Freeform Friday - Swellegant patinas!

 Do you ever buy a thing that you think is going to be perfect and then put it safely away in your studio? For a year? Uh yeah... It wasn't that I forgot I had this complete set of Swellegant paints and patinas - I wanted to have a chance to play and experiment and test them out. To devote to exploring the hundreds, no, thousands of combinations and inter reactions. Right. Like that's ever going to happen. This week there weren't any pressing deadlines, and I needed to PLAY a little. So here we go!

Swellegant paints are a system comprised of a metal paint, a patina, and colorful dye-oxides. I heard of it via Christi Friesen, who has shared amazing tutorials and resources about Swellegant on her website.  And she sells it there too. But I am NOT receiving any rewards or bribes for this shameless plug.

Here I am watching paint dry. Well, watching the magic of patina happen! These pieces are polymer and had been languishing in a tray awaiting some attention and TLC. 

There are five metals paints available: brass, copper, bronze, iron, and silver. ( They are working out the kinks with the silver formula, sometimes it explodes. Just a little. Mine was gelatinous and stinky after a year... The customer service at Christi's site is out-of-this-world though!) 

There are three patinas: darkening, Verdigris and Tiffany Green/rust. There are like a million dye oxide colors. ( OK thirteen, for real.) 

Here is the story so far: One coat of metal paint, let dry. Second coat applied, and patina applied while metal paint is still wet. I spritzed mine onto the pieces.
 From L to r: Brass, Bronze, Copper - all with Tiffany green patina.

Now the fun can begin: I went back in to some pieces with metal paint to highlight the high points, accentuate the relief of the sculptural pieces. 

Tiffany green patina on iron paint creates rust. 

The brass group: dye oxides added. I used blues and greens to vary the patina colors on three pieces. On the figure/cameo piece I used white, red, brown to accentuate the figure and the trees. 

The bronze group: Lots of blues! The deep cobalt agains the bronze was so fabulous to me.. . Trying white to lighten and add interest to the owl. 

The copper group: some blue/purples added to darken the deeper areas, some lighter green and yellows added for variety. It was truly playful. I didn't feel the pressure to finish pieces for a deadline and these PC pieces had been waiting to be painted for a good while - not too precious, not too much time invested in their creation that would make me hesitate to mess them up! 

The left moon and feather are copper/tiffany/dyes. 

The right owl and feather are iron/tiffany/dyes. I am digging the rusty crusty nature of that owl, and the colors with the rust! Yes. 

So thats where I am today! I have to wait a total of 72 hours before sealing the pieces. The Swellegant system comes with a water based sealer. I have only used one patina! The tip of the creative iceberg...  After sealing them - hmmm. Tab settings! Beaded bezels! Make more! 

I am overall thrilled with this product and my results. There are infinite possibilities. My only regret - I waited so long to dive in! If you are interested in more information check Christi's site. And heather at Humblebeads wrote a stellar post, sharing her patina combinations! I for sure am going to add this to my repertoire. OH! Swellegant finishes on my Mythic Nature pieces! Whoa! 

Stay tuned here and on my blog for more "Swell" pieces. And its NOT too early to start making things for Beadfest in August! What would you like to see? Cabs? pendants? charms? beads? I would love to hear what you think! 

Thanks for stopping by - off to the studio now... 

Jenny

www.jdaviesreazor.com

Patina and stuff

I've recently been playing with White Copper and decided to see how it took different Patinas and colors compared to regular Copper. I hope you enjoy sharing in my experimentation.

This first piece is actually regular Copper that I sprayed VerDay Patina on some time ago.

This is White Copper that I used Gold Gilders Paste.

Regular Copper Clay with Coral Gilders Paste.

White Copper Clay with Coral Gilders paste.

Regular Copper with Patina Gilders Paste.

These White Copper pieces have Patina Gilders Paste. I can see I need to clean out the holes a little better, but I love the look!

White Copper with VerDay, I just sprayed these this morning and they take up to 48 hours to come to their finished color. I like the look so far so I hope the Patina gets even deeper.

VerDay on regular Copper. Again it needs more time to reach it's optimum color.

Click HERE to learn more about VerDay.

I really wanted to test some Liver of Sulphur on some of the White Copper but I could not find it!!

Here's what the White Copper looks like all by itself, no coloration at all just fired, tumbled and this is it!

This double star is one of my favorite new textures.

Love this Triple Star too!

Tribal Mask

My interpretation of a Buddhist Coin or Mandala.

Almost all of these textures today have been created on Scratch Foam.

I really love making original textures!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

KristiBowmanDesign on Artfire

WHITE COPPER

Customers within the European Union: Please be aware that this item contains nickel and may not be in compliance with EU regulation EN1811-2011.

http://media1.riogrande.com/Content/White-Copprclay-MSDS.pdf

Coloring on Metal

Not long ago, I stumbled across the work of Deb Karash, who does amazing fabrication work and likes to color on metal.

Yeah. You heard me right. She colors. With colored pencils. On metal.

Are those not stunning? Seriously!

Now, you know that I love all things metal. And when a friend showed me a Deb Karash piece that she actually owns, I decided I had to start experimenting. And let me stress: THIS IS AN EXPERIMENT. (Before I begin, I have to apologize for showing you the gorgeousness above and then subjecting you to my poor little copper etched cow. It's what I had available to play with, left over from a recent etching class. Be kind.)

After reading a whole bunch of stuff on the interwebs (a lot of which was contradictory, I might add) I set out with a small copper etched cow, a bottle of gesso, a 24 pack of Prismacolor pencils, a heat gun, and a few assorted odds and ends.

Before pickling and cleaning.

After pickling and cleaning.

I cleaned her up really thoroughly and dried her off with a clean terry shop cloth.

