The few designs shown here are easily worked out in either metal. Many handsome watch fobs of silver alone, or copper plain, or copper and silver lettering can be made from an elaboration of these designs. College students delight in copper fobs with silver lettering, symbols of their fraternities, or figures representing their class year. The white of the silver and red brown of the copper blend very well together. The fobs may be set with a single stone, or a number of stones, and, again, symbols may be sawed out of the silver sheet.
Material: Silver, No. 16 gauge. Copper, No. 14 gauge. The size of the piece of metal depends upon the size you wish to make the fob.
Tools: Solder, rivets, shears, drill press and drills, saw frame and saw.
Directions: After deciding upon the design, draw it on paper and cut it out. Paste this pattern on the silver sheet and cut out along the outline. If there is any cut out work to be done, drill the holes and saw the design out. If you are making a silver fob and you wish to enrich it by setting stones, decide upon your stone, make a bezel out of No. 24 silver, and proceed to set the stone as you did in the ring. If the background is copper with silver initials riveted upon it, saw out the slot for the strap to go through, and polish the surface free from all scratches and lines. File the slot round so it will not cut the leather strap. Polish by tearing a little narrow strip of emery cloth the length of the sheet and pushing it through the slot backward and forward, pressing down on the top and bottom of the slot. This tends to round it and to polish out the file marks. Mark the initials on the silver and saw them out. Be sure that the stems of the letters are wide enough to allow holes for riveting. Put only enough rivets in to hold the letters in place. Two are usually enough, except with the letters V and W. The more carefully you follow the lines of the letters, the less filing you will have to do later. However, even with the greatest care some filing must be done and since these letters are the principal part of the decoration, they should be filed square, smooth, and a little rounding on the edges of the face side. Keep the side to be riveted against the plate flat, so it will fit snugly when fastened.
When the holes have been drilled in the letters, place them on the copper plate in the proper position and scratch through one hole with a sharp instrument. Drill a hole through this point the same size as the holes in the letters. Rivet these on with silver rivets. Square the letters up on the plate, drill the remaining holes, and rivet. If the rivet is driven down good and snug the end of the rivet can be filed flush with the top of the silver. If one should wish to use rivets for decorative purposes they should be arranged in a definite way. While riveting the ends be careful to round them up instead of making them flush.