How to hammer rivets (and make a tent?)
It’s our pre-wedding photo shoot tomorrow! Our photographer Andrew is wonderfully creative and we’ve decided to go for more casual candid shots. We figured if we did traditional pre-wedding shots in formal wear and stared at each other romantically, we may end up sweating and laughing like little kids the whole way.
One of the ideas we had was to set up a tent as a joint activity (the evening scene will be pretty magical, but we’ll keep it a surprise for now!). A good analogy to us building our first home together eh? :)
To set this up, we had to hammer rivets into a large piece of cloth to tie it down to the tent poles. I figured I’d post up the process of hammering rivets as a sneak peek, and in case anyone else will need instructions for it too…
Grab your tools. First you’ll need a set of rivets, the setter that comes with your rivet size, a hammer and a surface to hammer on. I have a handy rubber block that I got from a craft store in Japan previously.
Hammering on a magazine may or may not work depending on how hard you hammer, how sharp your object is, and how much you love your floor. ;)
Mark out the spot where you want your hole or rivet to be. Cut a small hole where you want to position it.
Place the rivet through your cloth, placing the short stump setter below it to secure it.
Add the accompanying washer on top.
Place the taller stump setter on top (forgive me, there are probably proper names for these but short and tall stump here should suffice).
Hammer it about ten to twelve times evenly.
This is what you should get after hammering! You’ll probably want this on the reverse side of the cloth. If so, make sure you set it with the right side face down.
