vises with Offset Jaws In my travels I have come across vises in which the jaws extend out sideways to allow almost unlimited space below. One was made by Wilton and another by Dawn; either would be a great find. Because they are difficult to locate (and perhaps to afford), I’ve devised a homemade version. Start with a stout vise with removable jaws and replace the original jaws with two pieces o angle iron. This ubiquitous construction material is a mild steel bar with an L-shaped cross section, available in many sizes. Cut two pieces the same length, (perhaps three times as wide as the existing vise jaws. Drill holes in the angle iron to match the location and size of the screws used for the replaceable jaws. Attach the new pieces into the vise with the original screws. It might be necessary
to grind the surfaces a little to make a perfect fit. If the angle iron is a large size (say, 2 inches or more), you’ll gain an immediate advantage because the top of the angle iron jaws meet higher on the vise. More than that, the area where the jaws project sideways from the vise creates an open space underneath. While you can’t forge heavily on these extensions, you can certainly form a T-fold that can then be further worked on more stable surfaces like a stake or anvil. It has been my experience that having a vise modified in this way provides several benefits for innovative folds.
Screw pieces of angle iron to the jaws of a vise to jaws that are longer and higher than usual.
Vise Handles The rod handles used on most vises reflect the needs of a swiveling machinist’s vise but there are times when something else is needed. I have a vise in which I replaced this rod with a wheel. This gives a great deal of control and power when opening and closing the vise and is worthwhile if you do a lot of foldforming. A production foldforming studio might consider a hydraulic-powered vise that uses a footcontrolled burst of hydraulic power to open and close the vise. Additional Tools
ending Brakes
This modified vise speeds things up.
If a fold needs to be repeated exactly, as in a production situation, or needs to be bent on a very specific hard-edged line, then a bending brake is helpful. These run the gamut from inexpensive tabletop aluminum brakes (used by model makers) to large steel tables that can handle sheets of metal that are several feet wide. A hydraulic press can be adapted to have a bending brake function, and some presses have an optional bending brake.
eaked Pliers and Vise Grips In the same way a saw vise is used to bend on a certain line, pliers with large flat jaws can be used to bend small pieces of sheet metal at a specific line. Examples of such wide-beaked pliers include canvas stretching pliers, pliers used in glass bead making, pliers for snapping tiles or glass, and wide aw vise grip pliers. In addition, an enterprising metalsmith can modify a pair of standard vise grips by welding or soldering steel bars onto the jaws.
orging Hammer Wedge Clamps It is possible to increase the number and potential placement of folds by having thin vise jaws. Putting more than two T-folds onto a bowl shape, for instance, is impossible without using narrow vise jaws. In a pinch, I’ve used forging hammers as clamps to give me the narrow jaws I need. Similarly shaped pieces of metal can be used in the same way. Sometimes I have used simple square steel rods to clamp metal in the vise to avoid crushing some part or other with the larger vise jaw surface. You can use pieces of square steel as chocks in the vise to get narrow vise jaws, rather like angle iron jaws described earlier. These are, in fact, vise jaw replacements, and other shapes may be useful at times. It is possible to use other things as vise jaws, for instance, a tube flaring tool used for enlarging the ends of plumbing pipe works as a vise for foldforming, and this simultaneously forms the table (top) of a T-fold while you are forming its starting shape.
Part of the f un of foldforming is inventing novel a pproaches and tools. In this example, a pipe flaring tool is used to indent the top of a T-fold.
This photo shows ho w two forging hammers are used to modify the n ormal grip of a vise. The bowl below was made this way.
This bowl was made using hammer clamps as shown ab ove. This obj ect illustrates the way T-folds can develop threedimensional orms.
ydraulic Presses One category of foldforming is made with a hydraulic press. This tool consists of two parallel steel surfaces that can be brought together with great force, similar to a vise. Hydraulic presses substitute the turning action of a vise handle with the force of a piston driven by hydraulic pressure, either through a hand crank mechanism or through the use of a small electric motor. Since its introduction to the jewelry community in the 1970s, hydraulic die forming has become a familiar technique, and many studios have invested in a press. Additional accessories include rubber pads to press sheet metal into dies and over shapes. Almost any rubber can be used, from pre-used rubber molds, sidewalls of tires, stacked inner tubes, to precise durometer urethane pads that last longer than rubber and provide predictable, consistent results. For jewelry, I recommend the Bonny Doon press series for its excellent quality and wide range of accessories.
hydraulic press can be seen as an automated and very powerful hammer, and in this context, it has a natural place in oldforming.
olling Mills My early experiments with foldforming were inspired by finding out how many ways I could make texture on a piece of metal with the wire mill. I folded sheets of metal, and ran them through the wire mill under strong pressure. Later the experiments were folded and rolled in a variety of ways and then unfolded after annealing. Most folds can be made without a rolling mill, but one category, Rolled- Folds, require the type of pressure that can only be achieved in a mill. Both sheet and wire rolls are useful for foldforming. Any mill with a good range of wire sizes can be used for texturing and forming folded metal. Sheet rolls, however, are most useful when larger, about five inches wide. Make sure you have a geared mill, with a 3:1 or better ratio, this means you have to work far less hard to roll metal. Basically, the wider the sheet rolls, the larger an object you can roll.
This foldform was run through the wire rollers of a rolling mill, twice.
Cynthia Eid Folded Servers Sterling silver, 8 by 2 inches Photo by the artist
Chapter Three
Basic Line-Folds
Line-folds offer a large area of exploration. In addition to the use of line- folds by themselves, it is valuable to understand them because the principles involved will show up again in many other folds. If we were making a family tree, line-folds would be near the top because they were found early in my foldforming research. Line-folds are important as a method of pleating and can be used in a series of scoring and bending to create three-dimensional forms. Forged line-folds are used in many foldforms, and frequently create shapes with strong similarities to organic forms. The following pages show a variety of examples of line-folds. As is true throughout this book, these have been chosen to illustrate the basic principles being discussed and to illustrate a few of the directions that have been explored so far. Many further investigations are possible using these basics as starting points. The most basic line-fold involves four steps: 1. Fold a sheet of metal over onto itself. 2. Mallet the fold to tighten the fold edge. 3. Unfold the sheet. 4. Hammer the raised line in a process I call confirming. Line-folds produce raised lines in flat sheet that resemble chased lines or applied wires. They make excellent pattern elements, cloissons for enameling, and serve to make changes in plane and direction in the sheet. Line-folds can also be used as starting points to produce three-dimensional forms. They can be run across each other, and I have even placed line-folds across a chased surface. They can run straight across an entire surface, or they can be limited to the center of a sheet. Linefolds can also be repeated to produce patterns of short raised lines. It is possible to produce curved line-folds by scoring and bending, techniques that will be described later. As with many foldforms, line-folds can be combined with other foldforming techniques to obtain more complex results.
This shape was made with a combination of forged line-folds, one section forged on the open side and the other on the closed sides. In addition to demonstrating what a big diff erence this simple variable can make, this piece shows the value of combining different types of foldforming.
Naming the Parts
It is useful to have some nomenclature for working with an object. When you describe the parts o something, and give them names, then you begin to understand what you are seeing and you can think about it differently. The names I’ll be using as we discuss line-folds are shown in this drawing.
Making a Basic Line-Fold
FOLD Fold a metal sheet so the fold edge is positioned where you want the line to appear.
TIGHTEN Mallet the folded sheet flat. If this was a piece of paper you were folding, the work of the mallet is like pressing the crease with your fingertip. Now comes a fork in the path—to anneal or not to anneal before unfolding. I usually anneal, but there are specific cases when I choose to retain the work hardness created along the fold. Opening an unannealed line-fold will result in a very high, stiff linefold that stands up from the surface. Unless you want this specific effect, anneal the metal before opening. Quench immediately in water; pickling is not necessary. It is important to dry all metal well before moving on to the next step because moisture will cause rust on tools.
OPEN Unfold the sheet with your fingers, then press the unfolded metal against a flat surface.
CONFIRM After opening, the fold edge stands up from the sheet as a rounded line. To convert this soft bulge into a proper line-fold, I pound it straight down in a process I call confirming the fold. This can be done ith a hammer, a rolling mill, or a hydraulic press. This downward pressure creates three bands o ork hardness—one along the top of the fold edge ridge and one each at the point where the legs touch the anvil surface underneath. A planishing hammer with a slightly crowned surface works well for this. Use gentle blows so you don’t squash the line out of existence. As you hammer more, the ork hardened bands within the sheet push against the still-annealed sections, collapsing them into the dense structure known as the basic line-fold. If the piece is small enough to fit into a rolling mill, that tool can be used to confirm the line, resulting in a very uniform line-fold. Variables
dding More Lines Additional lines can be added to the same sheet—parallel to, obliquely, or even superimposed upon earlier lines. Secondary lines appear to pass under lines made earlier. In this way it is possible to create a woven effect. If you make a lot of lines this way, the earlier ones will flatten and fade slightly as later ones are added. If you want to preserve earlier lines, as with die-forming a sheet covered in lines, flow solder into the back of the line-fold before further deformation.
Varying Line Height You can vary the height of the line simply by confirming some folds to a low level, others to a higher level, and one or two even higher off the metal. This can add a great deal to the visual richness of the surface. The rolling mill may also be opened or closed while rolling, or step rolling may be used to produce a variation in line height.
Textures It is also possible to use a riveting hammer or chasing punches to produce texture on top of the lines hile confirming. Upsetting line-folds like this is where the idea for T-folds came from. The linefolds can be roll-printed to texture only the top surface. Line-folds themselves can become a kind o texture and can be used as a component of other pieces.
Tight Line For a crisp line, make a very tight fold edge. As before, fold the metal and pound it flat with a mallet. Use either a planishing hammer or a rolling mill to further compress the fold edge. Don’t apply so much force that distortion occurs, but just enough to make a very tight fold. Anneal and open the sheet ith your fingers, gently. You may need to lever the legs up and down to achieve the intended final height of the line above the background sheet. Roll the metal through the rolling mill in a dead pass (i.e., no pressure on the metal). Increase the pressure in small increments with repeated passes to slowly compress the line into itself. If done correctly, the result is a line that looks like a square wire that has been soldered onto a sheet. Note that it is possible to go too far. Experiment so you don’t squash it flat. Varied line width is controlled by the tightness of the fold. The width of the line may be changed by planishing part of the original fold edge tightly, and other areas not so tightly, and unfolding.
The dark areas indicate hardness zones.
aking a Double Line To make a thin double line, planish very lightly or upset the fold edge in a vise before annealing and unfolding. You can achieve a similar effect by leaving the fold edge relatively loose and wide (1.5 mm +/-). When this is confirmed, it also forms a small double line. Line-folds can be combined with many of the other folding procedures to produce more complex forms.
To make a double line, start with a loose fold, then conf irm. The work hardened zone s will force the metal to dip in the center, creating the effect of a double line.
ultiple Lines This line-folding procedure may be repeated until the structural resistance of the metal prevents further folding. I’ve even taken chased figurative surfaces and run line-folds across them. Sometimes you can make two line-folds at the same time, by bending opposite ends of the sheet towards each other at the same time, not meeting in the middle. Anneal at every stage for an easier time of it.
eflected Lines If a sheet of metal is folded over double before making line-folds, you will have a reflection of the folds made when you open it up. One half of the lines are made while tucked inside the other half (the
top ones) so the pattern is reflected. This can be repeated to create complex visual surfaces.
Reflected line f olds
Other Kinds of Line-Folds
Centered Centered Line To create a fold that grows out of the sheet, crease the fold only in the center. I find the most effective ay to achieve this is by using a rounded hammer and stake. This allows me to pinch the metal selectively.
Centered Line with an Abrupt End Sometimes you might need to create a line segment that ends abruptly, rather than one that grows gradually out of the surface. To make this, I use a slightly crowned planishing hammer as a punch to drive the metal down, truncating the line. The procedure can be repeated to make a composition o short line segments, Xs, squares, triangles, and other patterns made up of short lines.
xtruded xtrud ed Line In this fold, the fold edge is thinned and forged outward instead of being hammered straight down onto the sheet. This produces a fin that rises out of the surface. It can be done as a centered fold, orking as much as possible on the outer edge of the fold edge. The extruded fold edge can also be step rolled with a rolling mill, drawing out a thin fin that emerges from the fold edge itself.
