Metal
Metal hammering is a time consuming, yet challenging, craft practice. Whether a metal sheet can be transformed beautifully into a three-dimensional vessel highly relies on every touch of the artist.
General speaking, sawing and cutting, hammering, and polishing are some basic steps of making a hand-hammered metal vessel. Some of these vessels are made from one metal sheet while some of them are welded small components into one piece. Artists can apply different techniques depending on the characteristic of the metal, for example, annealing is an essential step for making a hand-hammered copper ware; however, a tin ware does not require annealing.
The tin vessel as shown below is an example of welding hand-hammered metal sheets into one.
Tin vessel making process
Demonstrated by and photos courtesy of Anthony So
Cutting a tin sheet from the design sketches.
Placing and hammering it on an anvil, until it curves.
Hammering to create the neck of the vessel.
Filing the edges.
Welding and putting the three hand-hammered components together.
Fine-tuning the vessel by filing the edges.
Polishing the vessel with sandpaper of different grit sizes.