[Jewelry making - Article 00708] - Re: [Orchid] Copper questions

[K. David Woolley]

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    Hey Robin, Patination is a word :)  Annealing the copper wire is what
    you are looking for in any books you have access to.  Basically with
    a torch you bring it to a dull red, what a few seconds then put in
    water.  A hard red crust often forms which you will need to remove. 
    From many of the Jewellery supplies stores they sell Pickle, a mild
    acid, to do this work, you can use it at room temperature, it just
    takes much longer.  We have a fume hood and a dedicated hotplate for
    the pickle (as the fumes are carcinogenic), and we never let it boil
    (boiling acid is dangerous).  A few minutes in a heated pickle and
    then we rinse it, rub gentle with a pumice and a bit of soap (the
    soap makes the pumice a little less hard on the hands) for a piece
    that we are raising, we like it nice a clean for each course, for
    wire work I don't this is necessary, a little running water and a
    little dish detergent and you should be good to go.  In the annealed
    state your copper will be very malleable and ductile.  Last time I
    read through Charles' "Hinges, Clasps, & . . ." book he mentions
    that you can age harden metals that have copper in them in a
    convection oven (600 degree fahrenheit for 45 minutes-4hours . . .
    basically it causes hard copper oxides to form around the molecules
    if memory serves which can increase the strength by up to 100%, but
    loss of flexibility due to it being a work hardened state).  Last
    time I did this with copper for 45 minutes I ended up with a warm
    orange colouring that I protect with some paste flooring wax that I
    worked in by hand, not a perfect solution, but it helps a bit.  If
    you like the red that you get from heating and quenching during the
    annealing stage you can do that and simply not remove it in the
    acid, you can then go to the age hardening and see what happens. 
    Liver of sulphur or another silver blackener will give you a dark to
    black patina.  Cupric Nitrate (use a fume hood, or out doors, and a
    chemical respirator) sprayed or brushed onto a heated surface forms
    a blue green patina that is a little fragile.  Kitty litter or wood
    chips soaked in ammonia then the piece submersed for a few hours to
    a few days will create a dark blue patina where the littler/wood
    makes contact with the metal (so wet, not a swimming pool with
    regards to ammonia, note used kitty litter works better, so if you
    or a friend has a indoor cat . . .). 

    I don't get your wind chimes question, but bending tubing in general
    is a task best taken cautiously, you don't want to collapse the
    tube. Annealing and slowly bending with your hands is most likely
    the best solution (unless you see an automotive guy that does body
    work and have them do a bunch for ya, or pick up the tube bending
    gear they use).  What you do to stop the tube from collapsing is the
    lightly tap it with a wooden mallet on a wooden base (try not to
    mare the metal basically) until it becomes an oval, bend against the
    narrowest sides of the oval gently and as it bends the cross section
    will become round again, repeat as necessary (SLOW and CAREFUL). 

    I'm sure others will have good input for ya, too.  I just noticed
    that Amazon.com has "The Colouring, Bronzing and Patination of
    Metals" for 30% off . . . now I'm even more tempted :) 

David Woolley 
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada


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