Copper Patina
by Janet
I am making a lamp shade. I soldered the vase cap. The solder is to be copper patina. I followed your instructions, but the copper didn't seem to absorb evenly into the vase cap. I cleaned (I thought) until no black. Now, places are really pretty copper and other areas on the cap are silver and will take nothing. What to do...if anything? Answer Some vase caps have a coating on them that plays havoc with solder. Clean off the patina with a piece of fine steel wool. Run off as much solder as possible with a very hot soldering iron. 120 to 150 watt iron if you have access to one. Rub over the vase cap with the steel wool. Rinse it off and dry it. Flux the vase cap with paste flux and tin it again. Tinning should just be a very light coating of solder that makes the cap look silver. There should not be a measurable amount of solder on it. Wash it well and dry it. Use your patina again. It should take this time. From now on, before you tin a vase cap, make sure it is free of any coating before you tin it. Clean it off with acetone or a good quality nail polish remover should work. Do this in a ventilated area, then wash it well. If it looks like there's anything still on it, rub it gently with fine steel wool, then wash again. Now you can apply paste flux and tin it. |
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