I have a design that I have made up for a pendant, have made a lot of
these. I am signed up for a craft show in Stockbridge Mass. I use a
small square of copper for the background, 1" X 1", and the design on
top of the square is silver. For the design there are at least 7
different pieces of silver to be placed on the copper. I don’t want
the heat color change trying to solder the pieces, I want the color
change to be natural. I will say in afterthought, I don’t think I
have the skills to solder the seven pieces to the copper even with
different solders of different temperatures. I bought a 2 part epoxy
and glued the pieces on. I kept it in the bottom of my purse for 1
month to experiment with the durability…It was good.
Question 1: How long will the 2 part epoxy last? I don’t want people
to buy it and in a year the parts start falling off. I am also
experimenting with gluing stones on copper…any help appreciated.
Question 2: I also wore one of the above necklaces for about 2 weeks.
It turned my neck green. I bought the chain from my favorite
supplier. Is there anyway I can stop this from happening and have
the natural color change? I am just a person who likes copper, I
don’t really want to change my medium.
First off, I suggest using a two-ton epoxy, like Devcon. Don’t worry
about the pieces falling apart. Airplanes are epoxied
together…scarey thought, eh? But, you must clean the pieces very
well with a solvent, acetone is the best or some other degreaser.
As far as your neck turning green, yup, copper will do this. It’s
from the acids in your skin reacting with the copper. I suggest using
a lacquer spray. The best is called Incralac from Custom Aerosal
Packaging @ 1-800-237-6765. Make sure you have excellent ventilation
or use it outside.
Soldering really is very easy. All you need is a bit of confidence
and someone to demonstrate it to you. It sounds as if you don’t have a
"guru" to take you through the process and I’m sure, as soon as you’re
shown how to do it, you’ll feel perfectly confident. It will add
enormously to your range of possibilities. Copper and silver can be
sweat soldered together to make a permanent bond, the piece can be
pickled clean and, if you like a natural finish, there are many ways
of accelerating this process.
Epoxy really doesn’t last. It will be OK on one piece and on the next
it won’t hold - and there’s no way of telling which is which.
In a similar way it’s really quite simple to make good settings for
stones that are permanent and look “finished” in a way that glue never
does.
Copper oxidizes easily and you’ll never stop it doing that - the
green color on your skin is formed from copper salts that get
absorbed. There is a sneaky fix to this. Cover the copper with clear
nail varnish or a similar coating.
Once more - let me persuade you to learn basic jewelery making
techniques.
You’ll be so pleased with the skills.
I agree that learning to solder would be a great asset in your work.
To avoid the problem of copper turning your skin green, you could
solder the copper to a sterling base, then put more sterling
ornaments soldered on top of that if desired. Or you could just
have the sterling base, and copper cut-outs soldered on top. the
sterling is very inexpensive in today’s market, and will give you a
much more saleable item. Do learn to solder. get some basic
jewelery making books, and practice. It is really very easy
to do- cheers alma
I am afraid I cannot help you with the epoxy question, but I can
suggest another tack. You might want to look into a Loctite
product called Black Max. This is an incredibly durable & shock
resistant adhesive. Not cheap but worth it. You might also look
at the Prism line of adhesives, also by Loctite. These adhesives
should be available from any good industrial supplier. For more
you might want to speak to a Loctite rep or (if they
cant help you, call Loctites tech. support, I have found them to
be very helpful).
I am afraid I cannot help you with the epoxy question, but I can
suggest another tack. You might want to look into a Loctite
product called Black Max. This is an incredibly durable & shock
resistant adhesive. Not cheap but worth it. You might also look
at the Prism line of adhesives, also by Loctite. These adhesives
should be available from any good industrial supplier. For more
you might want to speak to a Loctite rep or (if they
cant help you, call Loctites tech. support, I have found them to
be very helpful).