Care must be taken at first not to crack or break holes in the brass, but after a little practice, and a thicker quality of brass is used, you will learn to avoid this danger.
When quite confident in the use of your tools, you can proceed to make a card-receiver decorated with an antique head, as in the figure; or by enlarging the design, and making the background circular, a plaque will be the result, which will be useful for holding fruit, or, set in a velvet frame, will make an ornament for your walls. A sheet of brass nearly one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and at least seventeen inches square will be required.
As in work of this character a deeper relief is desirable, you will find it more agreeable to work over a bed of composition, which is more yielding than wood, and can be made with but little trouble; this composition can be obtained in small cakes at any store where jewelers’ tools are for sale; but you can easily make it yourself by thoroughly mixing fine sand, well-sifted wood ashes, or even brick-dust, with equal parts of pitch or resin; a tiny bit of tallow improves it considerably. This pitch bed, as it is called, can be spread on a flat table or board, and the sheet of brass, after the design has been carefully traced thereon, fastened down upon it by means of four screws at the corners. To draw the design for the plaque, with a strong pair of carpenter’s dividers describe a circle whose diameter shall be sixteen and one-half inches, and within this draw a second circle, with a diameter of fifteen inches. The space between these two circles is to be left untouched, as it will be turned over to inclose the wire which forms the edge, if for a platter; or will extend under the edge of the velvet, if intended to be framed. Be sure and put your screws outside the large circle, as holes in the body of the plaque would ruin its effect. In this work heavier blows with the hammer will be needed; and a large, well-shaped nail used for the background. Work around the pattern until it stands out in line relief.
The brass will become discolored and black during the process of hammering; but, when done, it can be readily cleaned, at first with oxalic acid and rotten-stone, then a final polishing with chamois-skin.