Come see a "Hand hammered" sterling blanket pin

[Hipbilly]

I've decided I like the plainest old fashioned kilt pin there is. I saw a 2 pack at a fabric store a bit back and got em, but they aren't enough; I wanted sterling silver. I searched around, and decided it'd be easiest to just make one, so I have!
I bought 12" of 12ga sterling wire on eBay for $13, and a pair of round nosed wire working pliers. The wire showed up today, so I started:

Here's the wire (pointed with a file):


Too clean. I continually strive for art which manifests itself as rugged simplicity. So I took a hammer to it to roughen it up a bit:


Still killing time, waiting for the pliers, I coated the roughened wire with gun blue, and set it aside. I came back in 15min, degreased it, and skimmed it with 1500 grit sandpaper.
Still not enough time kilt. So I got to work. Working from the 3" kilt pin, I bent and shaped with channel lock pliers and a scrap of leather for padding, here's the result:


Here it is with the store-bought, for comparison:


And here it is stabbed through my first handsewn kilt, once and for all!


Hope ya'll like it!