More Red Patina on Copper

I tried the torch heating and borax method of adding a red patina to copper again.  I textured the piece of copper first and then heated it from the back. My goal is to get my process to the point where I am getting consistent results.  Practice, practice, practice!

I started out with a piece of copper sheet - keeping the pieces relatively small until I get a feel for the heat needed to make this happen consistently.  I did discover that in my experiments today - the torch has to be hot and the heat has to be constant to create an even red once quenched in the borax.  I clean the copper with vinegar and salt and then some fine sandpaper (I have found that works better than a scotchbrite) before I start heating it.  I heat the copper until it is glowing orange and then immediately drop it in the borax bath. I have also found that heating a piece of copper again (after it has been scrubbed clean with the sandpaper and water) does not, for some reason, work at all. No matter how hot I heat it, it doesn't get red.  Odd.

There is a lot I do not know about this process - so I have been changing things up as I heat and quench each piece.  I change the borax and water every two pieces or so - I am not sure if that affects the efficacy of the borax bath though.  

I did a fair number of pieces today and this is the only one that retained the red patina.  I even tumbled it for 2 hours in steel shot, dawn and water. I am only slightly discouraged :), and will definitely keep trying.

Red Patina on Copper

So, I tried my hand at creating a red patina on copper.  I read this blog, found some Borax (thank you Eileen for your help navigating Target!) and went to work.

I have some sheet copper that I obtained a while ago from some very, very nice workmen in Jamaica Plain (MA) - they were working on the roof of an old stone house outside Forest Hill Cemetery - they let me grab as much as I could carry in one load which was SO so nice.  Anyway, I cut a couple of squares out of that copper (not sure what gauge it is - maybe 18 gauge), sanded the copper pieces down and started heating.  I heated the square until it was orange and then quenched it in the borax/water mix.

this is the first square done

It didn't turn red right away, I actually rinsed it off in between heating and quenching.  The above picture is after three heats/quenches/rinses. SO excited.

Of course, the second one (especially since you want them to be the same because they are earrings for goodness sakes) was more difficult.  As a matter of fact, I messed the next square up entirely (and since it had been messed up I played with trying all sorts of fire/quench/no rinse/rinse/salt experiments on it.  Poor thing.

The third square, as you can see from the picture below, was probably not rinsed well enough between quench and reheat - there are bubbles of some sort and the color is not as bright as the first one.

first square on right, see the pitting on the one on the left

All in all though I am excited by the outcome and I will definitely try this again.  I believe once I get the process more refined, I may be able to control the color outcome a little better.

Sterling silver handcrafted earwires

Finally...........

..........I can post this bracelet. I made it for my sister for her birthday (Happy Birthday Eileen), and through a series of unfortunate events, was delayed in sending it out to her.......but she finally got it so here it is:

This bracelet is actually what started me on the road to heating the pennies on the wood stove (confused?.....see here) before working with them. Initially I was going to use pennies with her birth year on them but then got to thinking that she probably didn't want to advertise her age on her wrist (not that it bothers her, but why have a constant reminder?)so I domed the pennies so they were wheat side up. A penny for each of her children (3 boys - I really don't know how she survives!), with sterling wrapped turquoise (her birthstone)and garnet beads and finished off with a sterling silver lobster clasp. I swished the pennies in a mixture of lemon juice and salt so they came out shiny and brand new looking (really, really hard to capture the pretty pinkish glow of new copper with a camera) - so they blended really well with the sterling silver.

On a side note, once the penny has been cleaned in the lemon/salt solution and put back in the sand filled bowl on the wood stove, they get a really nice shade of red - which is of course cranking up the muse. Expect to see some red copper pennies real soon!