Ive never heard of this. Thoughts?
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Okay, I tend to be a bit cynical when it comes to unexplainable phenomena.
Orange: citric acid and various flavor compounds. Sugar.
Pickles: vinegar, salt.
Coffee: cofee.
Salt: more salt.
Of all of the above, only the acetic acid in the vinegar and the flavor compounds in the orange are volatile, and so can travel through the air and do stuff at a distance. I haven’t tried exposing copper to vinegar fumes, but I’m sure others have, and their ruling here should be considered final.
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Here’s a quick resource from Tim McCreight, Patina Basics
There are a couple of good books that include patinas using household items, such as salt, vinegar coffe/tea and ammonia as well.
Exciting stuff,
Pam
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Exposing copper to the fumes of acetic acid produces copper acetate, AKA verdigris.
There are lots of compounds that are, or were, made this way. Most famously, lead exposed to acetic acid fumes produces white lead, formerly used as a pigment in paints and cosmetics.
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I see in Pam6’s link that the effect of coffee is giving ‘texture’ and subtlety to the coloration, which requires the metal to be in contact with saturated coffee grounds. Lots of good ideas there! Still, coffee won’t do diddly through fumes.
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I resurrected this string on copper patination because I am having trouble getting copper to patinate. I have no problem with LOS and can control how much it patinates by first getting it very dark and dull and then selectively removing it, brushing it, polishing it, tumbling it until I get where I want to go. I usually finish with Renaissance Wax or Meguars polish. Getting a green or blue color is another story. Based on a review of the archives and other sources, I have tried ammonia, ammonia and salt, ammonia salt and vinegar, vinegar, Miracid spraying them alone or in combination, submerging then, fuming them and none of this does much or at least it doesn’t create a color that I like. I am ready to buy a commercial patination chemical. If anyone has any ideas, either about what I am doing wrong or a good chemical or two, I would appreciate hearing them. The copper samples are raw 100 pure copper that has been cleaned and abraded a with copper cleaner and a nylon pad. Thanks…Rob
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Rob I remember that series of posts. We use to play a lot with the patinas at the Appalachian Craft center. Lots of scarp copper. Most the patinas would sluff off being more like a rust type residue. Even putting Renaissance wax on them wouldn’t hold it in all spots. We found the best patina’s were the ones that you applied and built up where it acted more like a paint. Then there was the way to get a pretty brown patina not like the kind you have over time on pennies. That you put peanut oil on the copper. The trick that made it work, and not want to ever come off was you had to wipe the peanut oil off before putting it into an oven set at 200 degrees F. You had to really wipe it off more like polishing and not wanting to leave any residue. So the barest of oil. Then there was the accident I had when my blonde headed daughter (yes she fits the description intellectually) dropped a spoon she decided to use instead of the tongs to get my pieces out of the pickle. She left the spoon in the pot, I found it the next day, along with one of my copper Christmas tree ornaments. It had the brightest chartreuse color. It couldn’t be blasted off. I hated it, but others loved it. That was when we lived in the East bay of San Francisco. Maybe the water there helped. Here in Florida, it doesn’t come out as bright green at in SF area.
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Aggie…I think that there is a lesson here, I just need to unwrap it. Thanks…Rob
Richard Hughes and Michael Rowe’s book, The Colouring, Bronzing and Patination of Metals, has dozens of formulae with photos of their effects. It is available to borrow on archive.org, and used copies can be found from time to time. If your work regularly features patinas it’s worth having in your library.
Thanks, I have the book Patina by Matthew Runfola and it describes the process, results and many recipes for various metals and colors. I was just hoping to find a home DYI solution first before investing in all the chemicals that are called for in his book.
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Hi, Rob. I love getting a good patina on copper and/or silver. Even gold. In my experience with other chemical patinas, I have found that fuming small scale copper sculptures in ammonia inside a plastic bag is effective for developing an opaque blue green patina - or verdigris. I’ve also used sawdust soaked in ammonia to create a crusty patina on copper jewelry but it’s not really my vibe anymore.
For copper, I use distilled water to eliminate any variables in local tap water. Warm the water in a beaker or whatever non reactive container you have. I have a hot plate set on low for this.
Nearby, have a plain container of water and a third container of water with some baking soda mixed in, to neutralize and stop the action when patina is the color you want.
Dip cleaned metal in the warmed water with your liver of sulfur - I usually rig up some thin stainless steel wire for dipping so tongs don’t leave marks. Dip until you see some coloring going on, then lift out of the patina and dip in clean H20. Keep doing this many many many times until you reach your desired color. I have carefully speeded up the action by laying the copper piece directly on the hot plate (still set to warm, not hot) which I’ve covered with a piece of flat copper to protect the coils. If too hot, the patina may flake or you may lose control of color development, so easy on the heat.
Once you have achieved the color you like, dip in baking soda/water solution to stop the patina action, then rinse in the plain water again. Sometimes this happens more than once!
Allow to dry well - like, overnight. This will give you a nice hard and shiny patina, no flaking. This patina is long lasting unless you drop it in salad dressing. Also, if you hit it with Renaissance Wax or any other protectant, it will change the color value and if you had a nice translucent/blue/green/iridescent patina, kiss it goodbye.
You may already know all of this but if not, I hope it helps. Happy coloring!
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Nancy…Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I am still a newbie when it comes to coloring copper. I have had some success with JAX patinas, but will try out some of your suggestions. I am fairly comfortable with LOS having used it with Sterling Silver and Copper for years. Thanks again..Rob
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