Riveting Stuff!

 In my studio I have piles of old denim jeans at various stages of being deconstructed. One particular pile has remained untouched for years due to the stubborn rivets that no sewing machine needle could go through! I thought if I could remove them I would be able to use every section of jeans without having to discard any part.

So I started by using a flat head screw driver together with pliers, but no amount of tapping, pulling or gripping would make them budge.  The Other Half suggested drilling through the rivets, so I called on the help of Graham who has a workshop not far from my studio. He has a pillar drill which he used to drill through the pesky rivets! You can see some of the remains above. 

So Graham drilled holes through the rivets, then I yanked them out using the nail puller tool (on the left of the picture above). After experimenting I realised that I could remove them without using the drill. I used the screw driver to prise a small space between the upper rivet and the denim, leaving enough of a gap to enable the nail puller to grip around the underside rivet. Then I either twisted or snapped off the rivet thus releasing the front part - hooray! Thank you Graham for your help. I now have a pile of pockets that I'm imagining as a door or wall hanging, watch this space for further denim developments.......