How To Make Aluminum And Resin Autism Awareness Pendant Steps Part 1 of 4

This is a step by step on how I made an Autism Awareness Pendant, using aluminum, copper rivets, paper, colored pencils, and clear resin.

I sketched the design, made a scan and scaled it to the correct size and printed a copy.

I selected aluminum (.06 x 1.5 x 2.1" as my base material for this project.  It is easy to work, very white in color, and light weight.  Any thicker gage metal will work.

I used a glue stick to attach the sketch to the aluminum.  I then sawed the outer oval out complete and recycled the outer pieces as scrap.

I then selected a lighter gage aluminum sheet as the back.

I traced the cut out oval onto the thinner sheet with a sharpie.  The back will be slightly larger which helps with fitup and will be trimmed later.

I then cut out the back.



I then drilled a hole in the center section so I can insert saw blade and cut out the inside shape.



The pendant set up in bench pin ready to be sawn out.

The pendant with center sawn out.  If dealing with precious metals drill a smaller hole on the outline so the center piece can be used in another piece.

File the inside to nice finish to remove the saw marks.   Remove the paper pattern with some water.

I put the pendant on a target grid to aid in laying out the rivet holes in the open areas around the perimeter.



I used a compass to add the hole locations from the edge.





I used a center punch at the intersections of lines for each rivet.

Select drill that matches size of tubing used for rivets.  I am using copper, but other malliable metals would work.  Note only the top rivet needs to be a tube rivet, the others could be solid for more design possibilities.





Drill all rivet holes at centermarks.

To be continued.....