Then I gave her several thin coats of gesso, drying each one with the heat gun.

Set the hot piece on a bench block, which will cool it rapidly. Use pliers!

After several coats of gesso, I lightly sanded her to expose the raised areas of the etched metal and to smooth out any bumps.

Prismacolors! Don't you just love this tin? 24 great colors to play with - reminds me of the first day of kindergarten!

And then, literally, I just colored her in.

I wasn't particularly neat, and I pressed really hard with the pencils. As you may be able to see in this photo, that left some little wax crumbs behind. I used a soft, firm brush to clean those little crumbs off.

Then, I heated her up with the heat gun again, just until the surface of the color started to look soft.

I also scorched my clean terry shop towel. Don't be like me. (Seriously. Those heat guns are HOT. At about this point of my experiment, I realized I probably should have been heating Bessie on a soldering brick or something fireproof. You know, other than cloth. Sheesh.)

I repeated this several times: color, clean off, heat with the heat gun. Between heatings, I let the piece sit for a few minutes on my bench block to cool off. I should probably tell you at this point that several of the instructions I read online involved baking the piece in a 275 oven for 10 minutes. Between every layer. After putting Krylon spray on it. (Did I mention that this was after every layer?) This is why Deb Karash is so awesome and I am not: I am not that patient. Heat gun. ::Insert Tim the Tool Man grunt here.::

Then, after about three layers of color and the final heating, I buffed the piece with a terry cloth towel....

... and then lightly sanded it back with a sanding sponge.

And then, because I am incapable of doing anything with metal that doesn't involve either enameling or patina baths, I dunked it in Novacan Black for 30 seconds, which darkened all the raised etched areas that were exposed in the final sanding.

Final step: REN WAX!!

So let me point out that, once again, I diverged from the instructions on the interwebs because I am impatient. The instructions were to put the final coat of Ren Wax on the piece, let it dry, then bake the piece in a 275 oven for 10 minutes.

I think you can guess what I did instead.

The Ren Wax flashes and gets very liquid in just a few seconds. Then, when I put the hot metal on the bench block, it cooled immediately and I was able to buff it without waiting.

Because waiting = bad.

Here's the finished little piece - not my usual style at all, but I think there's a lot of potential here. I'm no Deb Karash (obviously) but I think with some further experimentation, this is a process that has a lot of promise for some of the mixed media work I'm fascinated by these days.

So what do you think? Worth some additional effort??

Until next time -

Serious note: heating wax and metal usually results in noxious fumes, most of which are really bad for you. Some of what I am suggesting here may not even be safe - I was experimenting, and I have a lot more research to do. If you decide to try this yourself, make sure you're working in a well-ventilated area and wear a respirator. I wear one in my studio whenever I solder or enamel, and I should absolutely have worn one when I was doing this experiment. Don't be like me.

Chestnut Brown Copper

I love, love, love the deep chestnut brown patina that is possible with copper... but it took me a long time and a lot of experimentation to perfect the process so I could get it consistently. The thing I love best about this is that the resulting patina is very dimensional, which may be hard to see in these photos - but give it a try yourself and you'll see.

Start with a copper piece that has been pickled, neutralized, and brushed clean with a brass brush. The "neutralized" part of that is really important - use baking soda in solution with tap water. Un-neutralized pickle on a piece of metal can react to the patina and sealants over time.

This piece is really clean - what you're seeing are reflections on the metal.

Place the piece on your soldering block (choose a clean spot!) and gently heat it with your torch until it darkens. Make sure it's completely dried off before you do this, since the water can leave mineral deposits on the metal as it rapidly heats and evaporates.

Quench the piece, then use a green scrubby and running water to clean it. Don't use soap! Just the green scrubby and a little elbow grease will be enough to brush back the patina on the high points and even out the color. Be sure to dry the piece thoroughly before moving on to the next step - any water left on the piece will dilute the patina as it comes in contact with the metal.

Sorry this is a little out of focus!

Get your work area set up with the darkening liquid patina of your choice and either running water or a water bath nearby. I use Novocan Black in this demonstration, but liver of sulphur gel works great too. Then, quickly submerge your piece in the liquid and take it right back out, putting it in the water bath or rinsing it under running water. Really: just dip it in and take it out, then rinse it thoroughly.

Repeat this step several times - dry off the piece, dip it quickly into the patina, then rinse thoroughly. Every other dip in the patina, use the green scrubby to even out the color - no soap or cleanser, just the scrubby and some water. After anywhere from four to six dips in the bath, you'll have a beautiful, even deep brown patina with highlighted texture.

Sorry this one's out of focus too!

Put the piece in a tumbler for at least an hour - if you have a vibratory tumbler, you can get the same effect in 20 minutes or so. You're looking for a deeply burnished surface that glows, and you'll start to be able to see the dimensionality of the patina.

Toss in a piece of large link copper chain to tumble with your piece - it helps create a random organic texture.

After an hour of tumbling, these pieces have mellowed to a beautiful, deep chestnut.

Use your fingers to rub a little bit of Renaissance Wax (I love that stuff!!) into the surface of the piece. A little goes a long way, but you want to make sure you get thorough coverage. Set the piece aside and allow to dry for at least 15 minutes - longer is better. Then buff with a soft cloth.

All of these pieces have had Ren Wax applied, but only the center one has been buffed. Note the matte appearance of the other two?

The Renaissance Wax will continue to harden over several hours - this is my favorite finish of all because it is so durable and imparts such a pretty glow - not too shiny, just right.

All the pieces buffed.

So that's how I do it - I get consistently deep, rich, dimensional color and beautifully highlighted textures with this technique, and the finish is extremely durable and stable.

Do you have any tips to add? How do you add patina to your copper?

Until next time!