Happy 50th, Doctor.

I watched a lot of Dr Who this past year.  It was my time-passer of choice during the last weeks of my pregnancy.  At two weeks overdue in July, I didn't want to leave my couch or air conditioning.  After my son was born, I watched it regularly during middle of the night feedings.  I thought some of the images from the show would look cool engraved into oxidized copper - especially the cybermen and daleks.  I decided to start with a dalek piece and here is what I came up with:

 I started out by scavenging some pieces of copper sheet and trimming away rough edges.  Then I filed, sanded and buffed the edges smooth.  I used a series of sandpapers to finish the faces of each piece, starting with 220 grit, then 320, 400 and finally 600.

I wrapped 16 ga wire around a dowel and used my jeweler's saw to cut the resulting coil into individual jump rings which I used to link the three pieces of sheet and build the chains on either end of the bracelet.  I soldered the rings shut to make the bracelet as sturdy as possible.

The same 16 ga wire was bent by hand to make a hook for the catch.
I tumbled the bracelet in steel shot for about 30 minutes to harden it.  Here it is after being tumbled along with a few other "link" style pieces I am working on.

As much as I love the clean shiny, fresh-out-of-the-tumbler polished look, I wanted this bracelet to feel more worn, almost antique.  So I used one of my favorite patinas: Liver of Sulphur.

I warmed the bracelet in a cup of hot water before dipping it in the liver of sulphur because I think it helps the oxidation happen more evenly.
Once the piece was oxidized, I used my dremel tool to scratch the tardis and two daleks into the surface, exposing the shiny copper underneath.

It was a little awkward to avoid bumping some of the jump rings with the dremel and I only had one chance to get the pictures drawn.  Ideally I would be able to make the pieces first, get them exactly right, then link them.  However, I really wanted to solder the links and the heat from the torch would have burned off the patina.