11-23-2009, 03:48 PM
That's a good how-to Jurjen- a nice, simple method for creating a convex ring. But I've never heard the term 'bell cap' used in conjunction with a type of washer before- it's usually an exposed decorative element. The piece you have there is what's called now a self-aligning washer. I have a pendant with a true bell cap in its centre- a sheet metal hemisphere through which a rivet is passed, just as decoration. And is there any evidence at all that it'd be used with belt plates? I have two originals with definitely small, flat squares of copper alloy as simple washers, so clearly they worked just fine. That pendant image isn't really large enough to evaluate but it seems a odd choice to use since it has a loop (broken) at the top suggesting it was suspended from not rivetted to something, no?
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