The stamping die about to be set up in the “foot” or “kick”
press.
Setting up the die in the press: aligning the male (top) and
female (bottom) dies.
Die set up and ready for stamping.
The sheet is inserted between the top and bottom dies and
then the foot pedal is “kicked” and the male die punches through the metal
nesting into the female, stamping out the metal between in the shape of the die
– here it is a boy’s head. The piece
then falls into a catch pan under the press.
To see how the sheet is made look at the slide show on “Making Sheet”.
The partial skeleton of the sheet after numerous pieces have been stamped out.
The “catch” draw pulled out from under the press with
several stamped pieces inside.
An assortment of various finished 14K gold stamping.