Penny project

Another thing I did this weekend was a jewelry project.



I bought a butane torch a few weeks ago.

I can't do much with it yet, besides melt things into blobs.

While looking for copper soldering projects, I found some easy penny jewelry ideas.



(Note: Pennies made after 1981 contain almost no copper and can be toxic when heated.)






I have pennies, and also some Pesos and Euros, that family members collected on trips.









I saw these ideas online:

I have the tools to hammer the coins into a rounded shape.

( Actually this is not the correct hammer to use on this tool, but you get the idea.)





Under the sink, I found this copper cleaner, which is one way to shine pennies:

After hammering for an hour, I had a few sets of concave coins!

Next, I had to make holes in the earrings.



I have this vise-like tool:

I should have punched the holes before rounding the coins.

The vise left marks on the edges of the coins when I pressed the hole into them.

I had to re-hammer them, afterward, to get them back into shape.



Also, hammering hardens metal.

This may be why I couldn't even pierce some of the brass coins.

It only really worked on the pennies.



Here are the results!

Also I tried some dimes:

It was really satisfying to smash the coins, and the results were very unique!