Metal roses, also referred to as steel roses, are becoming increasingly popular today. The metal gives them an industrial feel, while the shape of the rose is romantic, making it a great, unique decor item. In recent years metal roses have popped up for purchase everywhere from Etsy to Amazon, but they are actually something you can make yourself at home easily enough with some basic metalworking skills.
As an added bonus, you can control the size of the roses you make, so they'll work in whatever area you want to display them. They can also be a great, thoughtful gift to give to your friends or family. If you have never worked with metal before, you may want to seek out the help of someone who has, as you will need to be familiar with metalworking tools to complete this project.
Step 1 - Draw
Start by drawing three to six circles on your scrap metal. You can use a stencil, a bowl, or another round object to ensure you are drawing all of the circles in the same shape.
Note: The more circles you draw, the fuller your rose will turn out. Three should be seen as the minimum number necessary to create your metal rose.
Step 2 - Cut
Use an angle grinder to cut the circles you just drew on the piece of metal. The edges do not have to be perfectly clean at this stage but make sure you get the general shape of the circle.
Step 3 - Create Petals
Take a ruler and mark five points on your metal circles that you cut in the previous step. Draw the points from the edge to the middle. These markings will be used to create your petals. Once you are satisfied with where the markings are, you can begin to cut along the lines. Do not cut all the way into the middle of the flower. Leave a few centimeters in the middle of the circle untouched.
Step 4 - Drill The middle of the circle that we left untouched in Step 2 is going to be used to attach the circles together. Mark the exact center of each circle. Using an electric drill, drill a hole through each of the circles. Depending on the diameter of the circle, you may want to start by drilling a small hole and progressively enlarging it.
Step 5 - Clean Now that you've done all the cutting you will do for the project, you can go ahead and clean the edges. Make sure they aren't rough so that people admiring your metal roses won't get pricked the way they would when touching a thorn on an actual rose. Use the angle grinder to smooth out your work. Alternatively, you could use thick sandpaper, but this would take a while, and you could hit your finger on the metal during the process.
Step 5 (Optional) - Round If you are particularly skilled with the angle grinder, you may want to go in and round the petals to make it look more like an actual rose.
Step 6 - Weld
Once all the individual parts of the "rose" are complete, it is time to weld them together. Put your first disk through whatever piece of metal you are using as the stem of your metal rose and weld it together. Do this with the other disks as well. Make sure to turn them slightly each time, so the petals are not lined up. This fanned-out effect will give your project a rose-like appearance.
Step 7 - Fold This last step is the hardest but also the most important to take your project from looking like a flower to looking like a rose. Before you begin, put on goggles and protective gloves. Make sure nothing flammable is in the immediate vicinity. Once you have taken the necessary safety precautions, use a torch to heat the metal. Carefully use pliers to bend the petals up and into the shape of a rose. This will take a lot of time and patience. Do not touch the metal before it has cooled down.
Step 8 (Optional) - Paint Once the metal has fully cooled, you may paint it any color you like or skip the paint if you want the metal to shine through. We recommend using spray paint if you do decide to paint.
Other Methods Some other methods of creating steel roses will have you use tin snips as scissors to cut into the metal. This method works well for thinner pieces of metal. In these cases, you can use a hammer to shape the metal. The end product in these cases, while pretty, is much flimsier and won't last nearly as long as the method shown above.
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