CopperClass

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SAMPLES: There are three beautiful samples available to view.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Copper sheets or a roll of copper sheet.
Stylus
Liver of Sulfur (check with a store that sells jewelry-making supplies)
Tria inks
Q-Tips
Vaseline
Paper towels
Memories ink pad or permanent ink

PART I
   For the first class, I'll tell about the iris card (stamp from Hero Arts).
     First, You need to make a vaseline stamp pad. I did this using a paper towel - folded it over a few times and smeared the vaseline on top. Wash your hands thoroughly afterwards so you don't get any stray vaseline on the copper.
     Stamp on the vaseline pad with your stamp. You may want to stamp off lightly on another paper towel if you get too much on your stamp....you want a fairly thin coat. Too much and your stamp will slip on the copper. If you get too much on the copper, wash it off well and start over. (The Somerset article says to clean the copper with alcohol.)
     I just let the stamp sit while I take the liver of sulfur OUTSIDE and pour it into a dedicated plastic container (believe me you will never want to use it for anything else again). Leave it outside, get your copper sheet and immerse it in the LOS. It will immediately begin to turn black. Leave it in for a minute or two. Then bring it in and rinse it off under running water. You will notice that there are black flakes that come off in the water.....that's what it's supposed to do.
     Dry it off. You can buff it with the finest steel wool, but it reduces the contrast.
     Now it's ready to be mounted.

PART II
     This will be the second card.....the holly (stamp from Printworks).
     I stamped with Memories ink on the back of the copper. Don't worry about your image.....as long as you can see most of the lines, it's fine.
     I used a dry embossing stylus to trace around the lines. You want a surface with some give to get an impression - maybe a piece of foam or a mousepad.
     After you've traced over the outline on the back, turn the copper over. I went over the veins on the front side so that they would be deeper than the rest of the impression.
     When you finally get it looking the way you like, you're ready to apply a little color.
     I used a q-tip and applied a little of the tria reinkers (green and red) to the tip. I went over the holly and the ribbon lightly for just a hint of color.
     That's it for this card.

PART III
     This last card was done with the salal branch from Fred Mullett. How many times have you seen this stamp....LOL?
     It was supposed to be an example of using LOS. I didn't like the way it turned out....not enough contrast. My mistake, I think, was not leaving it in the LOS long enough.
     To bring it out, I used the stylus and went around the edge. I turned it over and made a bunch of dots on the leaves. Then back to the right side and did the veins. I went over it with a bit of green Tria reinker. So basically a combination of both techniques.
     I was attempting to be creative with the background....marble background stamp from Judikins. I
sprinkled a little copper embossing powder on a few places....dumped it off. Then sprinkled a little verdigris.....to get an aged copper look....then a little black.
     That's the last of it!

PS...if you have the Autumn 2000 edition of Somerset, there are detailed steps for this technique that are a little different.

I use the LOS full strength, pour it back into the bottle and use it over and over. In the article, they suggest mixing it with water. I've never tried this. You may want to experiment to see if you get different results. I'm still using the original bottle and have had this for over two years.