Wriggle Extruded Line When a line-fold is centered and a second is placed at a right angle to it, the first line is stretched during the process. In this example, a centered line fold is folded and pinched, and the fold edge is forged before it is annealed and opened. The piece is bent again at ninety degrees to the original line, the the first fir st thin extruded extruded fold edge is i s stretched. s tretched. When When the the sh s heet is i s now flattened flattened out, the the first fir st line l ine shows a predictable wiggle. wiggle. If the the fold edge edge is forged forged thin thin enou enough, when bent ninety ninety degrees to its axis axis and and then then flattened flattened out, it wil w illl wrigg wr iggle le in the the sam s amee way w ay..
inched Line A pinched line-fold is usually done with a curved hammer (above) and a curved stake (below). The name “pinch” comes from the fact this fold brings the metal together at only a single point. The metal is struck first several millimeters behind the fold edge, then drawn out as blows fall directly on the edge itself. Making a Pinched Line-Fold
1. Fold a sheet of metal where the finished fold should lie.
2. Forge a section of the fold, pinching it between two curved steel surfaces. Here I am using a polished forg forging ing hamm ammer and th the horn horn of of an anvil. anvil.
3. Deliver a few hammer blows that result in a rounded extrusion from the fold edge. Strike only the area being drawn out, leaving the rest of the sheet loosely folded.
4. Anneal, then open the fold and you will find that the extruded fin stands up from the surface. It is actually a hollow pocket, all the way out to the edge of the fin. It is possible to put several pinched
line-folds on the same sheet, with each addition requiring a separate annealing.
5. Open the form with your fingers, then use a mallet to flatten the surrounding sheet.
6. This is what the pinched fold will look like at this stage. A possible variation is to introduce a bit of a wiggle, as shown below.
7. Gently tap the raised fin, for instance with a raising hammer.
8. Form the raised pinch in whatever way complements your design. Alternate Line-Folds
Crossed alternate line-folds.
Alternate line-folds can be added to the sheet radiating from the center point, parallel, or oblique to it. Because the structural characteristics of this fold are so strong, it is necessary to anneal at every stage if you are adding additional folds. Such multiple radiating folds produce eruptions of the surface that cannot be achieved any other way in sheet metal.
1. Fold over a piece of metal and mallet it closed. Either planish the fold slightly (for a sharp, defined ridge), or flatten it gently with a mallet for a thicker, softer ridge. Anneal, quench, and dry the folded sheet.
2. Unfold with your fingers to about 40 degrees. I allow a finger to remain inside the fold to remind me to stop before flattening the sheet and before manipulating it.
3. Grasp the fold edge with half-round pliers and give it a sliding twist to one side. Hold the pliers so the metal bends over the rounded jaw of the pliers to avoid surface scarring.
4. Here is the intended result.
5. Flip the sheet over and make another twist in the opposite direction. The twists should have a long shallow angle.
6. Unfold the sheet and mallet it flat. Annealing is not necessary before the next step.
7. Roll slowly towards the center, stop and repeat from the other side. Even though the folded area now has three layers of metal, it will behave as a single sheet of metal. If the rolled areas are close to each other in the middle, the twist will be tight.
8. A rectangular sheet will curl in the direction of the fold. The process is easiest with a rectangular
cross section, but it will work with other shapes. The triple metal thickness of the folded area acts as a rib that provides structural support to the sheet.
Forged line folds in a pa ir of bracelets.
Forged Line-Fold
Forged line-folds are among the most interesting and evocative folds. There are three approaches to this fold: You can forge the open side, the closed side, or a combination of both sides. The proportion of fold edge to leg is very important. Shorter legs result in greater curvature, while longer legs reduce the degree of curvature. Forging the closed side can lead to shell or pod forms, and forging the open side tends to create leafy forms. There are two main choices: forge the open side of the fold or the closed side—each takes you on wildly different directions.
Helpful Tip
Remember that the outside shape of the sheet will influence the kind of forms that result. To test the principle, make similar folds in triangles, pentangles, circles, and ovals cut from sheet metal. I think you’ll be pleased with the wide variety of forms that come from even this simple variable.
Cynthia Eid, Folded Neckring IV. Sterling, 10 by 6 by ½ inch. Photo by the artist. Forging in this piece was done on the open side.
Making a Bracelet Using a Line-Fold
1. Wrap a long strip of metal around your wrist until the ends almost meet. Fold the strip lengthwise.
2. Trim the ends to blunt curves.
3. Forge the fold edge (the closed side of the fold).
To obtain maximum curvature, make sure the blow is at right angles to the fold edge...
4. ...and is a single mark that runs exactly halfway across the folded sheet. Turn the metal over periodically while forging to develop an even texture on both sides.
5. Be careful not to forge too much before opening. Stop forging when the bracelet is half an oval— hen opened, it will curl around the arm. Note that a pleated fold (one with an “M” cross section), folded up and down several times, will also forge nicely into a bracelet shape. If the goal is a smooth, polished surface, follow these steps: carefully planish out hammer marks as much as possible, anneal, polish while flat, and then open.
These samples demonstrate the important role of proportion of leg to fold edge. Starting with two pieces of sheet metal of the same width but dif fering leg lengths, fold one with short legs and the other with longer legs. Forge them the same way, stretching the metal out along the length of the f old edge, delivering the same blows to each piece. The sample with the sh orter leg curves more than the piece with longer legs.
Hammer Principles: Directional Forging
It is important to understand how to hammer, how to drive the metal directionally with a hammer peen. I prefer a synclastic forging peen for this work, with a slight flat area in the center of the peen. The metal moves at right angles to the blow of the hammer. This means that it is flowed in the same axis as the handle on the hammer. Think of chopping at a slab of clay with the side of your hand, the repeated blows will forge the material in the same way that a hammer works the metal. We use this as a way to drive the mass of material in one direction or another and this is how we get the most expression out of a fold form. Feel free to hit the metal really hard with the hammer as the nature o the material will show better if you do so, and the contrasts between visually thicker and thinner areas increases – which is often more attractive. Rueger Fold
Early in foldforming I was making line-fold shapes that looked like Viking ships. Paul Rueger, a metalsmith from New Hampshire, copied me but went further. The forms that developed curled around into an exciting shell-like structure. To duplicate this fold, start by making a long line-fold ith relatively short legs. The actual shape can vary, but a usual approach is to have the widest part close to one end and the slope tapering from that place to the end of the fold. Rueger Folds look best hen their proportions are long and graceful rather than short and stumpy.
Sterling Rueger Fold forged on the closed side.
Sterling Rueger Fold forged on the open side. When line-folds are forged on their open sides, they curve against the fold edge. Depending on where they are struck, the edges of these forms can be either thickened or thinned. If the edges become too sharp, they should be blunted by upsetting or burnishing. Small versions make for interesting earrings; I have seen this fold done successfully in gold that was as thin as 28 auge (0.3 mm). Even soft metals like fine silver will be structurally stable because of the changing cross sections of the form.
Steps to Making a Rueger Fold
1. Cut and anneal a strip of metal.
2. Make a long line-fold and mallet it tight.
3. Cut the metal on a curving line that arcs gently from the open side to the closed side of the fold.
4. The starting form will look like this.
5. Start hammering at the center and move outward. Use a slightly rounded forging peen, and stay just inside the fold edge so as not to crush it. Hammer blows should not extend more than one half of the distance from the fold edge to the open side of the fold. Each blow should make a single mark, and these should march up the entire form, making a symmetrical pattern of indentations.
You may have to adjust the hammer size or the force of the blow to get this single mark. The blows must be at right angles to the fold edge. This means that as the fold curves, the hammer changes position to maintain a 90° position to the fold edge. I usually use three courses of hammering with annealings between each course. The fold will curl around during hammering. Gold and silver alloys ill need annealing several times during the procedure.
6. Try not to hit the fold edge itself because this can cause a sharp and dangerous bulge. Hold the metal at the edge of the anvil so that if you miss with a blow, the force goes into air instead of landing on the anvil. In the narrower portions, working on the edge of the anvil allows you to tilt the hammer face, which improves control in this tight area.
7. The edge that is forged will become thinner and broader, forcing the metal into a curl. Repeated courses of forging (with annealing between), will allow you to develop a pronounced spiral.
8. Anneal the fold and open it carefully without kinking it. Use a dull knife blade to pry the form open, then continue with fingers and hands if possible.
The finished piece.
Charles Lewton-Brain Tennessee Foldform II Copper, 24" by 20" A large pleated f orged-fold.
Making a Leaf or Ruffle
This fold is an example of forging on the open side, and introduces how to use hardness dams in foldforming. Dams are work hardened spots, lines, or patterns within the sheet. This form illustrates the way we can use hardness dams to direct the movement of metal under force.
Helpful Tip
To avoid water splashing about the shop, I often cool annealed metal by placing it between two large blocks of steel. This is almost as fast as quenching and avoids trapping water in the recesses of the folds.
1. Start by making a squat line-fold that forms a rectangle when folded and flattened.
2. Trim the legs to a blunt curve with shears, then forge on the open side.
3. Hammer along the open edges with a series of evenly spaced blows. This will cause the fold to curve.
4. Hammer additional lines that radiate from the fold edge toward the open side, shown here in black marker. Carefully hammer on these lines to work harden them.
5. Using the same hammer, hit in exactly the same places as before, but this time strike harder, so hard that the metal squirts sideways. Because of the work hardness dams between the marks, the movement can no longer turn into curvature. Instead, the annealed metal between the dams has no choice but to rise up into clear and distinct ruffles.
6. Use a blunt tool to start opening the annealed form.
7. As always, open as much as possible with your fingers.
8. The finished ruffle.
s mentioned earlier, it is when f oldf orming techniques are used in combination that the process really starts to tak e of f. Here is a combination Rueger Fold in which some parts are hammered on the fold edge and other parts are hammered on the ope n sides.
Making a Star-Fold
1. The star-fold is a very good example of how a simple form can lead to myriad paths. Fold a square, corner to corner. Tighten the fold with a mallet, but not too tight. Anneal.
2. Open the form with your fingers and flatten it slightly. Do not confirm the fold.
3. Hold the form against a square edge and press down to make a fold that ...
… runs across the first, again, corner to corner.
4. Fold this down and tighten the fold with a mallet. Position this against the edge of the anvil so the first line-fold is not damaged.
5. Anneal, then open the form with your fingers.
6. Press the form down onto the edge of an anvil so the edge kinks in the soft middle between the points. points. Do th this to each qu quadrant adrant,, indent indenting ing each side.
7. The form will begin to collapse into a star.
8. Hold the fins against the anvil and mallet them flat, one at a time, until the final star form appears. Thee basic Th ba sic star can go in many many directions dir ections from here here..
9. More than twenty variations are possible by striking blows on varying combinations of closed and open edges. The more open and closed sides you have, the more complex the combinations become. Stars, trimmed
If the folded star form is trimmed, angling towards the center, the result will have a narrower proportion of leg to fold fold edge, and, and, hence, hence, more more curvature curvature wh w hen forg forged. ed. Again, Again, we can forge forge differen differentt combinations of open and closed sides of the fold to develop a variety of forms. By bending two of the fins over, the shape looks somewhat like a pitchfork or a trident. In fact, I call this a Trident-Fold. This is then flattened. It is also possible to fold a square of metal middle-tomiddle rather than corner-to-corner. This presents a whole new set of options. When the open side o such a fold is forged, it produces a flower-like form.
These pieces are made with a star form that was shaped by bringing the edges of a square together (as opposed to bringing the corners together). They were forged on the open sides.
Yet another variation is to create a tridentfold, with three fins up and one down. This offers options as to which sides get worked. Note tearing on the edges.
Stars, Stars, stacked st acked
Unit repetition is a powerful design method. A number of foldforms can be stacked by sliding one into another, and if you vary the sizes, the effect can be remarkable. When these forms are stacked in descending size, they remind me of lupine or foxglove flowers. Here the fins of the star are bent back upon themselves and flattened.
Stars, fold/shear
The star form is also a great example of a fold-and-shear approach, where a folded shape is cut into giving you more options for combinations of worked areas. Remember that the star form is only one example of this fold, and that when you create other starting points with different shapes and numbers of fins, entire new systems of foldforms will appear.
Scored Lines
Scoring and bending are familiar to traditional metalsmiths who use the processes to create-crisp corners in boxes and fabricated work. This section illustrates how this familiar technique can be modified to create a line-fold. My favorite approaches for making grooves for foldforming are scoring with a separating disk and hammering (or rolling) a wire into sheet metal. Each method produces a different effect: wire scoring generally produces a visually thicker line and eliminates texture on the front surface while a bend made using a separating disk is usually sharper and does not disturb any subtle textures printed on the surface before bending.
1. Carve a groove into sheet metal to create the path for the bend. This can be done with a graver, a
separating disk, by etching, scraping, or embossing.
