I've seen several art jewelry items recently that were held together with tiny gold rivets with little gold balls instead of a flat rivet head. Does anyone know how they are doing that? Are they making the rivets out of gold wire, and torhcing it to make a ball on one end? And if so, how do they hammer the other side without smashing the ball (does it go in a little hole in the bench block or something?). I've never seen any rivets like that for sale anywhere, so I assume they are making them somehow? Would appreciate any info or insight into how to do this. I have some un-solderable pieces and would like to find a pretty way to attach them.

As far as my experience goes, the wire is either melted down to create the ball, or it's soldered on separately (must be soldered on if you want a larger size ball; it would fall off the wire tip if you tried to melt it too large). Some dapping blocks have a tiny concave spot for placing the rivet ball in when you hammer it so that the round shape isn't lost. After that you can add effects like cutting a notch to make it look like a screw or diamond etching in some decorative lines or dots. You might be able to use a round tip bit to make the same concave shape into your bench pin, although I haven't tried it yet.

Do a little research on riveting if you haven't tried this technique yet - it'll save you a lot of frustration! :) It's an easy process once you know the basics, but if you have the wrong gauge or wire length it's an excercise in futility!

Have fun!

Jeni

Hi. Thanks for the info. I've done some riveting with both wire and tube - I just want it to look prettier, and the little gold balls that I've seen (that are, I assume, rivets), look really nice. The ones that I have seen are really tiny and delicate. I guess I'll go try to melt a little ball on the end of some wire and make a little hole in my bench pin and see how it works.
thanks!

No problem - let me know how it goes! For me it's easier to make a better ball separately, and depending on how you want to use it, melt scrap in a divot made into your charcoal block for a perfectly round ball. If you want a side of the ball a little flatter for drilling or attaching to something flat, it's better to melt scrap on a brick (the ball will be round except where it touches the brick). Then the ball's easier to handle and won't roll around. You could use this second technique for non-functional decorative rivets, too.

Happy riveting!

~Jeni