Penny Hammer — by Stacey Lee Webber

Above and below, her hammer, fabricated by cutting pennies (only pre-1982 coins, minted from 95% copper, could survive her acetylene torch's high heat), then fusing them together into panels with small gaps so they could be rolled easily into the forms she desired.

"Darts cut in the flat swaths helped them to fold into the right shapes," wrote Eric Smillie in an appreciation in issue 15 of MAKE magazine.

He continued, "While preparing the pennies, she laid them between towels to shield the decorative textures of their faces from her hammer blows. For looks, she plated the finished objects lightly with copper and added a patina using liver of sulfur."