FA+
Shop
Copper - Ugly and Dirty all in one
13 years ago
I have broken out the jewelery tools again recently, more out of sheer boredom and a desire to be creative then anything else. In doing so I decided to mess around with copper, since it can be soldered as easily as silver but on a cost per ounce it is much cheaper. Without even shopping around I recently picked up a 6x12" piece for 20$, something that would have cost me a lot more if it had been in silver.
Unfortunately copper while nice and shiny and igniting my raven's heart in that regards, is an utterly ugly metal when it comes to being dirty. Silver is nice and easy to clean. Pop it into my pickleing solution and let the weak acid eat away at the blackening. In sterling silver, this is normally caused by the copper coming up to the surface and reacting. The pickle strips away that copper and everything comes out clean. When working with copper, the same is not quite true. I could very likely try and find a better pickle for cleaning copper work, but I am also a lazy raven. This leads me to having to do a lot of smoothing with files and fingernail emery boards. It becomes even worse when you know that solder does not flow to dirty areas. This can be a boon as well as a bane, for if the copper is dirty (and i said it dirties quickly) the solder will not flow. However I can also intentionally dirty the metal to keep solder from flowing there.
I have been working with my doming block trying to form an over-sized locket/pocket-watch case where I could store small images of my characters. This has led to undercutting the discs size, trying to line things up, having solder flow in places I do not want, or not having solder flow at all. I have also melted a bezel for a stone I wanted to set, and am dreading the next bit where I must solder on some small bezels to a curved surface as well as trying to get the hinges onto this beast.
But it is all in good fun since I can not write while I listen to podcasts, at least I can work with my hands.
Now to wait for the end of the month so I can commission my next work. I think this will be a cub/baby fur. I have a favorite image of me as a youth, and I think it would look very cute (on par with the one saucy did of me an a friend).
Unfortunately copper while nice and shiny and igniting my raven's heart in that regards, is an utterly ugly metal when it comes to being dirty. Silver is nice and easy to clean. Pop it into my pickleing solution and let the weak acid eat away at the blackening. In sterling silver, this is normally caused by the copper coming up to the surface and reacting. The pickle strips away that copper and everything comes out clean. When working with copper, the same is not quite true. I could very likely try and find a better pickle for cleaning copper work, but I am also a lazy raven. This leads me to having to do a lot of smoothing with files and fingernail emery boards. It becomes even worse when you know that solder does not flow to dirty areas. This can be a boon as well as a bane, for if the copper is dirty (and i said it dirties quickly) the solder will not flow. However I can also intentionally dirty the metal to keep solder from flowing there.
I have been working with my doming block trying to form an over-sized locket/pocket-watch case where I could store small images of my characters. This has led to undercutting the discs size, trying to line things up, having solder flow in places I do not want, or not having solder flow at all. I have also melted a bezel for a stone I wanted to set, and am dreading the next bit where I must solder on some small bezels to a curved surface as well as trying to get the hinges onto this beast.
But it is all in good fun since I can not write while I listen to podcasts, at least I can work with my hands.
Now to wait for the end of the month so I can commission my next work. I think this will be a cub/baby fur. I have a favorite image of me as a youth, and I think it would look very cute (on par with the one saucy did of me an a friend).