2. Whatever the method, continue until a distinct line shows on the reverse side.
3. Bend the metal with your fingers.
4. Depending on the metal, the scale, and the arc of the groove, this might be accomplished in one step, and sometimes requires several annealings.
5. This piece will be soldered after bending, so protect against oxidation with flux when annealing, and either refrain from pickle or rinse well before soldering.
6. Flow solder into the scored grooves to secure and strengthen them. Pickle and rinse.
7. Flatten the sheet, either with a mallet or by passing it lightly through the rolling mill. This is where the line-fold appears—what had been a groove is now a raised line.
This process permits curving lines, patterned lines, and is especially good for curving, delicate lines. Lines made in this way can be layered by repeating the process.
Examples of scored work . The f irst shows a piece that was malleted almost f lat. The second was flattened, then rounded in the center. The bottom example was made from roll printed sheet a nd made crisp using on ly finger pressure.
Planish Scoring/Using an Edge
One of the simplest ways of effective scoring is planish-scoring. The sheet metal is held at a 45degree angle to a 90-degree edge and is planished onto the edge creating a precise, sharp angled groove in the metal. This then bends up very precisely. Silversmith Karen Cantine of Edmonton, Alberta uses planish-scoring to create silver tea sets, making geometric pieces with many angles and facets to them. They look like a construction nightmare to build, but the sidewalls are, in fact, a single sheet of metal with only one vertical seam. Other edges to planish onto will give differing angles o bend, but for most purposes, a sharp 90-degree edge will do. The degree to which it has been hammered onto the edge is important. If the groove is not deep, then the resulting bend will be rounded and soft-looking. The further the groove goes into the metal, the crisper and sharper the bend. Uniform hammering is important to keep the depth consistent. The technique also works for curved grooves, which can be struck over the edge of a round-topped stake or the end of a thick piece o round steel rod. The planishing hammer should have a slightly crowned, flattish, low-domed face. Any sharp edge will work to hammer onto. A bench block clamped in a vise can provide a good edge, as can some dapping blocks. The photos below demonstrate using the edge of an anvil to make a groove. The hammer is held so that it drives the metal straight onto the 90-degree edge. The grooves after hammering. It will now have to be annealed before bending up. The sheet is bent up with the fingers, gently. Sterling or gold may require another annealing partway through the bending procedure. The seam can be soldered
after bending up to make it stronger. If soldering, then the groove needs scraping or filing to clean it before the metal is folded up into its final position and soldered.
1. Hold the metal securely against a crisp metal edge; in this case, an anvil. Deliever a few solid blows directly against the corner.
2. With a little practice, you will be able to create crisp lines exactly where you want them.
3. Anneal then fold the metal with your fingers. The point of scoring is to avoid the need for forming tools that will mar the surface.
4. The finished folded form.
Wire Scoring In some ways in this book we are going back in time in the development of scoring and bending as an approach to foldforming— that is, we are traveling from the easiest and most recent method o scoring to the older, and more time consuming methods. Wire-scoring was a late night discovery. I usually use 18 gauge (1.2mm) soft iron binding wire (tie wire) for this, but brass and nickel silver ire also work well. All fairly stiff wires, and different diameters can be used to make different depths of groove. 20 gauge (1mm) wire can make a sharp crisp groove, in, say 24 gauge (0.5mm) metal. I find round wire works well because it doesn’t need to be positioned perfectly which is the case with triangular wire. Straight lines and curves are equally simple and give great form giving options. One method is to tape the wire onto the metal on an anvil surface and then planish it in through the tape. Another approach is to hold (or tape) the wire onto the sheet metal and use a rolling mill to press it in, which makes a very even groove. It is a good idea to test the pressure of the mill with a piece of the scrap sheet metal the same thickness to set the correct depth. If the gap between rollers is
too small, the wire can cut the metal. Whichever method you use, when the groove is made, peel the tape and wire off, anneal the metal, and bend it. Because metal is displaced rather than removed, ire-scored pieces are often quite stable and may not need soldering to reinforce the score. An interesting side effect of rolling a round wire into soft metal sheet is that you can make half-round ire in a pinch. Dee Fontans, my spouse, was teaching jewelrymaking to Inuit artists in the High Arctic at a small town called Gjoa Haven, hundreds of kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. There, in a good year, one ship with supplies would arrive and in a bad year, none. She was trying to teach methods that were as low tech as possible so the people would not be dependant on supplies later. She adapted this approach of wire scoring to the situation. The Inuit could all draw well, and she had them trace their drawings in different thicknesses of binding wire, then tape the wire drawing onto the surface of the metal and hammer it in. This resulted in exceptional “chased” line work—a great way to get patterns into the metal. There was one time when she was hoarding the very last roll of masking tape in town for her students.
Charles Lewton-Brain, Wiggle Sheet series, 1990, copper, brass, sterling, 24k heavy gold plate, 8cm long, photo: Lewton-Brain. The metal was patterned with a pa per die in the rolling mill, then scored and bent to a chieve the un dulating form.
1. Bend a wire to the shape of the intended 2. Secure the wire with tape, then planish with score line. vertical blows to press the wire into the sheet.
2. Secure the wire with tape, then planish with vertical blows to press the wire into the sheet. Wire Scoring with a Rolling Mill
Here I will show you the procedure using a rolling mill. Just remember that with a little hammer control, this procedure also works well just by planishing the wire into the sheet metal on an anvil. First, the mill needs to be set to a correct gap to drive the wire in to the right depth in the sheet metal. Too shallow and you won’t get a good bend, too deep and it can cut the metal. Do a test for this with a piece of sheet the same thickness to determine the right setting.
1. Hold or tape the wire onto a piece of annealed metal sheet.
2. This is what the sheet looks like after rolling. Note that the impression shown is about the tightest set of curves one can do. If the curves are any tighter, the form becomes very difficult to fold up.
Charles Lewton-Brain, Brooch. 22k bi-metal. Photo by the artist. This piece illustrates the delicate curv es and crisp edges made ossible by scoring with a separating disk. Notice, too, that the subtle rollprint surface is unaffected by this forming process.
3. Anneal the metal and bend it with your fingers, starting at one end. Proceed up the sheet working on each bend in turn in gentle stages rather than trying to bend too much up in one go.
4. Tightened the piece to firm up the bends. Sometimes it is a crisper result if you fold it up very tightly and then pull it apart a little.
Front and back of a f oldf orm made through wire scoring.
Combining Line-Folds and T-Folds This example shows that even a sheet with multiple line-folds can then be treated as a single, foldable sheet. A T-fold (or several T-folds) can be created in a sheet like this to create visually complex and interesting objects.
oat T-Fold to Oval Line-Fold Another method of using T-folds and turning the fold edges into line-folds is to use the boat T-fold shape. This results in an oval or eyeshaped line-fold (used for eyes in metal masks by one maker I know).
oubled Line-Folds Using T-Folds T-Folds themselves can make line-folds, as each fold edge can become a line-fold if they are confirmed after opening. If I make a very narrow T-fold then unfold and confirm the edges, I get two line-folds close together, a form I call a double line-fold. In the same way a T-fold can be centered, or confined to the middle of the sheet. When all is unfolded and confirmed, you get two distinct line segments fairly close to each other.
Chased and Flattened Numerous line-folds can be produced by chasing into a T-fold pillow, collapsing the whole, and confirming all fold edges. This gives you the opportunity to make lines that vary in width and thickness as well as having curves of all kinds.
Todd Reed Brooch 18k and 22k gold, sterling, garnet, druzy agate Photo by AZAD
Chapter Four
T-Folds
T-folds are an enormously important section of foldforming. They are the basis for many fold variations and can be used in combination with other folds as well as for pleating. The T-fold takes its name from the cross section of the shape that is created, which looks like a capital T. In the description below, the top of the horizontal bar is called the table, while the underside of this bar is called the return. The two arms that make up the vertical portion of the “T” are called the legs.
A basic T-fold is made by placing a folded piece of metal into a vise so that a loop extends above the vise when the jaws are closed. The metal that is trapped in the jaws I call the legs. The metal projecting above the the vise is then then pounded pounded down flat, working working from the the ou outside tside edges edges in toward the the middle. The outer edges are pounded down tightly with a mallet, leaving the middle of the loop still raised in the air. This forms what I call a pillow. The pillow is then flattened to form a basic T-fold. T-Folds produce rapid dimensional changes when worked and unfolded. They may be made in various cross sections and with more than two fold edges and one branch called Cross-folds. T-Folds can be placed in the vise at angles to obtain wedge T-folds, another family with many alternatives. Tfolds themselves offer a huge range of variations. These include changing the height of the loop above the vise, the angle at which the metal is clamped into the vise, and the symmetry or lack of symmetry used in hammering. Further variations can be introduced by inserting blocks into the sections of the forms, by repositioning the T-fold in the vise midway in the process, and by working the edges of the “T” with a texturing hammer. These variations will be demonstrated in Chapter 4. They, like many folds, can be placed onto objects like bowls by collapsing the entire bowl, clamping it in the vise to make the T-fold, and then opening it. They do not have to be run across the whole sheet. A very long T-Fold strip can be made by passing it through the vise. In addition, T-folds are the starting points for a number of rolled-folds. To make a T-fold, bend a strip of metal over so the top edge reaches the lower edge, but do not press the the fold flat. Instead, Instead, grip the the piece in a vise so that that som somee portion of the the folded area stands stands above the jaws. Press this down with your hand, then use a mallet to press the loop of the fold straight
down. It is usually best to start at the edges and work toward the center. Continue until the area that as positioned above the jaws has been pressed all the way down onto the vise, making the T-shaped cross section. section. The following pages illustrate some of the possible variations in detail, but now is a good time to summ sum marize ari ze them them.. Let’s Let’s phrase phras e it i t this this way: wa y: “What “What aspects as pects of the the simple s imple process pro cess just done are subject to variation?” • Th Thee loop can can be large large or small. small. • Th Thee legs legs can be large large or small. small. • Th Thee legs can be the the same length length or different length lengths. s. • Th Thee loop can be positioned positioned in th the vise straig s traigh ht up up or angled. angled. • Th Thee table can be gent gently ly flatten flattened ed or planished or forged. forged. • Hamm Hammer marks marks can be avoided or made made on pu purpose. • Th Thee loop can be spread evenly across the the vertical bar, or skewed skewed to one one side. • Th Thee fold can ca n be worked w orked into a long strip (by ( by making making a section se ction then then advancing advancing the the metal metal along a long in the vise and making the next section. • Th Thee folds folds can be stack stacked. ed. • T-folds can be combined combined with the the line folds folds described descri bed earlier. earlie r. Add to that list the fact that you can work in many different metals of many different thicknesses, on a range of scales, and you see the potential. But there is more—many of these variations can be combined. For instance, you can make a wedge-shaped T-fold that is gently flattened or you can make the same shape with heavily forged fold edges. And as large as this catalog is, so far we’ve only dealt ith the creation of the fold. The method and degree of unfolding adds as many variations again.
This example shows how even a basic T-fold quickly develops form. In this case, the fold edges were forged with the legs free.
As with all the folds in this book, the examples shown are starting points and after spending some time with these, you will discover other possibilities that lie beyond the scope of this text.
The next page shows the steps of a basic T-fold. Note that in these instructions I’m only talking about making your first experiments easy. Once you get the hang of it, you might want to experiment ith shorter legs, or you might fold the metal from corner to corner, or start with a disk rather than a rectangle. It might be an overstatement to say that the variations and combinations are endless... then again, maybe they really are endless. Basic T-fold (rectangular table, legs centered)
1. Bend a piece of sheet metal into a soft loop. To start, use a rectangular piece of sheet metal bent across the long axis. This gives enough leg length to provide leverage that will make it easier to open the fold. Sometimes beginners make the legs too short, creating difficulties when opening them.
2. Position the folded sheet into a vise so the top of the loop stands above the jaws.
3. Press the loop down with a mallet, starting with the ends. Hitting the ends first fixes them in place on top of the vise jaws; the center portion of the table will follow what was set at the ends. This process of fixing fixing the the ends ends in place is called cal led confirm confirming ing.. Note: Note: For the the most basic T-fold, the the center center is pressed down on onto to the the vise jaws jaw s to produce produce a flat topped T-shaped cross section. It is possible, though, to stop after confirming the ends, leaving a hollow pillow where the horizontal bar of the “T” would be. The pillow offers several possibilities, including further shaping with hammers, more fold edges, and a surface for repoussé and chasing.
