DIY Copper Art
Copper is a metal that lends itself well to both decorative and functional copper art. Its not too expensive to purchase in sheets, which enable it to be shaped with tools and methods available to the standard DIY-er. Its unique color and sheen make it the perfect focus for copper art, jewelry, or home design.
Copper can be found from your home improvement or craft stores available as wire, foil, pipes, tubes, and sheeting. Copper sheeting will also be called copper flashing, and might be located within the roofing area of your home improvement store. You will get 20 feet of copper flashing for 40-50 dollars.
To generate a piece of intriguing and attention-getting copper art in your own home, try this technique. Lay a sheet of copper sheeting out over the wooden board, or part of plywood. You need to use any size copper sheet that you'd like, while it's a smart idea to start small until you have practiced the procedure. Drive a tiny nail through each of the four corners but leave the middle unattached. It is possible to sketch your design with a pencil in advance, or create it freeform. Using some kind of carving tool, carve in to the copper sheet, being careful not to blemish your copper art by punching right through the sheet (unless that's the look you're going for!). An easy design are going to be the most successful, particularly creating your very first piece of copper art.
Be creative in your range of tools. You can create copper wall art using blunt or pointed tools, a few of which you currently have laying around in the home. Try using a hammer, a flat-head screwdriver, an awl, a chisel, or even a ballpoint pen. Using different tools and various techniques gives unique looks towards your copper art. You might apply acrylic paint, epoxy, or various other surface finishing techniques. In fact, you should purchase copper pre-decorated with a beautiful patina to make your copper art, although the price of such copper sheeting is significantly higher. Whatever your tools and techniques, it's a great idea to wear gloves and safety goggles when producing copper art to defend yourself from the sharp edges of the copper sheeting.
Your copper wall art would be hung as it is, installed on a wood background, or off from the wood and mounted and displayed any other way you prefer. You may shape the outside edges from the piece with tin snips or metal cutting shears, and that means you aren’t restricted to a square border.
The chances of copper art do not end there. When you've got use of a propane torch and soldering equipment (and have the knowledge for their services safely!), you can manufacture some larger-scale garden art from copper pipes or tubing. A copper sculpture or trellis would make a magnificent part of copper art for the garden.
One special technique which can enhance whatever kind of copper wall art you would like making, is hammering your copper. Hammered copper has a very unique look, and is particularly seen in upscale art, jewelry, and home décor. Copper art items made from hammered copper can be be extremely expensive to purchase, but could be generated yourself to get a even more reasonable cost. You won’t be very impressed any time you hear how hammered copper is made-with a hammer! To hammer your copper sheeting, lay it out on a board or bit of plywood and secure by nailing it to the board. Now spread a thick towel over your copper and hammer away! You can utilize your hammered copper in almost any copper art piece that you like.