The older flat brooches were made by casting. Nowadays flat brooches are made
from metal sheets and decorated with punch marks.
Soft-coloured
metals such as aluminium, brass, copper, silver or nickel silver are suitable
for making flat brooches. Their later colour and the value of the brooch depend on
the choice of material. The thickness of the sheet may be different. It mostly
depends on the hardness of the material and the size of the brooch but the most
suitable sheet has an average thickness of 0.8 mm.
It is
recommended to use a pre-annealed sheet of metal which is a good for striking punches.
Pay attention to the quality of the sheet surfaces because it is very difficult
to polish completely smooth the sheet containing deep scratches and notches.
Thus the brooch may have undesirable characters.
Materials. Photo from "Two Books In One Jewelry".
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