Patina copper with vinegar11/12/2023 I've been experimenting with patinating copper with vinegar and salt but I do it in a plastic container (an old curry container from Tesco) with Salt and Vinegar crisps. Most of the growth happened within the first 24 hours. (Above) Red Wine Vinegar and Sea Salt Patina on Copper after 5 days. The verdigris will be a good colour match for that stain on the reproduction. There is a bent wood piece that I think may be a kayak rib with some green staining on it. I'll save it and use it on another reproduction. Its one of the original sources of green pigment used in painting. One final note, the green crystals that form on the copper and the plate are called verdigris. When I visit the artifacts at The Rooms tomorrow, I'll take my samples with me and see which treatment gives the closest match to the patina on the copper awl. By the time the vinnegar all evaporated, the salt crystals that grew on the submerged copper were huge (photo to the left). The light sprinkling was definately the better way to go. I also tried lightly sprinkling the copper with the mixture and completely submerging it in the salt and vinegar mix. The resulting patina is a blue-green mix, but without the heavy crystal growth. I mixed the solid miracle gro pellets into a tablespoon of vinegar, the same way I did with the salt. Personally, I'm happiest with the Red Wine Vinegar and Miracle Gro solution. I don't think its a good match for the artifact I'm trying to reproduce, but its an interesting look. Miracle Gro mixed with water creates a nice blue patina. ![]() Miracle Gro brings ammonia into the mix, which also reacts with copper to produce a patina, although it creates a more bluish colour. I've read that the more salt in the solution, the more green the patina will be and also that Red Wine Vinegar is the prefered vinegar to use. I start with a tablespoon or so of vinegar and stir in as much salt as the solution will hold, a teaspoon or more. They can be brushed off fairly easily, but I'd pre fer if they didn't grow so big in the first place. The vinegar and salt combinations tend to give a nice green patina although the crystals grow fairly large on the surface. ![]() I've been testing different combinations of Red Wine Vinegar, Sea Salt, Miracle Gro and water on heavy copper ground wire. Here's an update on the copper patina experiments. Its not a huge wholesale order, but I have almost no product on hand so I'm pretty much starting from scratch on it. I've been plugging away on the reproductions for Parks and working on one last wholesale order this week.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |