Embossed Keychain Monster

Made out of 3 Nickels and 3 paper clips.

Draw out what you think looks like a monster. Once you settle on your design, make an exploded drawing of your monster.

Nickels work great because they are mostly made out of copper which hammers well. They are also the same through out. If you use a quarter, you’ll have a two tone monster. But that would be cool too.

Hammer out nickels so you have enough to make all the parts for your monster. Once you have the desired size, use a sanding disc to smooth out the surface of the nickels.

Using a ball point pen trace the shapes of the monster with moderate pressure. This will cause the pieces to cut away from the paper leaving you with a stencil. Trace the shapes onto the smashed nickels.

Cut out the pieces with tin snips. Leave plenty of room to work in the shape. Use a fine grain grinding attachment and mount it into your drill press. Grind the shapes down to size. 

Clamp the head piece down and use what ever size you want to make monster eyes. Drill the eyes out.

Use a scouring pad to help remove tool marks. Use 1000 grit sand paper to further smooth. Because the pieces are so small I found it easier to place them between two pieces of sand paper and rub that together.

Finally use polishing compound to shine up you pieces.

You can use a drill bit but I used an awl. Tap holes enough to connect all your pieces together. Use your grinding wheel to remove the exit burrs on the back side.

Needles are made out of a denser metal then nickels so they work well.

Form the embossing shapes out of the needles. Place the nickel on a hard surface and tape the embosser on to the monster piece. This helps the embosser to stay in place for multiple strikes.

Fill in the relief lines with black marker and wipe off the excess.

Use a paper clip and wrap it around a round shaft to make rings. Cut the rings apart and use them to connect all the pieces together.

Make a chain

Make more rings and connect them together. Compress the rings so they are oval shape and less likely to become unlinked.

Make a key ring out of another paper clip and connect it to the chain.

Connect it all together. Attache your key.