A Handmade Christmas Ornament

[Eckels]

How you can build a homemade christmas ornament.

I was bored, and I happen to have these boxes of brass stock. I've been trying to think of things to build with it. I built a model mockup of my drum kit frame, and a little brass man, but I think this thing came out the coolest so far.

The original idea was to make small star ornaments and give them to my relatives as christmas gifts, but as time went on, I realized I wasn't too fond of the idea of a star, so I decided to do a holly leaf instead.
http://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/template.gif
I started by designing a template in photoshop. I drew the ivy leaf, and then placed markers (1/4" circles) wherever I would need a bend in the metal. I printed the template out, and taped it to a piece of wood. I marked the center of the holes with an awl, and then used a 1/4" drillbit to drill the holes to a depth of about 3/4". I had a 1/4" dowel that I cut into lengths of about 1-1/8".
http://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/jig1.jpghttp://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/jig2.jpg
http://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/jig3.jpg
I cleaned up the wood, put in my dowels and I was ready to work.

I didn't take pictures of the soldering process, but what i did was put a small amount of flux on the inside of each tip, and the smallest dot of solder using a soldering iron, and then used a mini butane torch to heat both sides together, so they'd form the tips without me having to hold them. the springyness of the brass held them together as it cooled.

Anyways, after the soldering was all done, I cleaned the whole piece up with a dremel, cut away any excess solder, and polished up the brass the best i could. it shimmers quite brilliantly now.

I finished it off with a small brass loop on the top, held on by even thinner wire wrapped around the stem. I think it came out very nice, and I'll probably make several to give as a gifts this year. It's nothing fancy, but I enjoyed making it. ;)

http://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/leaf1.jpghttp://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/leaf2.jpg
http://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/leaf3.jpghttp://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/leaf4.jpg
http://eckels.afterblur.com/ornament/leaf5.jpg

(Sorry about the terrible photos, i had to use a webcam)

[JayeM]

Wish I was a relative of yours so I'd get one... :( Great design!

[Jigglysaint]

Hey that looks pretty nifty! Do you use a real tree, or a fake one Eckels?

[Eckels]

Well, now we use a little dinky fake tree, but i hate it. We just dont have the space for a full sized tree in this apartment.

I love real trees. In fact, there was an Eckels Christmas Tree Nursery in Mt. Carmel, Connecticut for years, that I worked on every year. My family owned it. But my grandparents were getting on in years, so they decided to sell it a few years ago. They sold it to a local college that turned it into a parking lot or something. Very depressing. I loved that farm though, and have many fond memories of working on it. I cut down many a Doug Fir, White Pine, Blue Spruce, and Norway Spruce with only a bowsaw.

[vegeta1215]

Neat.

I have an old ornament I made in elementary school. It's Link from the Legend of Zelda (just his face, with a big hat), and it's made of felt. We hung in on our Christmas tree for many years, and I still have it :)