Holding steel

I looked ay how they hold steel cable in architecture to work out how I was going to go about it.

The first way I found that steel cable was held in place was by tightening a screw against it. this was a very simple solution and it meant the cable could be taken out easily if it need ed to be replaced the problem for me using this technique was Im working on a much smaller scale and the treads for these screws would have to be tiny also I’m not sure I need to be able to take the cable out

These cables that are held together with plates and screws are extremely ugly and because they stick out so much away from the cables they break up the lines too much I definitely cannot use this to hold my steel cable it I want a clean line.

This way is a lot more elegant the cross over is two disks that tighten using a grup screw also notice the grub screws on the steel cable supports attached to the angle iron. They are very well hidden I could perhaps use grub screws to make a clean looking piece. But I would still have to make very tiny threads and I would like to avoid that if I can

On this anchorage the cable is crimped into a tube making a very clean join I think crimping will be a much better route for me because it will be quicker and will make a cleaner join if I do it right. Another way of crimping is to make a double tube and to crimp a loop this could perhaps be useful in my jewellery. I would however like to make the metal that I’m crimping a feature as well as serving a function so I will work on ways to do this.

I had to find a way to hold steel in place that would be both strong and not break up the outline of the piece or distract from the steel cable I did this by cutting slots into silver elements and crimping the cable in.

After making tools and trying them I found the best way to do it was to use one slot to hold them and then just use a vice or parallel pliers to crimp the cable in.

I also found that a squished tube worked well to hold the cable. I put the cable in then forge it so it holds the cable tightly

Folding metal

I decided on plate to make up these pieces because it would use less material I then had to work out how I was to make a flat object make up volume. I found a way to fold it where I forged the plate over a metal tool that I made with the use of another tool with a V cut into it

I would first make a curved dome like shape then I would put the ridge in the back by using a V shaped tool then forge a curve into this would make it stronger because the curved ridge made it stiffer and it also gave it the strong lines I was looking for

The success of this technique led me to make better tools I modified some panel beating tools. These worked better because there was a larger surface for forging and I also made a tool with a deeper V so it did not scar the metal so much.

And even tools to make the curve go the opposite direction to the opening I would later make another one of these tools when I got more panel beating tools.