4. The table can be forged or worked before opening the T-fold. All the options presented in the linefolds section applies here, which is to say that the edges of the table can be forged, stretched, textured, etc. One way to illustrate the relationship between T-folds and line-folds is to open a T-fold until it is completely flat. You’ll find yourself with two parallel bumps running across the sheet. Confirm these by hammering straight down on them to make two classic line-folds. In fact, if you want to make a series of parallel lines, the most efficient method is to make a series of repeated T-folds. Here are two examples of T-folds after opening. On the left is a T-fold that had the legs pinned in the vise and on the right one where the entire table was heavily thinned by hammering onto the vise jaws and then opened so the table returns curve over the table. Helpful Tip
If you are working in a precious material and the legs are not integral to the design (i.e., merely a means to creating cr eating the the form), form), it is i s possib pos sible le to assem ass emble ble a sh s heet of mixed mixed metals, for instance instance usin si ng copper for the legs and silver for the table. Once the form is achieved, remove the legs by heating until the solder melts. Clamp the folded metal into a vise so the loop stands above the jaws. jaw s. Th Thee height eight of the the loop determines determines how wide the the table will wil l be. In a basic T-fold, we’ll we’l l press the the loop straight straight down, wh w hich means means the the two parts par ts of the the top of the the “T” will wil l be the the same same size. It is possible, in fact it is easy, to press the loop toward one side, creating an asymmetrical “T.” T-Fold Techniques & Principles
Timothy Lloyd, Kettle. Copper and sterling silver; 5 inches tall by 7 ½ inches wide. This piece was made using a He istad Cup rolled-fold. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Unfolding Table Returns The way a T-fold is opened has considerable influence on the form that results. The same form can be unfolded to different degrees to create objects that look so completely different that an observer ould think they were derived from totally different folds. Many of these variations come from the ay the table returns (the underside of the horizontal part of the “T”) are unfolded. I used to use tools to do this, for instance by inserting the pointed end of a stick between the legs of the “T” to help pry them open. I have also discovered that I can use the workhardness inherent in the form as a sort o internal crowbar. Pull the legs apart with your hands, enough so you can clamp one leg into the jaws of a vise. When you pull the extending leg onto the top of the vise, the fold edge that moved is stif enough that when you lift it up it will unfold the still-malleable fold. Watch which exact spot moves when you do this. The part that moves will now be slightly harder than everywhere else. Then simply pull the leg back up to the starting position. The hardened fold edge moves the next fold edge in turn, which pulls the table return out from underneath. Sometimes you need to repeat the movement several times to fully lever the table return out from underneath. Repeat the procedure for the other side to complete unfolding the T-fold. Even shapes that would otherwise be really difficult to open can be unfolded by repeating this action. Of course the size of the form will dictate the method of unfolding to some degree—an earring presents different opportunities than a five-foot sculpture. After unfolding, a T-fold can be annealed and folded back up to the T-shaped cross section, and
returned to a vise for additional work. This can be useful if a piece needs further definition of a table.
Thinning to Program Curvature Once you get the hang of working with foldforms, you’ll find that you can determine the places where the metal will curve during unfolding. This is done by thinning, or weakening the place where you ant the curves to be. This applies to all foldforms, but the approach is particularly useful with Tfolds, where the manner of unfolding has a lot to do with the look of the finished object. When hammering on the table of a T-fold you are simultaneously thinning the table returns—both layers are more or less equally thinned. Focused thinning can be used just for a specific spot in a foldform or for an entire table surface, causing the fold edges of the table to arch smoothly over the table when it is opened.
n example of thinning a specific spot to curve it during unfolding might be on a chased T-fold or on a cross-fold.
Variables in T-Folds
1. Legs pinned versus legs free
Clamp the T-fold in a vise.
Press the projecting leg down to the vise.
s you raise the leg back toward its original position, the table will unfold.
When forging the fold edges of a T-fold, it makes a huge difference if the legs are confined in the vise, or free to move in response to the forging as you hammer on the table. You can use this variable, free or trapped, to guide parts of all kinds of fold-forms. When the legs are trapped, forging is done on the top surface of the vise. When the legs are free, the hammering is usually done against the side of an anvil or stake. When the legs are free, the table will spiral all by itself. This can be accentuated by pinching the metal with strong blows, but even with light forging, a distinct twisting occurs. When annealed and opened, the resulting folds produce a dynamic rhythm. If the legs are clamped in the vise jaws when the sides of the table are forged, the results are quite different. There is no twisting and instead the sides begin to curl or ruffle slightly while the center of the table stays more or less flat.
It is of ten necessary to find creative anvil options to forge selective areas. This illustration shows a small mushroom stak e; other options include hammers gripped in a vise, machine parts, and edges of large pieces of equipment.
2. Working the open side or closed side There are often only two choices when it comes to forging a foldform—to forge it on the open side or the closed side. To make the point, let’s see it first on the simple line-fold covered previously. On a simple piece like this, the results can be dramatically different. A T-fold has at least two fold edges so we can think of them as more complex. The variations shown on the simple example are in play here, but the number of permutations grows exponentially. A star-fold, for instance, has over twenty variations possible, depending which combinations of forging open and closed areas you use. For T-folds, a good example of such a difference is the Romero Fold. In this form, the leg side (i.e., the open side) has been worked instead of the table (closed) area. The effect is so dramatic that the result no longer resembles a typical T-fold.
Two squares of copper sheet were folded corner to corner. One was forged on the fold (left), and the other was forged on the open side. Even in this simple example there is a clear difference. The concep t holds true f or T-folds too.
3. Opened without annealing When you open a standard T-fold if without annealing, the table will be flat and have straight sides and a flat top. The result will be a hardedged, geometric form. The material under the table also stays tightly together so the flat table stands up high above the surface, with the legs vertical and straight beneath it.
In the Romero Fold, the legs, rather than the table, are f orged. A step-by-step illustration of this process appears on page 94 .
4. Opened after annealing A T-fold opened after annealing usually has a softer, more organic appearance and a concave shape. The legs pull away from each other under the table as you open the T-fold, curving as they unfold. The table will be concave as in the example shown. Note how the fold edges were worked as an option.
5. Opened with table returns unfolded Using the method described earlier of clamping one leg in the vise, levering towards the table and then bending it back to unfold, T-folds can be completely unfolded so the table returns come out from under the table. Let me repeat the suggestion to experiment with various degrees of unfolding until you find a form that appeals to you.
6. Table bias to one side
A standard T-fold has an equal amount of table return on each side of the legs under the table. For design reasons, you might want to have one side of the top bar of the “T” larger than the other. To create this asymmetry, simply push the loop to one side when flattening the top of the “T.” As mentioned, I start by confirming the edges of the loop, so in practice this means striking a blow that pushes the loop down and sideways at the same time. The center section will follow suit when it is malleted down, creating a form in which the legs are not centered beneath the top of the “T,” but are displaced to one side.
7. Bias in opposite directions The bias can be confirmed in one direction at one end of the T-fold and in the other at the other end. This results in a table that runs across the legs at an angle. To control the angle of the legs to the table, strike the confirming strokes a little bit at a time, first at one end and then at the other. Each blow slightly opens the opposite end, but if you move systematically back and forth from end to end, the “T” will eventually yield to the mallet, creating a flat “T” crossbar that lies diagonally across the top of the vise. A flat table is one option, but it is also possible to develop a form that uses the pillow that appears halfway through the process. During the confirming step, a small ridge forms naturally. This ridge can be shaped and guided with a forging peen so that it becomes a third fold edge that sweeps diagonally across the table. This third fold edge presages both the Cross-fold category we will look at later, and the technique I call “chasing on air.”
8. Thinned table and table returns As described earlier, one of the most useful control factors in foldforming is the technique of thinning an area in order to make it curve and bend softly when the piece is opened. Because a thin area is eaker than surrounding areas, it makes sense that it would curve more when the form is opened. A nice example of this is a T-fold in which the entire table and table returns have been heavily thinned. When opened, the table returns arch smoothly over the table, creating a hollow, tubular shape. If the fold edges are forged at the end of the thinning process, the result is a ragged organic look. Trade goldsmiths will often leap to the idea of a line of pearls running down the middle, shadowed by the fold edges, like peas in a pod. Another way of clinching a fold is by using shears, a technique also nicely illustrated with this fold. Trim the edges with a pair of long bladed shears. This forces the ends of the fold flat, clinching them and pushing them together at the moment of shearing, producing an almost enclosed hollow area.
Thinned table, arched over during opening. The edges were forged to add character to the resulting form.
9. Ruffled table This technique was seen in the line-folds section, and it can be applied to T-Folds with similar
results. Start by hammering a series of blows with a forging peen along the edges of a T-fold. Deliver a second series of blows on top of the first, striking hard enough to push the metal sideways. After annealing and unfolding, these very thin areas will create a ruffle.
Thinned table, arched ove r during opening. The sides were trimmed with shears to co mpress and flatten the outside edges of the old.
10. Long T-folds Most of the folds shown so far are roughly the width of a large vise, but there is no reason to restrict T-folds to this scale. To make a longer structure, fold a long strip of metal in half and grip one section in the vise so that part of the loop stands above the vise. Use a mallet to push the loop down to become the cross bar of the “T,” then shift the metal in the vise and repeat on the adjacent section. Continue in this way until the entire length has been converted to a T-shaped cross section. When a long T-fold is opened, it can be twisted around until the legs meet, which will leave the Tfold itself standing up from the surface, spiraling around to make a cylinder.
11. Stacked T-folds A very long strip can be made into a stacked T-fold, in which a small center T-fold, is in the middle o a larger table, which is in the middle of an even larger one and so on. The T-folds are placed one on top of the other. This fold is rather heavy, and uses a lot of material. It is useful to use an angled ooden punch to flatten secondary layers of table down onto the top of the vise. 1. Start with a very long piece of sheet. 2. Make the first T-fold in the center of the sheet. This should be rather small—the size will depend on the distance from the vise jaws to the vise screw. Using an offset vise eliminates this problem. The result of this first step is a small T-fold with very long legs.
Stack ed T-fold with three layers.
Making a Stacked T-Fold
3. Anneal the metal, unfold the sheet, and make a second T-fold, taking care to avoid damage to the first by leaving it standing up high from the surface. Bend the legs toward each other, producing a large loop with a T-fold riding on the top of it.
4. Use a wooden tool to flatten the second T-fold onto the vise without damaging the first form. To make a tool, cut a 45° angle onto the end of a square piece of wood.
5. Anneal and unfold the second T-fold, repeat the process as appropriate for your design (and the length of your starting sheet).
6. The stacked structure before unfolding. Wedge T-Folds
In a wedge T-fold, the cross section of the “T” changes proportion along the length of the form, reducing to nothing at one end. To make a wedge T-fold, start as before, but position the folded strip of metal into the vise at an angle. When the loop that was above the vise is malleted down, the result ill be a triangular shape, rather than the rectangle of a standard T-fold. Usually, just like a basic Tfold, the starting loop is malleted down flat onto the top of the vise, starting with the open end. Wedge T-folds can be given a table bias simply by pushing the loop to the left or right as it is being flattened.
1. Fold the metal sheet in your hands to make a loop, and grip it in the jaws of a vise at an angle. Place the fold in the vise at an angle. The point can be sharp or blunt; both versions work.
These examples of wedg e T-folds sho w that they can b e made shallow or deep, and with dramatic texture or simple surfaces.
Chip Schwartz shows that foldforming techniques can be scaled up… way up.
2. Clamping the vise will create a crisp line at the base of a soft pillow cone. Making a Wedge T-Fold
3. Flatten the loop with a mallet, starting on the larger end. One end of the table is much wider than the other. During this process you can decide whether to allow the table to form symmetrically over the vertical stem of the T, or to push it to one side.
4. As detailed above, there are many options for ways to treat the table, including forging, texturing, and selective hammering. Whichever you choose, after hammering, the next steps are to anneal and open the form.
5. If the table returns need to be unfolded from beneath the table, push one leg deep into the vise jaws and pull the vertical leg upward toward the top of the vise as far as it will go.
6. Push the leg back up to the vertical. This is an important technique for opening all kinds o foldforms.
7. Repeat the procedure for the other side of the T-fold to bring both table returns out from underneath. As described in an earlier section, the method and degree of unfolding has a lot to do with the form that results. This photo shows three wedge T-folds that were made identically but opened differently.
Charles Lewton-Brain, Brooch, Copper. Wedge-fold, trimmed after forming.
