It's a Pin!

Thanks for the creative push on my October Challenge project. You all suggested the finished component should turn into a brooch or pin. So without further ado...

TAHDAH!

Here it is. I was kind of stumped about how to turn it into a pin, but I had a recent discussion with my friend Susan (Hi Susan!) on the merits of shawl pins. I like shawls and my aforementioned friend has gifted me with several. A few lightning fast neuron synapses later and this shawl pin was born.

I love the stitched leather component, but just wasn't sure how I was going to mount it to be sturdy enough to wear. As I was unpacking my tools and materials from my teaching gig last weekend I came across a couple of copper scraps that became my starting point.

The two triangles were originally a 1" square of copper with a heat patina surface. One hole was already in the square, so I popped another one in the opposite corner and cut it in half for two triangles. A quick file of the edges smoothed everything out.

My second scrap was a square of copper that just happened to fit the leather, with a bit of room around the edges. I punched holes top and bottom and sandwiched the leather between the copper triangles and sheet and riveted them in place.

A bit of free-form wire wrapping and the main piece was done.

I used 16-gauge wire for the pin. I hammered, shaped and filed it and added more free-form wrapping at the top.

Here is is all ready to go on my shawl.

It's the perfect day to wear this piece on my lovely shawl from Susan. A good way to brighten up a Monday morning.