I was really looking forward to learning to use these tools and I enjoyed it so much that I bought a 4x4' sheet of 16 ga (0.063") aluminum the next day and went back to techshop.
I cut a 12x12" square and went straight to work on my second bowl. I still have a lot to learn but I really like the art of forming sheetmetal. I plan to make a few more bowls, adding a new challenge/feature to each bowl I make. My next bowl will be deeper and have a horizontal flange on the outside of the rim of the bowl. After that I want to figure out how to make/leave a flat spot in the middle bottom of the bowl so it can sit stable. I've got a few more ideas beyond basic bowls before I move on to a new rear fender for my motorcycle.
I took pictures at each step of making bowl #2.
12x12x.063" plate
After cutting the corners off with the beverly shear.
After using both sides of the mallet. I also worked the edge with the shrinker.
This is after using the english wheel for the first time.
Above you can see I used the shrinker again.
This was after more shaping on the english wheel.
After using the planishing hammer. Then I went back to the english wheel.
I'm losing track here, but I think the above image is after more planishing.
This would be after using the english wheel again to soften up the metal.
I wanted the bowl to be deeper, so i used the mallet and bag again to start the process over.
And here it is after using the shrinker again. This time I made two full rotations on the shrinker. First at the full depth of the jaws, then at half the depth. And actually I think I made a third rotation at 1/4 the depth of the jaws to really flare out the lip of the bowl.
This is after more time in the english wheel.
After more planishing.
Here's where I stopped. I tried to trim the lip and even it out, but there were a few really low spots and I didn't want to go crazy trimming. I want to make the next bowl deeper so I have more room to trim down the lip.