• The first one was simply annealed and opened. • The next one was annealed, and the table returns were pulled out from underneath the table using the vise unfolding procedure. During the opening process, I arched the table returns over the table with my thumbs. • The third version was opened further, unfolding the legs completely, levering back and forth until the form was flat. This left two line-folds, which were then confirmed by tapping straight down on them.
Here the wedge T-fold has been made without much forging on the tab le, then opened gently with f ingers and pressed f lat on a surf ace. In this example, the f olds have been opened f urther, levering the table returns and arching them over the
Variations on a Wedge T-Fold
When made on a disk, the folds act like darts, drawing material together to create a bowl shape. Here is an image of two bowls made using wedge T-folds soldered together, one as a f oot and the other as the bowl itself.
table. If you thin the table while flattening the pillow, it will curve easily and smoothly.
1. Fold sheet metal and insert the loop into a vise at a slight angle, such that after malleting you will have a small, long, tapered table.
2. Flatten the table onto the vise jaws. Create a groove up the middle either by chasing or by hammering a wire into the metal along the axis. Variations on a Wedge T-Fold, continued
Here the wedge T-fold has been completely opened up , with the table returns flattened, which turns the ed ges into line folds. These were confirmed (planished down) to tighten and define the lines.
This example shows several T-folds on a single piece, in this case a disc. They can easily be varied in size.
The Romero Fold is an example of a fold named after an individual because it demonstrates a specific new approach, in this case, making a T-fold and then forging the legs. The starting f orm was a long and narrow wedge T-fold. A line was cut in the center of the table so that the form would bend here when opened. The legs were trimmed to a long curve then forged. Because this caused the outer edge to stretch, the table was forced into a curve. After annealing, the form was unfolded to reveal a leaflike f oldform.
Making a Romero Fold
3. Cut the legs to a long curve.
4. Forge the legs, stretching the metal outward. This will automatically produce an arch in the table.
5. Anneal, then open legs, initially using your fingers.
6. Use flat-nosed pliers to grip the sides of the table as you fold the edges of the table upward toward each other. This will cause the legs to open. Start at the wide end and move towards the narrow end. At a certain point the table may need tightening with a hammer.
7. Open the legs further, and bend them with your fingers to create the desired form.
Boat-Fold
The boat-fold (shown here and on the following page) is a specific variation on a T-fold. It begins like a wedge T-fold, but in this case we are making, as it were, two wedges that meet in the middle. Instead of the triangular table of a conventional wedge T-fold, this process will create a table with points on both ends, resembling a flattened football. At this point, the form can be handled like a Romero fold, or opened all the way to make two line-folds, but to make a boat, follow the instructions given with the step-by-step photos.
A finished Romero Fold.
1. Begin the boat as if making a wedge T-fold. After the first angle is made, reorient the loop in the vise in the other direction and pinch it again to produce a boat pillow form.
2. The bottom of the pillow is pinched off flat slightly as seen here. You can see the two angles and the last pinch that blunts the shape at the bottom of the pillow. Making a Boat-Fold
3. Place the pillowed form in a vise with the legs held loosely. If the fold is struck it will move slightly. The vise handle can be used at the same time to open and close the vise jaws as hammering proceeds. Opening and closing the jaws slightly while hammering from one side to the other on the table will help develop a graceful curve.
4. The correct tension is important. You want it to move a little when struck. In this way the pillow is gently brought down to the top of the vise. It can be tricky to hit evenly enough that the table is equal on each side of the legs. Continue hammering as the form rocks in the vise. Remove the piece from the vise, anneal, and open.
5. Continue hammering to forge the table outward as it flattens.
6. When complete, the top bar of the T-fold will show a curved profile, like this.
7. Even a difficult shape like this curved table can be unfolded by placing a leg in the vise, levering the sheet down towards the vise and bending it towards the vertical again as described earlier. It may take a number of times.
8. The fully opened form.
Here is a selection of basic boat-folds. The very high one on the lef t is a result of opening the boat without annealing, and the much lower one beside it demonstrates the difference after annealing.
Chasing on T-Folds
The material that stands up above the vise in the first step of making a T-fold is trapped in such a way that it can withstand quite a bit of hammering without collapsing. Wedge T-folds, in particular, make good starting points for a process I call chasing in air. The idea here is that we create stiffened areas that support adjacent zones that are still annealed. The piece can be removed, opened, worked out again, annealed and put back into the vise. Even figurative work can be done in this technique and because no pitch is used, the procedure is fast and clean.
If the boat table is f olded up and the f old f lattened (rather like a Good Fold) then the tab le area can b e forged, producing a lovely hollow shape suitable for earrings and other objects.
Rauni Higson, Lilly Pad Sauceboats with Ladles. Sterling silver, approximately 4¾ inch es high by 9½ inches long, by 4 ¾inches wide. Photo by The Metal Gallery, London. Made with forged line-folds.
One of the most attractive ways of working T-folds is to use chasing and repoussé tools on the table in a process I call chasing on air. Dapping tools and various punches are used to develop relie patterns in the area that is held rigid by the folds on either side. Start by folding a sheet to make a loop, then secure this in a vise and make a pillow as described above. The loop can be straight across like a standard T-fold or formed at an angle as shown in the boat fold sequence. The work hardness that develops with each contact acts to stiffen and brace selected areas. This orks in the same way that chasers would traditionally change pitches. Broad forming is done on soft pitches, and the pillow is indented and moved quickly and broadly near the beginning of the procedure. Fine detail, precise shaping, and planishing are done on a hard pitch. In this process, the metal is supported by hardness structures that are created by chasing itself. Very fine detail is possible. This approach of chasing on air is fast because it bypasses the use of pitch, and the repetitive tasks it requires. Curvature is programmed by thinning areas that need to bend more during unfolding. A chased T-fold can be taken out of the vise, annealed, the pillow pushed back out and reinstalled into the vise to gain more working time. Upon opening, gems or other materials can be trapped in the curving sides of the table, as a kind of stone setting.
Chased T-fold. This process uses the hardness that develops during foldforming to provide internal support for secondary techniques such as chasing and repoussé.
Chasing on Air
1. Make a loop and place it in the vise.
2. Begin by striking the metal with hammers to produce a number of dents into the side of the pillow. It is important to begin dents sideways into the pillow. This develops some vertical structures that support the pillow as the chasing proceeds. Without these, the pillow would collapse easily into a table, and the available working time would be reduced.
3. Continue chasing, developing and refining the form.
4. Anneal and open. Here are examples of a standard T-fold that have been chased.
Tool Modifications for T-folds
Most foldforming is done with the basic tools of metalsmithing—hammers, vises, anvils, stakes, and a rolling mill. There are, however, several special tools or alterations to tools that can make foldforming easier, or solve clamping problems. We will look at some of them in the next pages. These fall into four categories: Examples of Chased T-Folds
• • • •
Leg Inserts Table inserts Vise Jaw Inserts & Extensions Angled Punch
Leg Inserts
A T-fold has a fixed proportion of table width to table return width. The distance across the top of the table equals two table return widths. To change this proportion so the length of the return section is smaller, insert a piece of wood, nylon, metal, or any other rigid material between the legs when the Tfold is made. Because the usual proportions between returns and table have been altered, the resulting form will look different than the normal T-fold. The inside of the table will be struck down onto the top of the insert, which means that a texture here will show up on this inside section when the form is opened. Table Inserts Table inserts are another way to alter a T-fold. Make a normal loop (maybe a little bigger than usual) and slide a rigid object inside the loop. When the loop is malleted down, it will rest on the insert. To trap it completely, set a slab of rubber or leather on top and strike it with a very heavy hammer. This will force the sheet metal intimately around the enclosed part, simultaneously forming the shape and printing whatever texture is on the insert into the metal. This lets you work with pattern, and reflected pattern in the table returns. Using chasing tools to define and refine the top surface of the table around the embedded parts gives further options. When the fold is finished, it is annealed and opened, which releases the trapped parts. In the example pictured below a simple washer, a bolt, and a binding wire spiral were placed inside the loop.
texture on the top of the insert will appear on the underside of the table.
The same piece, front and back, showing the possibilities of trapping hard “tools” under the table returns.
Cynthia Eid Pearly Ends Bracelet Sterling silver, 14k gold, pearls 1 inch wide Photo by the artist
Chapter Five
Miscellaneous Folds
Even in a system as rigorously structured as foldforming, clear definitions and categories quickly dissolve as hybrids, variations, mutations, and innovations come into play. As I’ve said several times before, this is exactly where the excitement lies! The preceding chapters have endeavored to present foldforming by illustrating a few large categories, then showing some of the major varieties within those categories. Here we cross into a broad area of metal forming techniques that have sprung from foldforming, or are in some way connected to it. The processes described here do not fit neatly into the species called line-folds or T-folds, but they have shouldered their way into this book all the same. And rightfully so. Continue on for variations on the variations… Cross-Folds
A loop of sheet placed in the vise can be shaped so that it develops three fold edges instead of the two on a standard T-fold. It looks like a cross from the end, and is called a cross-fold. The multiple fold edges provide design options because everything discussed previously about line folds and Tfolds can be applied to cross-folds. The three fold edges also “gather” metal so this approach works ell for making bowls and other shapes that require a larger sheet pleated into a smaller area.
To make a cross-fold, place a loop into the vise and create two planes of work hardness on each side of the loop. Do this by striking at 45 degrees to the loop with a round, flat-faced hammer like a standard goldsmithing hammer. These planes then create a triangular cross section to the pillow, two flat planes meeting at the top of the loop. Tap the middle areas of the planes inward with a rounded
cross peen hammer or a blunt chasing tool. This forms the cross shape.
If the fold edges are tightened, the resulting form has three fold edges facing out. Each of the folds can now be worked on— tightened, forged, upset, and so on. If the fold edges are made very short, they can be unfolded and upset to become three parallel line folds, very close together, much closer to each other than is possible by making standard line-folds. These line folds in turn can be repeated across the sheet by repeating the procedure. The concept behind cross-folds can be used on large loops to create more fold edges. As long as you can make a flat plane on the loop, its middle section can be pushed in to create fold edges. In a simple cross-fold, two flat planes yield three fold edges. Three flat planes on the loop will produce four fold edges, four planes will produce five fold edges, and so on. I have made up to nine line folds this way. It is worth noting that these multiple fold edges are different than what you get with a pleated-fold. They all face the same direction (up) while with a pleated-fold both the top and bottom bends become fold edges, each facing opposite directions.
This panel shows how this approach can produce multiple fold edges. This example has five.
Cross-folds work well when combined with other folds. I frequently use a combination of a T-fold made across three parallel lines that were made with a cross-fold. The piece shown here reiterates the point that combinations provide the richest area of investigation into applications of foldforming. Like T-folds, cross-folds can be used to make bowl shapes. The process gathers metal in the same ay that a tailor uses darts. This bowl started out as a disk and angled cross-folds were used to gather the sides.
Making a Cross-Fold
1. Begin by folding a rectangular piece of metal to make a loop. The tightness of the loop will determine the height of the fold edge. If you want to have line folds using a cross-fold then make the loop very small, smaller than you would think will work. This example shows a large cross-fold to make it easier to see how the fold edges are formed.
2. Tap the loop gently along both sides with angled blows. Work slowly to form two narrow flat planes. It is important to alternate sides so the loop remains centered. Use a slightly crowned planishing hammer, or as here, a goldsmith’s bench hammer.
3. The two work hardened planes push the still annealed material of the loop downward as you continue tapping and pushing it down toward the top of the vise. This ends with the loop in a distinct triangular shape.
4. Once the flat sides are formed, use a long hammer to knock in the middle section of the flat area. Press in each side in turn, being careful to keep the results even. Work the metal slowly and uniformly into the final cross shape.
5. The cross section of the loop should now be in the form of a cross. The fold edges are loose, small loops as shown. With a narrow-jawed vise, each of these can be turned into a miniature T-fold, but normally they are simply flattened against the vise jaws.
6. The three fold edges were forged to introduce texture.
7. The finished cross-fold.
Angled Cross-Fold
An angled cross-fold is made the same way as a standard cross-fold. Like a wedge T-fold, angled cross-folds can be used in multiples, as in the earlier example of a bowl made with an angled crossfold. Making it is similar to any cross-fold, with a need for careful punch and hammer use at the narrow end of the fold.
1. This basic angled T-fold can serve as a generic example for larger versions, multiple versions and so on. Begin with a loop of sheet metal.
2. Clamp the loop in the vise at an angle.
3. As before, the hammer creates two work hardened planes on the loop until it develops a triangular cross section.
4. The middle of the plane is kicked in with a cross peen or a blunt liner chasing tool.
5. The cross shape is evident at the end view of the fold. It may require a chasing tool to tighten the small end where the loop enters the vise.
