_THE BOWL

The Bowl

In the first tutorial we learnt the making process of transforming a 200mm x 200mm square piece of sheet metal into a bowl by shrinking and stretching to reshape the properties of aluminium.

To assist in this project we used the following tools:

Laser cut plywood concentric rings
Laser cut plywood female gauge
Tin snippers
Etching tool
Wooden stump w/ concave groove
Sandbag
Cylindrical timber stump w/ concave groove
English Wheel
File

Finished Product

How to make your BowlA step by step procedure 

By using the plywood templates, we were able to accurately mark out a circular grid along the surface of the aluminium, before cutting our sheet metal into a perfect circle and filing the edges to ensure no sharp spurs. 

Then following the marked lines as a guide we were able to begin using the mallet and timber stump to begin hammering the perimeter, slowly stretching the aluminium and manipulating its shape. As I was hammering my sheet metal, i made sure my hits were consistent and evenly spread around the sheet, achieving this by constantly turning my sheet each time i hammered.

Once my bowl reached a wobbly bowl like form i then began to even out the bumps by hammering using the mallet and sandbag.

Ensuring that hammering between the wooden stump and sandbag i also used my female gauge to check my intended radius of r125, i was able to know which areas to focus on stretching and shrinking. 

Once my bowl was almost perfect i then proceeded to use the English Wheel to use rolling pressure to smooth out the surface. Here again i moved across in a consistent manner to ensure each surface received pressure.

Finally to complete the task i used some sandpaper and metal polish to clean up my bowl. 

Conclusion

I found this task to be relatively simple, it just took a gentle hand and patience. Making sure that i regularly used my radius gauge (at r125) to evaluate my process and repeating the process of both mallet and english wheel to planish and achieve a smooth and consistent result.