project #2

This is Project # 2 - Folded earrings. My favorite part of these earrings, which is hard to see in the photos, is the patina. This is totally just a HEAT patina. I wanted the copper to be deep red, and I'd read that if you heat the copper until glowing and then plunge it into ice water, it will turn red. I did this, but first it just turned black. So I torched it again, and this time I left the blue ice pack in the water, too be sure it was icy. The copper turned deep red with some black. I liked it! But then I wrapped the earrings in copper wire and added the copper hanging strips, and I did not like the look of the shiny new copper, so I heated the whole thing again and plunged them into water. It did not turn red - just sort of sooty gray black. I scrubbed this with lava liquid soap and a wire brush - and this is the result I got...very bronzy with a deep satin gloss.