6. Once it is made, the fold edges can be Cross-Folds as Line-Folds worked or forged to suit. Cross-Folds as Line-Folds
Cross-folds can be used to make great multiple line folds that can be closer together than is possible ith a normal line-fold. This method is also faster and more efficient than other approaches because several lines are made at once. When using this method to produce three line-folds as in this example, it is important that the loop sits very close to the vise jaws. A chasing tool will be needed to get in close enough on such a small fold to define the fold edges. As with normal line-folds, these will need to be confirmed (pressed down into themselves) to tighten the line and make it crisp. As with other line-folds, it is possible to run a second set of lines across the earlier ones.
1. This shows how small the loop is in proportion to the top of the vise.
2. Create two work-hardened planes on the sides of the small loop by tapping back and forth along the loop at 45-degrees. This is identical to the process described above, but all on a small scale.
3. Drive the sides of the loop in with a hammer or a chasing tool to create the cross shape. This is a miniature version of the process shown on the preceding page.
4. When annealed and unfolded, confirm the lines by pressing them down with a planishing hammer or rolling mill. This will make the lines crisp, as with the basic line-fold. The process can be repeated to make multiple sets of lines across a sheet.
Rauni Higson, Napkin Rings. Sterling silver; 3 inches in diameter. Photo by the artist. These graceful pieces illustrate the use of a forged line-fold.
Rolled-Folds
All rolled folds can be forged instead of, or in addition to, rolling. Forging followed by rolling, leaves hammer texture inside the folds and the outside smooth. Many pleated folds work well, as do a series of flattened T-folds of various types. In most cases, these folds depend on the contrast o stressing certain sections (the thick areas) against unstressed areas (the thin sections) which pass between the rollers. These two forces, one elongating and the other remaining unchanged, pull against each other. The braking effect of the unstretched area results in a curve away from the stressed side. Multiple layers in rolled-folds are what create the thickness that is stressed during rolling.
The use of a rolling mill has been mentioned previously, but only as an alternative to using a hammer. When confirming line folds, for instance, I’ve said you can use a hammer, a rolling mill, or a hydraulic press to flatten the metal down onto itself. This next category of folds depends on a rolling mill for the tremendous localized pressure it can achieve. The idea is easily seen with an accordion fold in a rectangular sample. When this is rolled through a mill, the folded stack is thicker than the legs, and therefore receives all the pressure. The layers of the fold will be thinned equally and simultaneously and will bend into an arc as the metal is displaced. After annealing and unfolding, the piece will reveal a dramatic form that belies its simple origins. Rolled-folds are one of my favorite ways to introduce foldforming—I often have beginning students make a Heistad Cup as their first project. This easy project demonstrates both the plasticity of metal and the principle that multiple layers worked simultaneously, work evenly. It is also a bit magical to turn a flat square into a seamless cup in a matter of minutes.
Making a Heistad Cup
The Heistad Cup is a good example of a rolled fold. In its basic version, shown here, this simple process develops a symmetrical vessel form in a matter of minutes.
1. Fold a square of metal corner to corner to make a triangular shape. Flatten the fold edge with a mallet, taking care to line up the edges neatly. I find it helps to hold the corners together with a pair o flat-nosed pliers while malleting.
2. Fold the triangle in half along a center axis, which will make a smaller triangle. Mallet this flat, striking especially along the fold edges. This is a good time to make sure that the folded piece will fit into the rolling mill.
3. Your shape should look like this. The result is an isosceles triangle—two matching sides and one longer side. The long side has no folds; it shows only sheet metal edges. One of the shorter sides has one thick fold and the other has two thinner folds. The closed point (where the two short sides meet) is the part that enters the mill first.
4. Open the rollers wide enough to slide the folded metal through, then tighten them down onto the
stack. This provides a starting place for rolling to begin. Roll the stack through this “dead pass” to even it out.
One person I knew had access to a large rolling mill and made lamp shades using the Heistad Cup, drilling and piercing it while it was folded up so that when unfolded, the holes were echoed on each side of the form.
A simple variation can be made by folding the square edge to edge instead of corner to corner. This yields a lily-like jesters cap shape.
5. Tighten the mill, and roll the stack through under light pressure, always starting with the same point of the triangle. Tighten again, and make another pass. Generally I find that an eighth of a turn on the sizing handle is a convenient amount between passes. Roll the cup until the length is about twice the original size. In the end this is a design decision, but I’ve found that it is better to go longer rather than shorter. I often find that people doing this for the first time do not roll the cup out far enough. When the rolling is complete, anneal thoroughly, quench, and unfold gently.
6. Sometimes a gentle tug with chain-nosed pliers is needed, but take care to avoid marking the metal.
7. Once the cup begins to open, switch to fingers and open gently, avoiding kinks and dents.
Here are three views of a f inished cup. The colors give a n indication of where the tightness of the f olds limited the access of oxygen. The black areas (CuO) near the rim received most oxygen, while the red areas (Cu 2O) received less. The inside of the cup is bright and clean because there was no oxygen there to react with the cop per.
Making a Pleated M–Fold
An amazing example of a rolled fold starts with a long straight strip that is pleated like the letter “M.”
The legs can be longer or shorter than the middle V-shaped section. When the folded strip is run through the mill, the four layers of thickness (top of the “M”) are pressed and deformed lengthwise, hile the part that is two layers thick (the “V”) is restrained but not yet under pressure. This causes the fold to curve as it emerges from the mill. In the version shown here, the legs were shorter than the V-shaped part of the “M.” When rolled, the whole thing curved around enough to form almost a complete circle when unfolded. See the Pleated Fold description for further examples. Rolled-folds require ¡j care when annealing. Because there is almost no oxygen inside the tight creases of a rolled-fold, it is possible to weld the surfaces together. In high carat gold or fine silver, for instance, it might be necessary to oil or otherwise “dirty up” the insides of the folds to prevent elding. When working in steel, welding is even more likely. Remedies for steel include putting aluminum foil inside the folds as a resist to welding, and forging at cooler than normal temperatures (“black heat”).
Plunkett Fold
This fold was developed by Kevin Plunkett around 1986, which makes it one of the earliest named folds. The starting point is a T-fold, but in this case the table is bent in the center and folded over on itself. This creates a folded structure with several layers in one area (what was the top of the “T”) and only two layers in the lower area. As with the previous examples, it is the disparity of thickness
that gives rolled-folds their drama. This fold (and the Good Fold that follows) work well when forged as well as rolled. If forged on the fold edges, then rolled, the final exterior portions of the fold stay smooth and the interiors of the folds retain echoes of the hammer marks. In a variation on this, cloth or other materials can be folded up into a pleat and used to print the inside of a fold while you are making it. Making a Plunkett Fold
1. Fold a rectangular piece of metal in half, lengthwise. Leave it loose for now.
2. Place this into a vise at an angle, just as for a wedge T-fold.
3. Flatten the fold with a mallet.
4. Lift the fold out of the vise, turn it sideways, and reclamp it so the vise grips one side of the table.
5. Use a mallet to push the table upward, away from the legs. Bend the table to about 45-degrees— don’t push it down flat onto the vise.
6. Remove the piece from the vise, turn it over, and repeat the process for the other side of the table. Again, do not push this all the way down to the top of the vise. Pull the piece from the vise and examine the cross section. If all is well, you should see a clear “Y” shaped cross section.
7. Press the upper arms of the “Y” together and flatten the form with a mallet.
8. As above, set the piece in the open rollers and make a dead pass to cinch the folds. Tighten the rollers and pass the form through, point first. Repeat, again with about an eighth of a turn at each tightening. Roll until you think the form is fully developed.
9. Anneal and open. Use your fingers to open it gently, and watch the inside fold edge to avoid kinking hile opening which can spoil the look of the fold. If it does kink, simply mallet the whole thing flat again, anneal and open it more carefully.
The finished Plunkett Fold. Good Fold
John Good from Atlanta came up with this variation on a Plunkettt Fold around 1988. It points the ay toward folds that are modified by shearing parts before working. This fold also demonstrates the principle seen in Rueger Folds that shorter legs result in greater curvature. The amount and look o the curvature achieved in rolling is determined by the angle at which the legs are cut and the proportions of the thicker areas of the fold to the thinner areas. More pleats are possible by using the cross-fold approach to making multiple fold edges.
1. Like the Plunkett Fold above, start by making a wedge T-fold with the table folded up and flattened. Cut the legs, usually with shears. The angle and the amount removed will affect the results, and experimentation is recommended. The
illustration shows a good place to start.
2. Trim the legs as indicated and make a dead pass through the rolls to establish a starting setting for the rolling mill. Tighten the rolls a little and make a first pass, putting the piece into the rollers point first.
3. As the fold emerges from the mill, the characteristic curvature appears. This results from driving a thicker (four layers) portion against a thinner (two layers) area.
4. Anneal, quench, and dry the piece, then open the fold gently with your fingers. As described for the Plunkett Fold, take care to avoid making a kink on the inside pleat when unfolding. To avoid this,
reach inside as far as possible with your fingers and pull the fold apart rather than levering it open.
Several views of a Good Fold.
Pleated-Folds
Pleating is a a back-and-forth folding that generates a lot of options for foldforms. We have already made a number of simple pleats in the course of working with previous folds. To make a complex pleat such as a fan or a venetian blind, start from the middle and pleat outward. This will allow you to control the evenness of the final stack of pleated metal. This approach helps ensure a uniform result. Pleating can be done on one part of a sheet, in
straight parallel rows, angled, or in alternating angles. Pleats can become very complex. Check out books on napkin folding, dressmaking, and paper folding for pleating ideas.
Pleating a Strip
1. For this example, I will use a long strip, which demonstrates the results most dramatically. The technique works on rectangles of almost any size and proportion.
2. Bend the strip in half so the ends meet…
3. …then flatten the fold with a mallet, striking only the fold edge so the rest remains malleable.
4. Mark bend lines for the next fold, using a divider for parallel lines and a ruler for angles.
5. Clamp the piece in a vise so the marked lines are just a little bit above the top of the jaws (this will compensate for the metal taken up in the bend). Pull the legs outward, starting folds in both legs.
6. Pull the piece from the vise and continue these folds, bending the legs backward until they touch. Note that in a production situation, you could fold a sheet that is large enough for several pieces, then cut it into segments.
7. Use the vise to tighten the pleats. The vise lets you tighten only the part that is pleated. If you were to mallet it, you would work harden parts of the sheet yet unbent and this would make subsequent bends uneven. Look at the vise from the side to see that the metal is squeezed symmetrically. If one side collapses more than the other, compensate by tipping the fold back and forth while closing the vise.
8. Turn the piece over and put the fold back in the vise, Clamp the piece so the earlier fold edge is ust above the top surface of the vise (a millimeter or so) and pull the legs down again to make another pair of bends. Repeat this several times until you have a stack of evenly pleated folds.
9. Pull the arms outward to make the next pleat.
10. Continue in this way to make a thick stack of pleated material.
11. Forge the side of the fold with the most fold edges with a slightly rounded peen. Angle the hammer so that only about half the width of the strip is affected. Work with the folds near the edge o the anvil to have greatest control.
12. The pleated fold will curve. Because of the interchangeability of curves, a slight curve on the flat
fold will translate into a dynamic curve when the fold is opened. That means that whatever curve you have will be even more curved.
13. Anneal and unfold. This accordion-like fold can be opened in several different ways, all with very different looks.
14. You can twist the opening to get a cork-screw effect or open the pleats to greater or lesser extent. Examples of Pleated-Folds
This is what a pleated-fold looks like when unfolded into a cactus-like form.
Janzen Fold, made by pleating, then trimming and forging.
This is also an example of a fold and shear approach.
pleated fold, forged on opposite sides to create an “S” shape.
Woven-Folds
Woven folds interweave and connect strips of sheet metal that are worked and then unfolded. The concept of interlocking separate elements together can literally knit parts together to form a larger construction. These, in turn, create new choices of open- and closed-folds that can be further forged or worked. The logic of weaving like this will be familiar to people who sew, cane chairs, make pastries, or eave baskets. A rich source of ideas can be found in children’s rainy day and camp books, which often include projects for working with paper and plastic lace (also called lanyard, gimp, or boondoggle). Braiding experts and knot sources provide even more options. Woven folds are really
unexplored territory. I can easily imagine a fifteen-foot high sculpture composed of multitudes o interwoven parts, all held together by the cold connections inherent in the weave of the elements.
The Adams Fold.
