Vinegar and Salt Patina

by Rena Klingenberg.
Vinegar and salt patina, in progress on Rustic Copper Foldover Pendant by Rena
Klingenberg
Now were going to use vinegar and salt to put an easy verdigris patina on the
copper Rustic Foldover Pendant we made in Part 1 of this tutorial.
Because homemade patina recipes can have unpredictable results your vinegar and salt
patina on copper may wind up being any shade of green blue tur!uoise " or possibly
even something else#
$he mystery and surprise are part of the fun of ma%ing your own patinas.
Supplies:
$he copper pendant you made in my easy Rustic Foldover Pendant tutorial.
&'r other copper item that has N'$ been varnished. (any commercially)available
*ewelry and hardware metals have been varnished+.
$his is the copper pendant we made in my tutorial,
-i!uid dish soap &such as .awn or whatever brand+.
/everal paper towels.
Regular household white vinegar.
/alt.
01111 steel wool " one or two small pieces.
/omething to seal your bracelets patina " either a clear lac!uer or a soft wa2
&Renaissance 3a2 beeswa2 car wa2 4ohnsons floor wa2 etc.+.
First, Clean Your Metal:
5(P'R$6N$, /tart with clean metal.
3e need to clean your metal to remove all traces of s%in oils and anything else that may
resist the patina.
/o before beginning the patina process wash both sides of your copper pendant
thoroughly with a generous amount of li!uid dish soap.
6fter washing off all of the dish soap sprin%le a small amount of ba%ing soda onto both
sides of your pendant and scrub it well with your steel wool.
/crub in the same direction as the grain of your metal.
3ash off all traces of ba%ing soda " and then without letting your s%in touch the newly
cleaned metal dry it thoroughly with paper towels.
How to Make an Easy
Vinegar and Salt Patina:
5n a glass container mi2 7 $ablespoons of vinegar and 7 teaspoons of salt. /tir until you
cant dissolve the salt any further.
(a%e sure your mi2ture is deep enough to completely cover your pendant when you put it
in the bowl,
$hen add your copper pendant to the mi2ture in the bowl and let it soa% for at least 71
minutes,
Remove your pendant from the bowl and lay it out on a folded paper towel.
.ont dry it off or blot away the moisture. 5t needs to air)dry naturally.
8hec% on your pendant after an hour or so. 9ou should have some color developing,
9ou can sprin%le a small amount of salt on your pendant to help speed things along.
5f you do have some color developing let it continue growing till it reaches the depth of
color and coverage you wish.
If you dont have any color developing on the metal at this point, simply
soak another paper toel in vinegar, sprinkle it ith salt, and lay it across
the top of your pendant!
"eave this second paper toel in place till your patina develops as much as
you like!
Keep chec%ing the development of your patina every couple of hours,
5t may need to develop anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days to achieve the
amount of patina you desire.
6fter it dries this particular patina tends to be crumbly and dusty.
/o 5 recommend letting the patina develop past the amount you really want.
$hat way after it finishes crumbling and dusting away you still should have a good bit of
patina left.
When Your Vinegar & Salt Patina
s !one
3hen you decide your patina process is done gently rinse both sides of your pendant with
water.
5f you want to remove more of the patina than the amount that comes off during rinsing
gently use your steel wool to scrub more of it away.
$hen let your pendant air dry on a paper towel &or speed the drying process along by
gently blow)drying it with a hair dryer on low setting+.
6fter a few days you can seal your copper pendants patina with spray)on clear lac!uer or
soft wa2 &as mentioned in the supply list above+.
Now its time to en*oy your fantastically anti!ue)loo%ing copper foldover pendant#