Teardrop Pendant

Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

Take a nickel and hammer it out. Make sure to hammer on a smooth surface with a smooth faced hammer. Other wise you'll end up with deep gouges that take alot of sanding to remove. The smoother the coin is in this stage the less you will have to sand in another.

Use tin snips or metal shears to cut out the shape. It may be eaisier to hold the disc with a pair of pliers while you make the cuts.

Find a piece of wood. Then find a convex shape. In this case I used the ball section from the spindle of a headboard. You could use a spoon or the head of a carriage bolt too.

Take the convex shape and place it on the piece of wood. Use a moderate blow with a hammer to indent the wood with the convex shape. I rubbed black crayon on the depression to show you guys how the wood took on the shape.

Once that is done, take your cut piece and place it between the wood and your convex tool. Use a moderate blow with a hammer. Keep at it until the metal becomes convex. It should only take a few blows.

Using a rotary tool, shape the teardrop. !CAUTION! this gets hot! I used my drill press with a sanding attachment. 

Take some vice grips and clamp a drill bit on the edge of the teardrop. Use light blows from a hammer to shape the loop.

Next, shape the eyelet into the teardrop.  

Sand or file the edges down. This helps the teardrop look more like a droplet and less like a hammered nickel. 

I used a sanding disc on my drill press but you could use a file, sand paper, or rotary tool.  

Starting with 500 grit sand paper start smoothing out the teardrop. I found it eaisier to place the sand paper on a piece of carpet and rub the teardrop on it.

Move to 2000 grit sand paper to further smooth it out.

Finish with a polishing wheel and polishing compound.

Happy Valentine's Day, Birthday, Mother's day or just because.