Ako: I read somewhere to heat the copper nice and red and dunk
it into BOILING water to get a nice red. You probably should
solder your pieces on first and use silver solder …Dave
Art Jewelry for Conscious People
http://www.opendoor.com/stephensdesign/crystalguy.html
Welcome Ako,
To get that intense red on the copper, simply apply white paste
flux to the area that you want to turn red. Next, heat the copper
slowly and you will see little areas of oxidation begin to form
and gradually grow to cover the entire area where the paste flux
has been applied. Varying colors can be achieved depending on how
fast and how hot you heat the metal. Let the piece air cool.
Finally and most importantly, don’t pickle the copper. Instead,
soak it in some warm water with a little baking soda. This will
remove the flux but not the oxidation. The resulting bright red
oxide surface is very durable and when waxed or lightly buffed
with green rouge, it looks fabulous. Hope this helps.
Kim
I don’t have a gas forge but I do have a gas log in a fireplace.
Would this work the same? I do like that deep red on copper! I
have some luck just dunking it in hot water after the final
soldering (yes, I’ve pickled before this step and I do not heat
so high that my solderings detach.) This also knocks off a lot of
the black scale. I do not put anything extra in the water but it
seems to collect a blue residue if I let it evaperate. Marilyn
Smith