Adams Fold
Richard Adams came up with several folds, one of which demonstrates well the principle o interlocking parts for a more complex fold. This form is made from four long strips, each folded in half lengthwise and cut so it is narrow in the center with a long curve on the open sides. Each strip is doubled over so the tips come together and then these four hairpin-like pieces are interlocked as shown.
Forge the arms, placing the hammer blows on either the fold or the open edges. As you can imagine, the results will be different depending on the choices you make. As you hammer, the fold ill expand into a volumetric shape, a kind of a cube that occupies a lot of space. It offers hints of the physically larger places one can create with interlocking forms.
These two alternate views of the Adams Fold illustrate the rich complexity that is possible by weaving several parts together to create a complex and dyna mic foldform.
Boondoggle
Boondoggle is a type of strip interweaving that some of us first encountered at summer camp. These strip interweavings can be fruitful starting points for folded metal objects. The example shown is a strip that has been simply bent at right angles in the middle and then folded back and forth to make a chain or strip. Anything that can be done in strip materials, like lanyard, can usually be done in metal.
Hydraulic Press Folds
The hydraulic press and its tooling give lots of ways of working with foldforming. A hydraulic press consists of two parallel surfaces moving together with constant and powerful pressure. This pretty much describes an ordinary vise. The difference is that a hydraulic press can develop far more power than a screw operated vise, and a press has much larger platens, or flat surfaces for pushing together. Small items, however, can actually be done with a vise, but a hydraulic press is worth having because of the options it provides. There are different kinds of hydraulic presses available. An important source for jewelers is the Bonny Doon engineering company, created and developed by Lee Marshall for many years and currently led by Phil Poirier. Their presses are solid, tested, and designed for the jeweler. Such presses come usually with a 12-ton or 20-ton option, both powerful enough for ordinary use, though the standard seems to have become 20 tons. Bonny Doon offers a 50-ton press for magnificent deep drawing of tubes and vessel making. Luxury models have powered hydraulics, which are a good idea if you are going to use a press for production purposes where repetition, physical work, and speed o use are important. It is quite possible to make your own hydraulic press, and various versions abound, from welded I-beam frames to the very functional one made of threaded rod, steel tubes, nuts, and steel plates portrayed in Susan Kingsley’s important book Hydraulic Die Forming for Jewelers and etalsmiths. For years I did small to medium work on a 12-ton $99.00 shop press from a discount machine tool supplier. I now have a lovely 20-ton one built by machinists, along the Kingsley lines. Such presses are often used for die forming, where metal sheet is placed over a hole in a hard block, and a thick rubbery pad pushes the metal into the hole, forming volumetric parts. Foldforming uses the hydraulic press for several specific things, but it should be noted that, like woven folds, there is much unexplored territory here. The major hydraulic press foldforming approaches are die forming, using forming blocks, Kaylor style forming, and tube forming. Die Forming a Foldform
For this example we’ll take a previously fold formed sheet, in this case a low cross-fold with its fold edges turned into three parallel line-folds with a soft T-fold running across it at right angles.
1. Start with an existing foldform, textured in strong relief, then unfold and shape it further by pressing it into a die form. The simplest kind of die is a block with an interesting shaped hole. The hole can be any desired shape, cut into a block of hard wood or layered Plexiglas.
2. Place the die in the hydraulic press and set the foldformed sheet over it. The panel should be at least a centimeter larger than the hole you want to force it into.
3. Here is a view of the layers; rubber or urethane pad on top, metal in the center, and the die below. The stack could all be inverted and the effects would be the same.
4. The formed panel just out of the press showing how the fold form has been pushed into the die. Note how detailed areas can flatten out.
5. To avoid the flattening effects, flow solder into the hollow areas, before die forming. Being
reinforced, the lines will retain their shape and stand up from the surface after die forming more strongly than those seen here.
Here are two other examples of foldforms that have been given increased dimension and drama by pressing them in a die using a hydraulic press. Forming Blocks
Forming blocks provide a great way to alter sheet, allowing complex textures that are, functionally, patterned line-folds. They are thick sheet metal or plastic shapes used with the hydraulic press to create raised outlines of the shape. The metal is pressed over a flat piece of shaped sheet. This pushes the metal over the shape, rather like draping pastry over a form. Where the metal is pushed against the edges of the block, it is stressed the most and so becomes the most work hardened place in the sheet, which creates a pattern of work hardness in the shape of the edge of the forming block. The block is removed from the sheet metal and the metal is placed back into the press, with rubber pushing it down again, only with no forming block inside. The work hardened pattern now creates line-folds in the sheet. The thickness of the forming block used determines the height and crispness o the resulting line-fold, with a thinner (16 gauge) block producing a smaller, tighter line.
1. Cut out a piece of flat, rigid material. In this case I have used a jeweler’s saw to cut out a piece o acrylic sheet. Round the edges of the sheet and place it on a piece of annealed metal.
2. Use a rubber or urethane pad to press the metal over the form evenly.
3. This view shows the parts in position in the press. Apply pressure as needed to render the form.
4. Here are the pieces as they come from the press. If the original form is tough enough, it can be used hundreds of times.
5. It is worth taking a minute to think about where the metal has become work hardened, and where it is still annealed. The vertical wall around the form is hard, having taken all the stress of forming. The material at the corners is the hardest section of all. The rest of the sheet is still relatively malleable.
6. Place the metal back into the press, this time with only the rubber pad and press it again.
7. After a second pressing, the edges of the shape now become raised line folds. Multiple pressings can be done, overprinting a pattern on itself to make more complex compositions. Tube Forming
Tom Markusen pioneered the uniform and controlled forming of tubes in the 1970s and 1980s. The structure of a tube is interrupted by denting selected areas. When the tube is collapsed in a hydraulic press, attractive folds are formed originating from the programmed dents. Even undented tubes will collapse in interesting ways. I often use heat on a tube to create annealed zones that will steer the collapse when pressure is applied. Arch Gregory, Fred Fenster, and Steve Midgett have done some pretty wild investigations into folded tubes.
1. Here is a tube centered in the press ready for collapsing.
2. A torch is used to heat the center of the tube. It is heated from different directions. Try not to splash the heat onto parts of the press itself to avoid heating it up unnecessarily. Careful too about fire dangers with the torch in a place it is not normally used. Crank the press slowly so you can observe hat is happening.
The photo above shows remarkably even and symmetrical flanges that were formed using this process.
The examples above illustrate the sensuous curves that develop naturally when selected areas are annealed before or during ressing.
Kaylor-Style Forming
Robert Kaylor from Boise, Idaho came up with a new twist on die forming when he used a cylinder o
steel pipe, perhaps 4 inches high and 3½ inches across. He cut it in half to make two rings. The cut can be curving or straight across or angled. He starts with a long, large chased T-fold and solders it into a bracelet band. This is fitted inside the cylinder and the two parts of the cylinder are moved apart to expose a generous portion of the foldformed band inside. A rubber plug is put inside the hole thing and a steel cylinder is positioned on top. The press drives the steel downward into the rubber, which in turn, balloons the foldformed piece out into what becomes a lovely bracelet. The distance the two parts of the steel cylinder are placed from each other determines the width of the bracelet band.
Robert Grey Kaylor. Bracelet , 18k /sterling bimetal. Photo by the artist.
More Folded Tubes
Arch Gregory and Steve Midgett have done significant research into folded tubes. Here are examples of Gregory’s methods.
Here, a tube cutter has been used to indent he tube and program its collapse. The before and after pieces illustrate the high degree of control that is possible.
Arch sometimes uses a hydraulic press, but he has also found that the feed mechanism of a machinists lathe can be used for compression. The headstock holds the tube perfectly centered as the tailstock is cranked forward to compress the tube. The lathe is not spinning during this operation.
Here are some of the very controlled results he gets. These become components, beads, bent into neckpiece parts, and so on.
rch Gregory, Salad Tongs. Sterling silver and an odized aluminum. Photos courtesy o f the a rtist.
Belly Buttons
Let’s return for a moment to the concept of hardness dams. As you’ll remember, the idea is to selectively harden areas of a metal sheet by work hardening them. These internal hard places will dictate how the surrounding metal moves when it is worked. One of the early discoveries of this method led to the creation of round symmetrical forms I call “Belly Buttons.” The first step is to pound a smooth rounded bump into sheet metal with a dapping tool. This will create a circular hardness dam. When you strike the bump with a heavy hammer, the small round dot of work hardness on the top of the dome and the ring of work hardness at the base of the dome push
the annealed material between them as they move towards each other to create a shape that looks like a belly button. There is a correlation to an ordinary confirmed line-fold here, where a work hardened ridge forms on the top, and two work hardened lines on the bottom of the line-fold as it is confirmed. If the dome is large enough and the pressure is correct, a series of concentric circles is formed. This resembles photos of hydrogen bomb tests from the 1950s, where the central dome is surrounded by concentric waves. This similarity points to the importance of surface tension in generating some foldforms.
The top illustration shows a cross section of a dapped sheet. The darkened areas indicate stressed (and therefore hardened) zones. The lower drawing shows the cross section of a “belly button fold.” The hardened areas have resisted the f orce of the hydraulic press, which in this case c reates concentric circles.
Large dome at left was made in a hydraulic press. The smaller belly button above was made with a hammer.
Making a Belly Button Fold
1. Start with a die of any sort. In this example, I’ve made a hemispherical depression in the endgrain of a block of wood.
2. Strike a dapping punch to make a dome in annealed sheet.
3. Here is the raised dome. With a little imagination, you can imagine a band of work hardness around the base of the form.
4. Press down on the raised portion. In this case I am using a planishing hammer as a punch. Striking the tool with a mallet allows for increased control.
5. Because of the hardness created in the first step, the outer band remains raised as the interior of the dome is compressed.
6. The reverse side is just as viable as the finished surface. Hardness Dams and Forming Blocks
This variation is an outgrowth of the belly button form. Instead of using a dapping punch, this method uses blocks of specific shapes that are located beneath a sheet and are pushed forcefully into them in a hydraulic press. Forming blocks can be Plexiglas, metal, or any sufficiently hard material. The thicker the forming block, the broader the resulting line; the thinner the sheet, the finer the resulting line.
Place forming blocks onto a piece of annealed metal in preparation of an experimental form. In this demonstration, I am using various bits of steel found around the studio, including some tool blanks, ashers, and rings.
Place a rubber pad above and below the assembly, then compress the stack in a hydraulic press. Generally, the taller the forms and greater the pressure, the more dramatic the results.
Above, the piece as it emerges from the press. To the right, I have marked the hardness dams in red. Any further work done on this panel before annealing will be influenced by these localized less malleable zones.
Joan Tenenbaum, Setting Sun for the Bering Sea. Sterling silver, 14k /sterling bimetal, sapphire. 1⅜ by 2 ⅝ inches. Photo by Doug Yaple
Folds Derived from Paper Models
In some ways, this is the largest section of fold-forming. If you sit down with a glass of your favorite beverage, the TV, and a pile of stiff paper, you can come up with dozens of starting points pretty fast. Not to mention ideas adapted from the worlds of paper folding and creasing. Paper lets you work out the specifics of a particular problem when experimenting with foldforming. For years I would wait for the origami master to come and show me the Truth. Then I realized that it was never going to happen. One can do origami in metal—with enough effort, even a crane can be made in thin sheet metal, but foldforming usually involves the working of the folded metal, and the instant that you forge or stretch the metal, it squirts sideways locking the complex fold into an almost unfoldable lump. Origami can, however, provide a number of starting points and ways of understanding folding. Besides everyday writing paper for figuring out series of folds, materials that work well include manila file cover, index cards, any type of paper that is stiff enough to act a bit like sheet metal. You can begin a fold by creasing the paper with the point of a dull knife, the end of a burnisher, and so on. Once I was on a plane to Australia and was bumped into first class, which I did not fully appreciate until I was on the way back in economy seating—it was a 23-hour journey. I spent some time on the outward journey folding beer mats, put them in a plastic bag and then forgot about them. Years later I opened the bag and found that I had done every fold that I had been busy naming for people in the intervening years. Paper is a great way of experimenting and working out problems. Ward Fold, Multiple
Ward Fold in copp er and the paper model that helped in the development. Paper doesn’t move in the same way as metal, so the results can be quite different, as seen here. Still, paper models offer a quick and low cost way to investigate form.
Ward Fold, Single The fold that Jim Ward came up with is a great example of a fold derived from paper models. I really enjoy the odd change of direction it shows. It can be done as a single fold or a back-and-forth multiple version.
