Copper etching

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

In junior high we didn’t have a lot of great things. It was a time of learning to grow up and dealing with other people you had never met before. It was about getting out of your shell, making new friends and sometimes learning to sit at the lunch table alone. One of the only respites we had from the daily grind of class and the dismissal bell was art and music class. I remember one of the really neat classes we had involved creating a copper etched portrait complete with copper nails and paint shellac and wood to preserve it.

We recommend you give it a try. First off you need a nice piece of plaque type wood that can be sanded, nailed and sawed. A decent size would be about 5″x6″. Then you need a sheet of copper metal. The metal can be sharp so it is a good idea to have it mounted by a teacher on something like Styrofoam board first and then try to carve in designs or a sketch with special utensils. Then the teacher has to age the metal. After that is done it is then mounted on the wood piece and tiny copper nails about a quarter of an inch thick are used to attach it to the wood. Finally a clear sealant is applied to the wood to make sure that the copper doesn’t corrode any further.

Copper has a nice green patina when it becomes oxidized but you want your copper to be dark brown to shiny orangish red in your final product.

Do you have any favorite high school projects or copper etching photos? Comment below.