I am not a copper smith, meaning one that works solely with copper.  I use copper in my work and this means that I have to find simple ways to bring into reality what I see in my mind.

Copper is the most malleable of the materials that I use.  Copper in conjunction with the process of annealing allows for the forming of copper.

Annealing copper can best be illustrated by the video below.

Annealing Copper

For smaller pieces of copper you can anneal with the regular torch tip.  For larger pieces you may want to use a rosebud tip.  The rosebud tip puts out a much larger flame meaning that you can anneal a larger piece of copper more quickly than with the standard welding brazing tip.

Below are photos of a rosebud tip.

Once you have the copper annealed and it is cooled it is time to start shaping.  I use a stump with a small space hollowed out.

For rapid cooling of your annealed piece of copper you can quench it in water.  I'm not in this much of a hurry so I prefer to let the copper air cool.

Forming Mallets

These are rather primitive mallets in different shapes.  You can buy mallets but I made each of these in less than an hour out of a sycamore limb and some old broom handles.

Hardwood such as maple, oak or hickory would have been better but I like to use what I have.

Below is a video of forming a copper mask.

This will give you a good understanding of the process.

Forming a Copper Mask

Obviously the hammer or mallet is going to make indentations in the copper.

The final step is to planish out these hammer marks.  Planishing is moving the copper over a smooth surface and tapping lightly to remove the hammer marks.  At this point you'll want to decide how smooth you want the final piece to be.  The smoother the finish the more time is spent in plannishing.

The mask below took quite a bit of time to get smooth.

The piece below is left somewhat rougher because it fit in with the intended design.

I think you will enjoy forming copper.  Because of its forgiving nature through annealing you can always start over and you will eventually arrive at the desired form.

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