Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Patina Experimentations

Didn't mean to be absent for so long- life and active baby keep me pretty busy :)
Sooo, I'm not sure if these would considered success stories since it didn't patina the way I wanted- prolly need to look into a different ammonia since this one only patinaed certain spots on the metals. Maybe just straight ammonia would be better- no froufrou lemon scents, etc..what can I say- my options were limited at the store, lol.
The cheesecloth bracelet was my first try and it stayed in the 'fuming tent' overnight and this is what it looked like- one caveat: I forgot to use distilled water when I dunked it in the saltwater solution. Could this make a big difference?
On my second try I remembered to used distilled water and added more kosher salt to the mix. These stayed in the container for about 5 days- after the second day I didn't notice any extra patina growing, but left them in there just to see if any more color would deposit. Something odd about this batch is that the area of patina had/has a slightly shinier look than the rest of the metal- almost like plastic. Is this due to the longer duration or maybe the additives in the ammonia? Another thing I noticed is that this process seemed to darken the copper clay slightly. I plan on ordering some sanding and polishing accessories so I can clean the metal better- this could also have affected my results. It was a fun experiment and I mean to try again when I have better ammonia and cleaning tools.

4 comments:

Vickie Hallmark said...

Oh, these are just lovely! Blue, yes! I recently ordered a shipment of all sorts of chemicals for various patinas (I'm a chemist by training, so I can't resist), but I haven't had time to play. It'll be several weeks before I get to it, unfortunately. Keep up the great experiments.

Aja Vaz said...

Thanks, Vickie- I'm sure you'll get some great results! Now I'm on the lookout for regular ammonia to see if it makes a difference.

Kerin said...

Awesome experimentation! You are a girl after my own heart.

Love the textures and colors and the bracelet is awesome!!!

Oh and I found you since you are joining the Mixed Media Art ning group so I just stopped by to say hello and see what you're up to! : )

Kerin

Aja Vaz said...

Hi Kerin, it is fun to experiment and see what happens.I look forward to meeting more creative people!