Metal Creations: How do I create the green colour on my botanical metal sculptures?

Several years ago I attended a few silversmithing courses at Bristol Folk House and after making a shed load of silver rings it was suggested by the tutor that I should have a go at making some little sculptures instead and use my botanical lino prints as inspiration

So armed with my learnt silversmithing techniques I began to make a series of sculptures of Money Trees and Cacti. I’ve been making these for a few years now and more recently I wanted to introduce some colour to them

I was told about a technique called Patina and after a little bit of research I found out about a bit more and my homemade kitchen experiments with ammonia and tobacco began.

Read on to find out what the hell Patina is and how I make my botanical sculptures green

So first things first, what is the technique I use to get my green colours?

I use a technique called Patina. What is Patina I hear you ask? Well It’s a chemical reaction that creates a thin layer of colour on the surface of the metal: copper, brass, bronze and similar metals. A green/blue tarnish is produced by oxidation. This can happen naturally over time by leaving the metal exposed to the elements or can be forced by using chemical processes

Readymade chemicals can be bought or you can make your own

I like to make my own and after a little experimentation I found using a mixture of Tobacco and Ammonia can give you really lovely results. It can however be more unpredictable than the readymade options so if you are after a more consistent result you may be better off buying one of those or if like me you like the fact that each sculpture will look different then the homemade option could be for you

Before we start let’s talk about safety

Because this technique uses chemicals it’s really important to think about safety

So remember to

  • Work in a well ventilated room

  • Wear gloves

  • Wear a mask

  • Wear eye protection

  • Use plastic containers

  • Protect the surface you are working on

 

Before applying the patina

For this Patina I find it works better on Copper

Before applying it to the metal it needs to be grease free, so wearing gloves I cleaned the copper with neat washing up liquid and rinsed well with warm water

How I make my green botanical sculptures with my homemade patina

Kerry Day Arts How I make my green botanical metal sculptures.jpg

I like to make my own patina and for my greens I use a mixture of tobacco and ammonia

In a plastic container I put a generous amount of tobacco and soak it in ammonia

I then bury my copper botanical sculpture in the mixture and place the lid on the container

I then leave it for 48 hours to do its thing

After 48 hours, wearing gloves again, I gently remove the sculpture from the mixture and remove any lumpy bits of the mixture off

At this point it doesn’t look like its changed much, maybe a bit darker in colour

Now I need the next chemical reaction to take place and that’s the oxygen in the air to do its magic

After a couple of hours of air drying the green colours will develop and they can vary depending on how fresh the ammonia/tobacco mixture is

In the picture below I used 2 different batches. The Money Tree Sculpture on the left was placed in a brand new mixture and the Cactus on the right was placed in a year old mixture and as you can see the greens are very different from each other  

To protect the patina I apply a coat of varnish and I like to use Paint Factory clear matt varnish spray

Kerry Day Arts How I make my green botanical metal sculptures finished copper pieces.jpg

Watch How do I create my green botanical metal sculptures

and finally

I hope you enjoyed finding out how I make my Botanical metal sculptures green and maybe feel inspired to have a go yourselves. If you do I would love to hear how you get on by popping me a message via my Contact Page

If you would like to buy one of my botanical metal sculptures then head on over to the Shop Sculpture

If you would like to find out how I make my botanical metal sculptures then have a read of Metal Creations: How I make my botanical metal sculptures?

And to find out how I get the blue colours have a read of Metal Creations: How do I create the blue colours on my botanical metal sculptures?

And to watch more of my metal creation videos and lots of Lino Printing Tips head over to my YouTube channel Kerry Day Arts

Thank you for reading

Kerry