This page is a work in progress. I’ll keep adding to it until I’ve got all of the different rivets I use photographed. I’ve got video coming also.
If you are going to rivet a piece with glass in it, it’s a nice idea to use a small spacer or bead cap between the top of the post and the bead. Also, most handmade glass beads are dimpled at the hole, and you need to fill the dimple, so you have a flat surface to rivet on, and so you don’t hit the bead.
Put a little something under the bead if you like. This is a brass stamping from Gail Crosman Moore, who also made both of the beads pictured. And this ring is an easy one to rivet, because the post doesn’t move- it was imbedded into the metal clay before firing.
(See my Structural Metal Clay book for more on this technique.)
I usually have a nice little pile of small spacers with holes of varying sizes I can rootle through when it’s time to do a rivet- so many people get stuck in class when their wire is smaller than their hole that I am able to pull them out and save the day. I call them Rivet Angels.
After you make your stack of whatever you are joining together, place your piece in an orientation so that everything is settled down, and trim the post.
Be sure you’ve got all of the layers sorted out! Trim it just enough so that a bit of the post sticks up. If your top hole in your stack fits your wire neatly, a little bit of extra is all you need to form a good rivet head. If the top hole in your stack is bigger than the wire, the stack will wobble, and the post will want to bend when you strike it. That makes it next to impossible to do a good rivet.
Below, the trimmed post. Since my little spacer on top fits the post exactly, I could make the section of post that sticks up for spreading half this tall. You just need enough to get a good grab. I cut this one a bit high, as I had a good snug fit of all layers on the wire, and I wanted to get a nice spread on the head.
Supporting the piece firmly on an anvil or block, use a ball end hammer, or the chisel tip of a riveting hammer to spread the top until it grabs. I hold my piece tightly, so it doesn’t move. You can form different shaped heads, depending on the shape of your hammer (ball or chisel) and how you hold it. I use a riveting hammer, chisel point, and I tend to use a lot of light blows in an”x” pattern, which gives me a round rivet head.
Below, a finished rivet, with a spinner on top.
