Friday, February 25, 2005

The Penny Squisher

rolling mill2

I was planning to title this post Tool Porn for Marcy, but I was reminded of all the spam that might generate. We can only hope *they* don't find us now.

This is my rolling mill, used mostly for squishing pennies. I used to employ the railroad tracks, but that was chancy, and required Actually Leaving Home, which I do only under duress.

Why squish pennies? To use as embellishments. I like their coppery goodness, and their price. This bag is *Venus*, handspun silk, with a few squished pennies in among the embellishments:

venus

Rumors occasionally arise that pennies will be discontinued as actual coin of the realm, at which time I plan to rush to the bank with my $10 and purchase a lifetime supply. I do have a disc cutter and copper sheet metal, but pennies are much more fun.

I drill the holes first (more tool porn) with my drill press:

drill press

Depending on my mood, the hole might be through Lincoln's head once again (History Major) or, more kindly, through the Lincoln Memorial. Here is a bundle, ready to be shipped off to a friend, who thinks they'd be fabulous on the hem of a skirt:

pennies

8 Comments:

Blogger claudia said...

Oooo. The famous squisher.

History majors of the world, UNITE!

10:09 AM  
Blogger Sara said...

Hah! Thanks for worrying about me June. I think it's the *intent* part of the statute that saves me: there's no fraud intended here. I just want to use them to make things pretty! (Actually, there is a specific exclusion in the statute regarding using legal tender for jewlery, and as part of an artistic endeavor).

2:25 PM  
Blogger Charleen said...

I truly do lust after that drill press. The penny squisher - well, that's just scary looking!

Can you squish the pennies thin enough that you can't actually tell it's Lincoln?

3:51 PM  
Blogger Sara said...

Yes, Charleen, the pennies can be made Very Thin: on the red bag in the pictures, the elongated oval copper things were once pennies! No Lincolns evident.

4:27 PM  
Blogger Spindlers2 said...

H'mm. *Next* year, if I come a-visiting, I could bring a complete set of UK coinage and.......

8:02 AM  
Blogger LauraJ said...

The etymology of 'sequin' suggests that hless is fully in accord with the history of ornament. And hers are not tacky acrylic that the metal scratches off of.

5:41 AM  
Blogger Marcy said...

OMG!! It's the Penny Squisher! I love that thing. And thank you, S, for thinking of me in the same sentence with "porn." :D This is the *coolest* machine. And I am VERY pleased, Sara, that you now have a drill press for poking holes in the pennies. The thing you used to do with the hand drill was pretty frightening, dear.

So if squishing pennies is artistic, does that mean *I* was being artistic when I was squishing pennies? Cool.

9:19 AM  
Blogger Lori said...

neat! I never thought of drilling through pennies before. They DO make nice embellishments.

11:10 AM  

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