accelerating rust

[tricitybendix]

Hi everybody.
This may seem like an odd question...but I love the look of rust and want to incorporate it into some of my designs. Ive tried experimenting with small bits of copper and silver, putting them in salty water and leaving them on the radiator...but nothing. What metal rusts quickest? what can i do to speed it up?
It must be possible, right?!

Thanks for reading.

Effie

[medusa]

hate to state the obvious, but rust is iron oxide, so you'd need your stuff to be made of iron in the first place. you can patinate copper using various chemical processes. you should find info online or maybe get this:

http://www.amazon.com/Colouring-Bron.../dp/0823007626

[Dennis]

There are many ways to colour metals, but here are some quick fixes:

Iron: wet with salty water but do not immerse completely as the process also needs oxygen, eg air.

Silver: use a sulphur compound such as liver of sulphur, ammonium sulphide, or Platinol. The advantage of platinol is that it does not have a strong smell. By using it very dilute you can bring up various intermediate colours and arrest the process under the cold tap. Wear Gloves as it attacks skin.

Copper: Copper can be coloured by simply applying heat with a torch in a patchy way. You can do it again by removing the colour in pickle.
You can also get green and brown colours using a mixture of ammonia and vinegar. The best way is to wet sand, sawdust, tobacco or cat litter with the mixture and sprinkle it on. do this in a plastic box with a lid to reduce the smell. Dennis.