This was an experiment, my first in the category of paper folds and also first try for an ammonia patina. These are my colors, baby! I'm officially addicted. Here is a link to the day Charles covered paper derived foldforms at the recent conference. And here is a link to notes about the patina, from the same conference. For a whole bunch of patina information, here is a link to notes by Charles Lewton-Brain. Update... Over on the foldforming facebook page there were some questions about this fold and the copper patina process, so lets put a little more detail in this post. The fold is the Eckland #2 and can be found on page 144 of Foldforming, by Charles Lewton-Brain. You can probably see in the photo that only the ends are really 3-dimensional. The entire cuff was originally puffed out, but as Charles teaches, any fold can become a line fold. Just on a whim, this cuff is all hammered flat except for two sections at one end, and one section at the other. The ends are cut round. As for the patina, it's fumed in ammonia and then painted with hydrogen peroxide, exactly the way Charles demonstrated at the conference, here. Really go see because it illustrates the flexibility of your choices... he used a take-out container because it was on hand... but here is what I'm using: The container I found for fuming is so awesome it warrants a close-up view. All of you might not have access to this, but it's an empty plastic baby formula container with a nice tight seal. The seal is not critical to the process, but it sure helps contain the nasty ammonia smell! Anyway, here were the steps: **and make sure you have proper ventilation***
Update #2: Ten days later tried to use the leftover ammonia in the 'airtight' container, thinking it would work on another piece. No go. It no longer smelled strong and after a few hours there was no color on the piece. Tossed it and poured fresh ammonia, which worked. This was a surprise to me! Update #3: Here's a little tip -- there are no 2nd chances on step #6. I forgot and put the pieces in dry, and the blue color just puddled up underneath. The piece gets kind of an antique patina instead of blue. At this point it's too late to dunk the piece into saltwater -- it's like starting with a dirty piece, and it just doesn't work. Need to completely clean it up and start again. **However** if you want a bit of an antique patina, give it a try dry :-) Comments welcome. August 2012 on SueLacy Wired is dedicated to the 5th annual Charles Lewton-Brain Conference on Foldforming, taking place Aug 3-6 at the Center for Metal Arts in downstate NY. To view the series, click category "5th Annual Charles Lewton-Brain Conference" in the far right column on this page.
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14 Comments
8/22/2012 05:02:29 am
Wow, Sue! Gorgeous work and what a wealth of info. I'm going to peruse all the links later when I'm not on my phone. Thanks for sharing!
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8/22/2012 05:38:52 am
Thanks Sue, I hope you don't mind if I post this on my blog, with full credit to you of coarse....
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8/22/2012 08:07:21 am
Thanks for the great information Sue. This piece is awesome.
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Norma
8/22/2012 01:34:17 pm
Thank you for walking thru the process, beautiful piece
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8/23/2012 03:12:46 am
Beautiful bracelet... love the form and the color. Thanks so much for the info. I must join your foldforming group. Loveit!
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Alexandra
11/17/2012 02:01:28 am
Dear Sue! Thank you, Thank you!! I am just starting out making jewelery with metal (starting out with brass) and i am very very interrested in working with patinas.. though here in Sao Paulo-Brasil there are not a lot of people who work with it as far as i know. I am learning a lot from your blog and of course from Charles Lewton-Brain! May I ask you if immersing the brass in ammonia (bathing it in salt-water beforehand) would also work for a patina? uff.. so many questions. Thank you ! All the best Alex
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Hi Alexandra, I'm afraid I missed your question so this reply is coming late. But I've immersed a piece of copper in ammonia quite by accident. A cuff that was greening up very nicely slipped off its stand and I found it later sitting in the ammonia rather than fuming. The portion immersed in ammonia had no patina left; in fact it was perfectly clean and shiny. I didn't experiment further, but rather than being a method for applying patina, perhaps immersion is an option for patina removal.
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Alexandra (caliandra Caracol)
2/6/2014 03:22:05 am
:) thank you...
Сергей
2/3/2017 02:12:25 pm
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Sue Lacy WiredThis began as a hobbyist's blog. Over time it became a quest to support & connect metalsmiths around the globe who use foldforming techniques in their work. See how it all turned out: www.foldforming.org Archives
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