Flame Coloring and Making a Steel Flower

The beauty of making sheet metal art is that once you have the right tools, you're really only limited by your imagination in terms of what you can make. This project cost me about $3 in materials, and I could certainly sell it for a lot more than that.

As I talked about in one of my other Instructables, Metalworking is a fun way to relieve stress and make inexpensive items that you can sell or give as gifts.

My previous instructable on Metalworking:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Metalworking-Techniques-and-Making-a-Steel-/

Step 1 Materials and Tools

For this project, we will need a few materials and tools.

Materials:

- 22 Gauge sheet steel
- Two bolts
- Two steel rods with threaded holes in the ends
- Our printed design
- Spray can of clear coat for metal

Safety Gear:

- Goggles
- Gloves
- Ear protection

Tools:

- Blowtorch
- Ball-pein Hammer
- Anvil
- Vice
- Drill
- Tin snips
- Hacksaw or dremel
- Curved metal file
- Screwdriver
-Scissors
-Scotch Tape
- Needle Nose pliers (preferably toothless)

- A scriber or other sharp metal point

If you have a tool that you think can do the same or better job than one above, by all means use it. This is just what I used.

Comments

[trker]

u could also make it with coke cans bcoz they're red on the outside
but then you kinda of take the fun out of it bcoz u cant use a blowtorch

[woodreaux]

You are actually "drawing" the temper(hardness) when applying the heat. The purlpe is about the hardest. You can stop the run of colors by quenching the metal with water...b careful

[nomooremr.niceguy]

I apologize, but I'm having trouble understanding the construction of the stem. would you mind adding some pictures of how to attach the leaves to the stem and how to attach the two bolts? I love this instructable and you did a wonderful job on it. I don't think anything contrary, I'm just having difficulty visualizing this one part. Thank you for all your help. Have a good day.

[mattthegamer463]

Hi, No need to apologize, I was a little vague and pictures were sparse. Unfortunately I don't have the rose anymore (since it was a gift from the start) but basically, the rods are steel rods with threaded holes at each end. As you can see in the template image, each pedal and the leaves has a hole for mounting. The petals are just a bolt threaded through all the petal holes and down into the threaded hole on the rod. The leaves are held in place by a threaded rod that was first screwed into one steel rod length, had the leaves threaded on, then screwed onto the upper steel rod and tightened with pliers. If you have any more issue I will draw you a picture to help you visualize it. Thanks for posting and for the kind remarks. Take care.

[nomooremr.niceguy]

Are the rods hollow? With threads on the insides? That must be the part I missed.

[mattthegamer463]

They have threaded holes in each end that go down the length, about 1" deep.

[nomooremr.niceguy]

Ok. That makes more sense. I couldn't see how to connect two solid rods with thread locking compound (probably because it would be pretty tough:P - I am now drawing the attention away from my stupidity). Thank you for your help and patience. I'll attempt to make a few of these in my spare time. They seem pretty cool. Approximately how long would you expect it to take a first timer with a makeshift anvil (the kind described in your previous instructable)?

[mattthegamer463]

Probably no more than 4 or 5 hours. I had no clue what I was doing and I think it took me about 3 hours to do this one. Hopefully your makeshift bolt anvil will work for you.

[nomooremr.niceguy]

Thank you. Last question. where do you get the rods and what diameter would you recommend?

[Aztof]

wow, great! Reminds me a lot of district 9.......

[SandLizard]

Great 'ible. In Step 7 wouldn't it be easier to use a threaded stud instead of cutting the head off a bolt? I think the price would be about the same.

[mattthegamer463]

Naturally, but the rods I bought were pre-threaded in some impossible foreign threading, and I only found a single bolt that was threaded correctly at the store. Next time, I'll thread my own rod.

[golddigger1559]

i love this projects im going to make one for my girlfriend. i do have one thought tho: i would be making the leaves higher up and securing them with solder but with the stainless steel rods that i have i dont know if they would stick, do you think that if i sanded the surface around the area of solder it would stick succesfully?

[mattthegamer463]

In a word: no. You would have to weld them onto the rods. If you have welding equipment, this is probably an even better solution than bolting them on, but this really is your only solution. The only other thing I can think of is maybe drilling a hole into your steel rod and threading it, then bolting them onto the rod. Maybe somehow you could wrap the leaf around the rod and rivet or bolt it in place, but that might not look very nice.

[bg_askins]

i have made several steel roses and i have great success brazing the leaves on

[guitarman63mm]

Yes, brazing is definitely the way to go for anything like this. Smooth, strong enough for display and handling; ideal.

[mattthegamer463]

Okay, so brazing would work then. However, the steel would be discolored from the heat so as long as thats not a concern then it sounds like a good method.

[guitarman63mm]

Didn't you 'discolour' the stem and leaves in this 'ible? Seems like the same would be done if you used brazing, no?

[mattthegamer463]

Yes, but the brazing process would discolor them in a way that isn't controlled, so the colors could end up being anything. The amount of heat for coloring is very delicate.

[bg_askins]

i posted pics on the stainless steel rose 'ible comments

[Bodygard1117]

can this be done with a toaster oven or dose there need to be a flame

[mattthegamer463]

You could do it with a toaster oven, but you'd have to keep a close eye on it to get the color you want. The thing with a toaster is that the heat will be even, so the colors will be even. You can't make rainbows or anything like that with an oven.

[Bodygard1117]

thanks for the tip. I was thinking of coloring each petal differently before i put it together.

[Bodygard1117]

I'm going to do this now its awesome

[Garasvaldi]

Cool work, been trying to get my sister's BF to make some for me to give to someone special(he is a professional metal worker) and now that I have found this instructable I don't have to wait for him anymore, thanks

[imrobot]

soooo, did she like it?

[mattthegamer463]

She loved it. :)

[Default117]

AWESOME metal working!! Looks very professional! : D

[thepelton]

I like it! I was thinking about using aluminum sheet from soda cans. You could use Coca-cola ones for the flower itself.

[A.C.E.]

fantastic, and beautiful in one of those metallic sort of ways

[guitarman63mm]

I think I might make the lady a daisy, it's her favorite flower, and it has quite simple curves.

[ht2o]

totaly awesome love it

[lemonie]

Lovely. L

[mattthegamer463]

Thanks :)

[rakuda]

how long does it take to make? is it worth the labour for the profit?

[mattthegamer463]

Overall time was about 3 hours, and cost about $2.50. Whether or not its "worth it" is a personal matter. If the person you make it for loves it, then its worth it. If you sell it for more than $2.50 and had lots of fun making it, then its worth it. If you sell for $50 and hated every second of making it, then its probably worth it. Thats your decision, and you won't know until you give it a try.

[fwjs28]

i agree with colin: Amazing!

[colin353]

Amazing!