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Thread: patination of copper

  1. #1
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    Default patination of copper

    Does anyone have any good recipies for patination of copper. I would also be interested to know any tips or advice on how to get the best effects.


    Thanks.

  2. #2
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    That possibly depends on what you mean by patina - the term gets used to mean slightly different things. Oxidising and antiquing are the way of making it look older, something I do a lot, but you can also bring out greens on the surface with acids usually and heat applied will give reds and blues and a rainbow of surface effects.

    What are you trying to achieve?

  3. #3
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    There are a number of excellent copper patination recipes in Tim McCreight's Complete Metalsmith if you have it?

  4. #4
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    The book The Jewellers Directory of Decorative Finishes by Jinks McGrath has a couple of pages on copper and brass patination. It really depends on what you want to achieve colour wise.
    Paula

  5. #5
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    Mare urine.



    The metal needs to be very clean before patinating; I usually use a horse hair brush and a pumice/water slurry to swirl over the metal to strip all remaining oxides before going on to patinating. For Japanese patination recipes, it's fairly common to cover the metal with finely grated daikon/mooli after the pumice as a sort of chemical pre-treatment.

  6. #6
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    Hmm in the absence of a mare would a cat do? Would a Tom cat work
    (imagines labelled patination sampler board )
    Nic x
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  7. #7
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    Hmmm, I'm thinking if there's a market I could bottle it and sell it!
    Lucinda

  8. #8
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    Does the mare have to be the four-legged kind, or would the old bitch over the road do?
    Di x

  9. #9
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    Yes, cat works quite well - the sawdust patination method is particularly suited to soggy cat litter.

    As for mares... Well, the 4 legged kind is what I had in mind, but I'm told human works too.

    For the more timid, straightforward household ammonia is not too bad either

  10. #10
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    Thanks for all the ideas.

    I was hoping to acheive a green colour on my copper.

    Have tried a mix of salt and vinegar which has worked quite well.

    I have a rabbit so maybe I could slip a small copper item into his litter tray and see if it goes a funny colour!

    I am going to try heating the copper to get a red colour when time permits.

    Where can you get household ammonia from?

    Claire.

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