For this week’s
#tooltalktuesday I wanted to revisit a fun post I did years ago featuring my
@pepetools_usa rolling mill and all the amazing textures that can be created. Here are some tips 1️⃣ If you use organic items, like dried flowers or leaves, always make sure they are completely dry, a fresh leaf or flower will just get crushed and make a mess. 2️⃣ I suggest taping your material onto one side of a 22g sheet copper “sandwich” this prevents things from shifting on you and the copper protects your steel rollers! I did this for the feather as well. Keep in mind anything you texture with will get destroyed in the process! So I would avoid any sentimental materials. 3️⃣ You can do a wide variety of textures by creating your own cut outs in metal, since I was just experimenting I drilled some holes. When you roll sheet with cut outs whatever your negative spaces are on your cut out become a raised surface on your sheet. 4️⃣ Keep in mind paper and cardstock can have acid and formaldyhide, a lot of people sandwich metal with cardstock, just remember those acids can transfer to your rollers and you should thoroughly wipe your rollers down with 3-In-1 Oil at the end of the day as ultimately these acids can cause staining or pitting. 5️⃣ Sandpaper to texture needs to be done with extreme caution, if the sandpaper were to slip and touch your rollers it could cause damage, so if you do experiment with that be sure to secure it well. 6️⃣ Other suggestions for materials you can texture with: wire mesh (I did that in a previous post, again be careful as the steel mesh will damage your rollers if it comes in direct contact) corn husk, fabric, laser cut cardstock, etched metal, commercially available texture plates. 7️⃣ Practice on base metal! 8️⃣ It is always better to roll through with too little roller tension than too much (which can really disform your metal) 9️⃣ ANNEAL every 2-4 pass throughs and tighten in small increments! I’m always looking for tips, please email :
tips@metalsmithsociety.com my incredible rolling mill is the Pepetools 130 combo mill :) thank you to them for sponsoring Metalsmith Society :)
#rollingmilltips #texturingmetal
