✹ Pewter live - Metal fan
19th April 2021
From the last update on my ongoing project for the Pewter live competition, I have tried to solder small pieces of a pewter sheet to achieve the folding form of my Disco ball mockup. Unfortunately, it didn’t come out well, so I paused the design for now and focus on delivering another one, Metal fan.
This design is initially from the Fan competition that I was working on since the beginning of my study. The idea is to assemble small pieces of high polish metal sheet to create this flexible form of shiny metal.
In this case, the design and mock-up are done. The only thing to do here is to produce the final work. The fan consists of 2 layers of metal sheet, which I think might be too heavy if I use pewter. But I will try anyway. I sent pewter sheets to the laser cutting supplier which work quite quick, they only need 2 days to finish the order. Yet one problem that I found is that because the lines in my file are created to cut in one whole pattern. So I only include a fragment of the motif, not the whole rectangular form. To prevent the machine to double cut when proceed. The problem here is that because the supplier is jewellery laser cutting, the size of the framework is small. They need to separate the whole pattern into 4 part and cut it quarter by quarter.
By that, they have to create a new line to connect and complete the motif, and it’s not slightly the same as the original shape. I had to go back to the place to fix this problem, but lucky enough that they fix it fast. Because the metal sheet was cut by laser, the edge came out quite dusty, but it can sand off with sandpaper. I spent some time finishing that. And it came out good enough to assemble to a fan.
The next step is to polish the piece, to start I wash each piece in dishwashing solution using grey wire to even out the surface. Then wipe it with tissue and polish it with, metal polishing cream. The key is with polishing cream, it works best with a cotton pad. The last step was repeated more than 4 times each so I spend about 2 days finishing all of them.
As each piece are connected with a rivet, I have tried making metal rivet by using silver wire - it takes too much time and I have to manage to get the work done within one week. So I chose the simpler and faster material - PLA plastic rod. Sam as the mockup. Also, pewter is a soft metal, rivet should make of a softer material than the base.
I finished this fan on time and deliver it to the hall the next day, in my opinion, I love the design and its mechanism when it’s made of mirror cardboard. Metal like pewter is really heavy, it answers the challenge of the competition but I think it’s more practical when it made out of paper. Anyway, I think what I am focusing on here is to learn to create things with limited time, money and material. This is the very first product that I ever made here in London. And it came out good, that matters most. Next time if I want to work with laser cut again, I would know that framework of the machine can affect the outcome so I need to make sure with the supplier to get it right. And with polishing cream, I think I will use it in the next projects as It gives such a satisfying look to metal - a shiny, glimmering look.