Copper Patination Recipes

Patination Recipes

Warning

Please carefully read the safety precautions for all the chemicals and materials you use in any of the recipes below. Proper ventilation, gloves, face-shield, &c. is a must. Nothing here is worth damaging your health; please proceed with informed caution.

Types of patination procedures:

  • Liquid procedures are the most varied. Sometimes the liquid chemicals are applied directly to the surface and allowed to air dry, and may be hot or cold. Others involve total immersion in cold liquids, hot liquids, or very hot (boiling) liquids.

  • Vapor procedures are those in which the vapors from a liquid patinate the object. For smaller objects, vapor patination occurs in sealed tupperware containers, and for larger objects, it occurs in an air-tight environment of plastic sheets and tape.

  • Earth techniques are those in which the chemicals are lightly mixed with organic material such as wood chips, tobacco, coffee, potato chips, &c., and the object is buried under the lightly-moistened materials for up to three days.

  • Fire techniques are those that involve the heating of the metal object during patination, often with a torch, and sometimes, using a hot plate.

Plate One: Liquid and Vapor. Copper dipped in vinegar, sprinkled with salt, and suspended over an ammonia solution for a single day.  

Plate One

  • Liquid and Vapor.

  • Copper dipped in vinegar, sprinkled with salt, and suspended over an ammonia solution for a single day.  

Plate Two: Vapor. Acetic acid. One day.

Plate Three

Liquid. Vinegar and Salt. One day.

Plate Two

Vapor. Acetic acid. One day.

Plate Three: Liquid. Vinegar and Salt. One day.

Plate Four

Liquid. 6 ml homemade copper chloride; 12 ml water; 3g ammonium chloride. Pool on; air dry. Three times, once an hour, wait a day.

HCl + copper scraps = copper chloride

Plate Four: Liquid. 6 ml homemade copper chloride; 12 ml water; 3g ammonium chloride. Pool on; air dry. Three times, once an hour; wait a day.HCl + copper scraps = copper chloride

Plate Six

Liquid. Ferric chloride; pool; allow to dry

Plate Five: Homemade copper chloride, three coats--let the first two dry. Immediately after the last coat, sprinkle with ammonium chloride.

Plate Eight

Dissolve ammonium chloride and sodium chloride in vinegar; add ½ oz ammonia. Paint the plate with the froth; let dry.

Plate Six: Liquid. Ferric chloride; pool, allow to dry.

Plate Five

Homemade copper chloride, three coats--let the first two dry. Immediately after the last coat, sprinkle with ammonium chloride.

HCl + copper scraps = copper chloride

Plate Eight: Dissolve ammonium chloride and sodium chloride in vinegar; add ½ oz ammonia. Paint the plate with the froth; let dry.

Alchemical Cheat Sheet

When researching patination strategies, one sometimes come across the older, alchemical names of chemicals. Here’s a cheat sheet:

Acids

  • Nitric acid: aqua fortis

  • Sulfuric acid: spirit of vitriol

  • Hydrochloric acid: spirit of salt

  • Hydrochloric acid + nitric acid: aqua regia

  • Boric acid: narcotic salt of vitriol

  • Acetic acid: vinegar

Salts

  • cupric sulfate: blue vitriol or bluestone

  • sodium chloride: salt

  • copper chloride: resin of copper

  • ammonium carbonate: salt of hartshorn or sal volatile

  • ammonium chloride: sal ammoniac

  • potassium permanganate: potash (warning: explosive when mixed with alcohol)

  • lye: potash in water

COPPER OXIDES

  • copper (I) oxide CO: cuprite

  • copper (II) acetate: verdigris of copper

Miscellaneous

  • aqueous ammonia: spirit of hartshorn

  • urine: volatile salt of urine

  • silver nitrate: lunar caustic

  • borax: sodium borate

  • graphite: black lead

  • oxygen: dephlogisticated air

  • sulfur: brimstone

  • calcium carbonate: chalk

  • sodium carbonate: soda ash

 Commercially Available Chemicals

This wiki is a pretty important resource for difficult-to-find or otherwise expensive chemicals. Beware, though--just because they're over-the-counter doesn't mean that they aren't hazardous in some pretty important ways. Always inform yourself about any chemical you use before you begin any process.