How to make a brass bird cage dress in twenty-five easy steps

Step 5 Cutting, drilling and bending brassy bits

After a bit of wrangling, I decided upon a swooping, bell-like shape for the skirt. It was inspired by some of the old Victorian birdcages from days of yore. Working from that size, I created the other components - the internal skeleton shape (so that birds would not peck at the wearers legs) and the bottom skeleton pieces so that both sections would (hopefully) meet appropriately.

I then proceeded to cut and drill individual pieces following the pattern. This was a leap of faith - I was counting on the fact that I did the math correctly. Brass is pretty pricey, so messing up on a grand scale wouldn't be cool at all.

I found it very helpful to use a metal punch to mark the spots I needed to drill. The devices are conveniently called 'metal punches' and will save you a lot of frustration by not letting the drill press wander all over the place.

After cutting and drilling the pieces, I used a bench grinder to smooth out the surface on each piece.

Be sure wear safety goggles because your eyes are important! Guaranteed, you're going to need your eyeballs throughout this entire project.