Copper
Constructed, cold joined
L 22 cm x W 3.0 cm
During week 2 of my stay in Haliburton, one of the students taking my Wire Jewellery II class, Barbara-Joy Peel, showed us some pieces she had made in copper. The pieces had a really fabulous patina, which she said she achieved by “cooking” the copper in a frying pan. On the last day of the class, she brought in an iron frying pan, borrowed a hot plate from the Teen Cuisine class, and we tried out the technique for ourselves.
What fun! The copper changes colours gradually, going from copper, to orange, to yellow, to red, to purple, and then to dark blue. The dark blue turns silvery when the piece cools. If the piece doesn’t lie flat, then the result is a mottled colouration.
For week 32, I decided to try it again. I made a bangle, and cooked it. I think this is a really cool technique which I’m going to experiment with more.
