Vicki Payne, host of DIY Crafts, shows how easy it is to make a picture frame with punched metal. Materials: Wooden picture frame
Sheet-copper tooling-metal foil .005 (36 gauge)
Fine steel wool
Tin snips
Tracing paper
Paper
Pencil
Masking or painter's tape
Pattern to be punched
Brass brads
Hammer
Metal punch tool
Scissors
Optional: ruler
- Make a paper template for the faces of the top, bottom and sides of the frame, mitering the corners (figure A).
- Use the templates to cut out the copper sheeting pieces that will cover the face of the frame. You can cut the copper with scissors or tin snips. Tape the copper pieces to the face of the picture frame with masking or painter's tape (figure B)
- Increase or reduce on a copy machine the design pattern to be punched. Tape the copy of the design to the front of the copper sheeting (figure C).
- Place the metal punch tool on the design and pound it with a hammer. Equally space the punches along the pattern's outline until the desired pattern is created. If the punches aren't perfect, don't worry. This is intended to be an arts-and-crafts-style project (figure D).
- If the mitered corners don't fit together exactly, paint the corners of the wood frame underneath with copper acrylic paint (figure E).
- Attach the punched copper pieces to the frame with small brass brads by hammering equally spaced brads along the inner edge of the copper sheeting. Make sure the brads aren't so long that they'll punch through the back of the frame. You may want to use a ruler to measure the distance between brads (figure F).
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