Learning and Applying New Techniques to Your Designs

So much goes into designing and creating a piece of jewelry and there seems to be a never ending list of materials and techniques I am interested in learning and incorporating into my designs. Like most people who create jewelry, I started out small, creating a few pieces for myself and as gifts to others and soon found myself immersed into the wonderful world of gemstones, artisan lampwork beads, metals, wirework, metalsmithing, stone setting, metal clay, glass fusing and on and on, always finding something new to learn and incorporate into my designs.

My newest experiments center around copper and the use of heat to create a colorful patina on the metal. You can get some amazing colors on the surface of the copper without the use of chemical patinas - Blues, greens, pinks, reds, orange and purples.

Apply the heat using a simple butane torch on a heat safe soldering surface. Remove the heat and watch the colors develop. What you see while the heat is being applied is not what you will get as the metal cools. Apply the heat again to change the colors up. Continue to experiment until you are happy with the colors you get. If you are unhappy with the colors and want to just start over, immerse the piece in your pickle solution to remove all the oxidation and get the piece back to a bright shiny finish. Rinse well with water, dry and start again. With a lot of practice you can even create designs or "paint" with the flame.

Copper is an inexpensive metal to experiment with and the results can be just gorgeous.