doming blocks and punch

The technique of doming (or dapping) is used to make spheres or hemispheres of metal. These are then made into items of jewelry. The metal is cut into a circle and annealed, pickled, and rinsed. The circle of metal is placed over an indent on the doming block, which is larger than the circle. A punch that is smaller than the indent is placed over the circle and hammered on the end. This presses the metal into the indent and forms a dome. The metal often needs to be re-annealed and punched with smaller punches in smaller indents until the desired shape is achieved. It is just right when the circle of metal fits perfectly within the indent, coming just to the top, and fits firmly on the punch. Both the block and the punches are generally made of tool steel, but can be made of wood or brass. Wood does not thin the metal or leave marks, but it also does not last as long. The doming block can be a cube (with indents on all 6 sides) or a sheet (with indents only on the top in rows). A sphere is, roughly speaking, a ball-shaped object. ... The term hemisphere is used in three different meanings: one-half of the Earth (or other planetary or stellar body; see also New World and Old World) Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere. ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds, and it is sometimes said that it is similar to a cation in a cloud of electrons. ... Jewellery (spelled jewelry in American English) consists of ornamental devices worn by persons, typically made with gems and precious metals. ... In Euclidean geometry, a circle is the set of all points in a plane at a fixed distance, called the radius, from a fixed point, called the centre. ... Pickling is the process of preparing a food by soaking and storing it in a brine (salt) or vinegar solution, a process which can preserve otherwise perishable foods for months. ... Tool steel refers to a variety of carbon and alloy steels that are particularly well-suited to be made into tools. ...