Colouring Up

My designs focus on the natural colours of the metals I use.  I love the bright, luminous colour of polished silver and that it can be oxidised to include pale greys through to dark black, though I admit this is quite a limited palette.  Gold leaf is used to add a delicious butter yellow glow that is possible with high carat alloys of gold.  Using copper as the principal metal that a design pivots on rather than just for mock-ups means that I can add to my range of natural colours and can also increase the scale without a prohibitive hike in price.

Copper is an incredible metal for obtaining colours.  Warm reds, sunshine yellows, gentle pinks, deep purples and soft to vivid greens are all possible on the surface of copper items, dependent on the methods of patination that are used.  Sometimes a chemical is applied to the surface to trigger a reaction while on others the chemical reaction is obtained through weathering in the air or the soil.  Reactions can be instantaneous while others take months to fully develop.  Heating the metal can result in a rainbow sheen much like you can see on a puddle of spilt petrol, localised areas of individual colours or the whole surface imbued with an intense lacquer red or black.  These colours are predictable, up to a point.  Flame colouring is definitely a question of holding your mouth right and one particular pink I achieved several years ago has refused to oblige ever again – but I keep trying.

 Verdigris is a blue/green copper-based pigment that can form on the surface of copper, brass and bronze.  Usually a fragile bloom created by a chemical reaction, the colour can be preserved under a skin of wax, with the patina pooling in the cavities created by the tools when I indulge in my fixation with whacking metal.  Once coloured, the design has to be mounted as you would a delicate stone so rub-over settings, pegs, claws or (shudder) adhesive are required. 

(Image:  Echinoderm form in copper, verdigris patina with microcrystalline wax sealant.  Hand formed and textured – Ann Bruford 2022)