I love working with copper. It is a softer metal, more like gold than sterling silver. That makes it easy to bend and form, but it also has a higher melting temperature than gold, so it's a bit more forgiving. It's always frustrating to melt a project! I can achieve a vast variety of patinas with different heat/ chemical treatments, so I love making pieces entirely of copper and using different patinas to bring out the various layers and parts.
Thanks for asking! :)
Is the patina like the finished texture or what is it?
and one last question, how do you feel when you are working the metal?
what would be the closest comparable feeling you can think of?
The patina is sort of like a color treatment on the surface of the metal. The best example I can think of is the Statue of Liberty- she is made of copper, and the green color that she is now is because of a natural oxidation process that happens over time. I can speed that process up with chemicals, and achieve different colors with different chemicals and/or heat. The endless varieties are captivating!
Working with metal has always been challenging. It is such a technical process that there is a lot of learning and practice before things happen intuitively. Metalsmithing was the first place I encountered that barrier- everything art-related before came naturally. So at first, working with metal felt like a struggle, there were a ton of failures, and I still make mistakes as I push myself to do more complex projects. I like to be in control, and metalsmithing allows for and requires a great amount of precision. It's satisfying unlike anything else!
I scrolled through your profile and see that you're an artist too! I enjoyed looking at your studies- keep it up!
No, Im not an artist, I am a hunter of plagiarism and deceit, a hunter of fraud.
Look better.
I can see you are authentic and I look forward to your posts. Big hug for you.
Ah ah! I didn't realize! That's a fun project. Cheers to you!
It might not be very fun, but somebody has to do it, and I enjoy it, for it requires a great amount of precision , even in the wildest scenarios of uncertainty. A seemingly impossible task.
🙌 get it get it
glad to hear you got it.