Newbie with a fascination for copper and patinas

[zarozinia]

Hi there

Im very new to metal smithing, having played around with mainly copper sheet at home for about 3-4 months. Im fascinated by producing patinas on copper and will be aiming to produce art by "painting" with patinas on copper. Im already making copper bangles, bracelets, earrings and pendants, in my own little rustic way - Im sure Ive got loads to learn and Im already thoroughly enjoying learning. Ive attached pics of my favourite pieces so far

[Elinor]

Hi! Welcome is there a name to this technique? I'm looking to learn new techniques for jewelry making. the second bracelet is beautiful! Hope to see more from your works.


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[ajda]

is there a name to this technique?

Patination - it occurs naturally over time with exposure to the air, but there are ways of accelerating it and controlling it with heat and/or chemicals. Copper is more reactive than silver, so changes quite rapidly and dramatically.

You've got some beautiful effects there, zarozinia - I love those blues! Do you treat the finished items with anything to protect the surface?

Alan

[Elinor]

Thanks Alan!


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[Dennis]

Hello Zarozinia and welcome to the forum. those are beautifully controlled effects.

Do you keep just one dragon, or is this the work of several? I hope we shall see more of your work. Dennis.

[LydiaNiz]

Hi there,
I had a lot of fun experimenting with with Baldwin's Patina on copper and silver pieces. I love how copper looks when heated to get different colours, but wish it could be made permanent!

[CJ57]

Having only ever worked in silver, I've been playing about with natural patinas and patterns on copper for wall art plaques using non chemical ingredients and I'm really enjoying playing. I love your first photo espeacially

[zarozinia]

Hi, thanks for all the lovely welcomes.

Im the only dragon here

Ive been playing quite a bit more since posting and trying out putting layers of patinas, I prefer reactive patinas as opposed to just painting an ink on ( that just doesnt cut the mustard for me )

Elinor, Ive used mainly household roducts to get patinas initially - ammonia/cleaning products - the fumes can cause lovely colours, vinegar fumes can cause some nice greens, but applied directly can also help with pretty orangey rusty effects.

The bangle with the sort of scale effect was so simple - you know the orange string bags that oranges often come in, from super markets? I stretched one of hose over the copper, taped it in place tightly. put thick spots of english mustard in each gap then lightly sprayed with ammonia/salt and water mix, placed in a tub with a teensy jar of ammonia - give the copper a light spray with my ammonia mix once an hour for a few hours,remove when nice blues are visible, and very gently run under water, ever o carefully washing the mustard off but not rubbing hard or you rub everything off. Lovely effect isnt it?

[CJ57]

Hi, thanks for all the lovely welcomes.

Im the only dragon here

Ive been playing quite a bit more since posting and trying out putting layers of patinas, I prefer reactive patinas as opposed to just painting an ink on ( that just doesnt cut the mustard for me )

Elinor, Ive used mainly household roducts to get patinas initially - ammonia/cleaning products - the fumes can cause lovely colours, vinegar fumes can cause some nice greens, but applied directly can also help with pretty orangey rusty effects.

The bangle with the sort of scale effect was so simple - you know the orange string bags that oranges often come in, from super markets? I stretched one of hose over the copper, taped it in place tightly. put thick spots of english mustard in each gap then lightly sprayed with ammonia/salt and water mix, placed in a tub with a teensy jar of ammonia - give the copper a light spray with my ammonia mix once an hour for a few hours,remove when nice blues are visible, and very gently run under water, ever o carefully washing the mustard off but not rubbing hard or you rub everything off. Lovely effect isnt it?

I've just received delivery of ammonia, a bleach pen and alum for my pickle, was fully expecting homeland security to knock on the door!! Maybe the juicing book swayed in my favour

Will try the ammonia and mustard, I've been using rice and vinegar with some interesting results. I like the fact I can put the pieces in a container and forget about them. Found a good document from the US online.