Starting a Finished Product - Part 1

By combining the leaf and the elongated nail form, the knifemaker's aunt could make a Celtic scarf broach. The Tara Brooch is described at HeadStuff as "In ancient Celtic culture, brooches served both the practical function of holding one’s shawl closed, and the social function of indicating one’s wealth and status. In fact, the relationship between brooches and social standing,..."

Elaborate metals and gems have been used to distinguish one person's image over another. The knifemaker's aunt thought of using metalworking combined with gemstones for a scarf brooch to embody creativity or prosperity. Various stones have meanings and with a combination of several stones, a meaningful piece of jewelry that can be used everyday with scarves or shawls (not in the summer of course!) would be lovely.

Initially a piece of 1018 mild metal was heated red hot in the forge, and then the end of it was hammered into an elongated thin rod. The knifemaker's aunt's technique has definitely improved over the past month. Now when she hammers, she moves metal!



Notice how the metal blisters. Just like skin will blister and peel after a sunburn, metal will blister and flake when hammered from a red hot stage.