1. Start by folding one end of a strip like this.
2. Clamp it in the vise with the unfolded portion extending above the jaws.
3. Flatten the pillow with a mallet, all the way down flat on the jaws of the vise.
4. This is what the form should look like at this stage. When it does, reorient it in the vise so the table
is sticking up vertically.
5. Tap one side of the table to a 45-degree angle. Stop before pushing the table all the way down onto the top of the vise.
6. Reverse the form in the vise and repeat. The goal of this step is to create the “Y” cross section seen here.
7. Use a mallet to fold the table onto itself, closing the ‘Y” completely.
8. Cut a curve in the open side of the fold.
9. In this example, I will forge the open edge lightly. Forging on other edges or to a different degree
ill give different results.
10. The form after forging. At this point, it is ready to be annealed.
11. Open the form with a dull knife or similar opening tool. As always, use your fingers as much as possible.
12. The finished single Ward Fold.
Some more examples of single Ward Folds. This is what the same fold looks like when the open sides are forged. Combinations of working open and closed sides are interesting as well.
The Ward Fold can easily be repeated in the same strip producing a back and forth line that is snakelike. It almost makes itself as each step sets things up for the next change in direction.
1. Clamp a metal strip into a vise at an angle. Forty-five degrees will work, as will other angles for variations of the fold.
2. Press the pillow down to the top of the vise with a mallet.
3. Remove the strip from the vise, turn it side-ways, and grip the table in the vise. Tap the metal to a 45-degree angle, stopping before the metal goes all the way down to the vise.
4. Repeat the same procedure on the other side of the table resulting in a fold with a “Y” cross section.
5. Flatten the fold onto the jaws of a vise, the table having been folded up.
6. Flatten the rest of the strip in a similar way.
7. Trim the open sides of the ends to a rounded curve. The fold has various open and closed sides to forge, so variations are available just by choosing a combination of forged open and closed sides.
8. Here I will only forge closed sides and forge all the fold edges I can find. The forging is done near or at the edge of the anvil. *
9. Here is the fold after one course of hammering.
10. Generally I will hammer both sides, but this is more to even out the texture on each side rather than to make any real difference in the forging.
11. Anneal the fold and open it with a pen knife or other opening tool by prying and wiggling. Work carefully so as not to dent or damage the metal.
12. Here it is unfolded. * Helpful Tip
Keep the hammer and anvil moving up and down in the same place and move the metal between them. If you have a steady hammering rhythm, then, like sewing, you control the spacing of the blows by the uniform speed you move the metal between the hammer and anvil.
Examples of repeated Ward Folds, all forged on the closed, f old edge side.
Eckland Fold #1
Barbara Eckland from Santa Barbara, California came up with several folds by working with paper. This one is simple but can go in numerous different directions depending on how it is folded back and forth.
1. Start with a long narrow strip of annealed metal.
2. Bend a section at one end 90-degrees.
3. Mallet that bend flat.
4. Fold the strip over on itself so the tail of the strip lies parallel to the first folded area.
5. Mallet the fold, hardening the edges but not the interior sections. Continue in this way down the strip.
6. This could also be made by wrapping a strip at an angle around a rod, sliding it off and then flattening. You can think of this as being a flattened version of a paper towel tube.
7. Forge the fold edges
8. The piece after forging.
9. Opened by twisting before annealing.
10. The piece when opened after annealing. Eckland Fold #2
A second Eckland Fold may be familiar to former scouts and military people, as it is called a “flag fold” and is used to fold up the American flag properly.
1. This is one of the foldforms that can be practiced in paper.
2. Start with a long strip of annealed metal. Fold the end over into a triangle that lies flat against the edge of the strip.
3. Bend this backward along the bottom edges…
4. … and press it down flat.
5. Squeeze in a vise or flatten with a mallet. In addition to pressing it flat, the vise makes the next fold easier because of increased leverage.
6. Continue folding back and forth, always forming new triangles.
7. The finished stack should be tidy and flat.
8. Two sides of the folded stack are mixtures of fold edges and single sheets and the third side is all fold edges. Forging on any edge or combination will yield good results. In this example, the side with all fold edges has been forged.
9. Anneal the form and pull it open. During annealing, turn the folded stack over repeatedly and wash it with flame to ensure that all parts are properly annealed.
10. Two examples of folds done this way.
This example has been forged on the mixed fold edge and single sheet side of the stack.
Forge and Shear: Altered Star-Fold
Here is an illustration of a theme that has been running through this entire book: The experimentation isn’t over! The foldform demonstrated here starts with a star-fold, but modifies it by making some cuts. These allow the parts to be forged and opened in unexpected ways, and the result is an object that is quite different from the basic star.
1. To see how the basic star was made, turn back to page 63.
2. Cut into each of the four wings to create new places to forge. I like to use aviation snips for this but other kinds of snips will work as well. Don’t cut so far into the center that the form will be eakened.
3. Twist the parts to make them accessible to the hammer. Stakes and odd holding positions may be needed to get at different spots.
4. Each edge offers a choice, and the combinations of which edges get forged create various folds.
5. The simple foldform, forged, annealed, and opened. Even this minor variation yields an interesting object, but watch what happens when multiple components are put together.
Here are some finished versions of this altered star form. Another example is a fold invented by Kathleen Janzen from Calgary. This is a pleated fold all stacked up, with the ends trimmed in at an angle and then forged as a stack. In the image pictured, she also left on material that she shaped into spicula, providing a good example of a combination of folds. The point of this avenue of exploration is that by cutting into a folded base form, you get new avenues to pursue in foldforming.
Kathleen Janzen, Copper , 11 by 9½ by 8 inches. Photo by the artist.
Corrugations
One of the vital places that foldforming came from was a series of experiments that used the grooved cylinders of a wire rolling mill. The mill I had required me to change the rolls from sheet to wire. I loathed changing them and so did everything I could while the wire rolls were in place, as I knew they would not be in again for a while. I was making every combination of textures I could, some thirty or so variations by printing the wire rolls hard into sheet metal at different directions and angles. I folded a piece of metal over and rolled it through. The way that the material squished up in the spaces between the rolls under pressure and the ridge produced at the fold edge led directly to the development of all line folds, and in that way, all later folds. The folded metal is rolled through under strong pressure. I like to put the open side of the fold in first, and insert it at angle. Multiple passes and folds of two, three or four layers create different results.
Here is a piece of copper emerging from the mill.
Examples of what happens when f olded sheets of metal are passe d through the wire rollers under high pressure.
Micro-Corrugation
In the late 1990s Trish McAleer experimented extensively, a technique she calls micro-corrugation. It involves using a meshed tube squeezing tool for corrugating thin metal sheet. Corrugated metal this ay is done industrially for costume jewelry, bead making, and industrial applications. I had done experiments with meshed gears on a rolling mill in the 80s, and I have seen other work in which gears
ere used to create corrugation, but McAleer was the first to really follow this up in an organized ay. Her student, Jack Berry, produced a paper on the subject and McAleer now has the definitive book on this way of working. Metal Corrugation: Surface Embellishment and Element Formation or the Metalsmith. Lee Marshall of Bonny Doon Engineering came up with a heavy-duty version for small studio use and Cindy Eid has done some lovely pieces with this approach.
n example of a tool used to create corrugations. Simple versions are used to squ eeze the last drop of paint or ointment from a tube, but larger industrial-scale versions like this are also available. Photo courtesy of Bonny Doon.
Trish McAleer, Swims Better with Fins, Brooch. Copper, sterling, tourmaline. 3 by 3½ inches. Photo b y Robert Sanders.
Cynthia Eid, Bracatelle Corrugation. Sterling silver, 1 inch wide. Photo by the artist.
Cynthia Eid, Lines of Honeycombs, Earrings. 18k /sterling bimetal. 3¼ inch es high. Photo by the artist.
Combination Folds
Earlier in the book we saw an example of a sheet with line-folds was then shap ed using a T-fold. Here are two views o f another iece that combines folds, in this case, rolled-folds (Good Folds) modified with scoring and bending.
The Future of Foldforming
The publication of this book marks a quarter century of work in foldforming and related experiments. Throughout this exciting period, I have been privileged to work with hundreds, perhaps thousands o students. I have presented the material in workshops on three continents, and worked with leaders in many craft media. Consistently, our progress has been blessed by a spirit of curiosity and a
illingness to share. For what has passed, I am deeply grateful. And what about the next 25 years? As I’ve said before in this book, I think huge opportunities exist for combining foldforming techniques. They can be combined with each other, or used alongside conventional metalsmithing techniques in innovative ways. Most of the work that has been done so far stays close to the usual jewelry scale, but work on larger and smaller forms is inevitable. Have we exhausted the vocabulary of forms? I don’t think so, and perhaps, we’re closer to the beginning than the end. In the introduction I described the origins of my research as coming from a disarmingly simple source. A teacher in Germany, seeing that many of his students were unskilled in traditional techniques, suggested that they allow what might have been a disadvantage to chart their ay to new understandings about material. I can’t predict what the motivation will be that pushes foldforming into its next phase, but I feel confident that such a next step, whatever it is, will be fascinating!
Appendix
Nick Grant Barnes Owzat Bowl Fine silver, 14k gold 3 inches by 4 inches Photo by Greg Staley
OVERVIEW OF FOLDFORMING
Health & Safety ere’s the good news: Foldforming won’t kill you. As an integral part of metalsmithing practice, though, foldforming deserves the same common sense care that applies to every aspect of a craft studio. This page offers a brief summary of topics that warrant complete understanding. Readers are urged to pursue these important ideas through literature, consultations, and research. Metals
There are no particular dangers associated with silver, gold, or other precious metals. Copper and copper alloys develop oxides and sulfides during handling that will be transmitted to your skin. Wear latex gloves, use a barrier cream, or wash your hands thoroughly after working with these metals. Lead, and to a lesser degree, all white metals such as tin, bismuth, antimony, should be avoided. I you are using these metals, use gloves and wash your hands regularly. Hammers & Handles
It is a good rule of thumb to always use a hammer that is heavy enough to do the job and no heavier. A hammer that is too lightweight forces us to work harder to get the job done. If a hammer is too heavy, e either lose control or fight with the hammer, holding it in check, so we don’t mess things up. Make your best guess about which hammer to use in a given situation, then reevaluate after a few minutes. I necessary, try again until you find the right tool for the job. Handles should be of medium length and thick enough that your fingers do not wrap around onto themselves. Oval handles are more comfortable and provide greater control than round handles. Some people like to use cushioned grips when they will be working for more than a half hour at a time. Bicycle grips offer an inexpensive alternative to the padded grips as does tape sold by medical suppliers. Alternatively, many workers prefer padded gloves. Again, cycling shops will offer a fingerless glove that is similar to, but cheaper than, those sold specifically for physical therapy. Chemicals
There is no chemical inherently connected to foldforming. That said, it is likely that forms made in the processes described in this book are likely to spend some time in pickle. Do not quench hot metal in pickle, but rather, rinse it in water and then slide into warm pickle. Pickles are acidic, and range from the traditional sulfuric acid through sodium bisulfate (Sparex), to citric acid preparations. In every case, avoid heating above bathwater temperatures, keep covered, and do not stand directly in the fumes. Large scale operations require active ventilation. To avoid exposure to copper oxides when working with copper, use barrier creams or gloves, and ash hands regularly. Repetitive Strain Injuries
This medical term refers to a wide and diverse range of medical problems that arise primarily from repeated motions—like hammering, for instance. They can appear in many places and for reasons as different as typing or assembling heavy equipment. Perhaps the most commonly reported type of RSI among craftspeople is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), which causes fingers to tingle and lose strength. If you feel this happening, stop working right away and see a doctor or physical therapist. It can usually be reversed, but early treatment is
important. In many cases, RSIs can be avoided by adopting proper posture and grip. Don’t create strain injuries by working on a low anvil in an uncomfortable chair with a hammer that has a thin handle. Which is to say, proper health requires sensitivity to the relationships of worker, equipment, and handtools.
Equivalent Numbers
Temperature Conversions Celsius to Fahrenheit __________________
> Multiply the degrees C times 9. > Divide this number by 5. > Add 32.
Fahrenheit to Celsius __________________
> Subtract 32 from the degrees F. > Multiply this number by 5. > Divide by 9.
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About the Author
Charles Lewton-Brain received his initial training in Germany at Fachhochschule für Gestaltung and later earned a Master of Fine Arts from the State University of New York at New Paltz. In the 1980s he invented a way of working with metal that exploits its inherent behaviors. Through hundreds o orkshops and in his position at the Alberta College of Art + Design in Calgary, Charles has developed the science and art of foldforming to its current high standard. This book is the most comprehensive survey yet made, literally a work several decades in the making.
