Fun with 3" deep draw and hydraulic press

What I've been up to lately - Fun with 3" deep draw and hydraulic press
Recently, after a great lunch with friends and fellow metalsmiths from our Sawing Circle, they came over to my studio to check out my new deep draw set up from Bonny Doon. We pieced together a fun video that shows how the process works - you can check it out on my instagram page!
The piece I'm working on here turned into a sake cup. My main learning curve with the deep draw is planning ahead, and understanding how much regular metal forming there is to do after pressing. It is a great short-cut, but you still have to know how to raise and planish if you want to customize your form (i.e. you don't want it to look like you got it in the plumbing section at Home Depot!).
Looking back at this video, the 3" seems cute and tiny. Right now I'm playing with the 6" set; making lots of copper sample shapes and giggling at how crazy it all is - the dies and punches weigh 20-30 lbs each and have to be stacked, then maneuvered carefully into the press. Everything is all greased up to let the metal move - it's a wonder I haven't dropped one on my toe. Yes I'm wearing close-toed shoes, but Ame points out that perhaps it is time for steel-toed. I've got the sake cups down, and am looking forward to helping students make them in August at Metalwerx.

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