Transcription
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Hey everybody, welcome back. This is Doug with Artfully Rogue, and today I've got to show you something that I found out recently that I think is pretty cool.
If you've seen some of my past videos, there's a few out there that showed making large sliding metal doors, and there's a process that I use to add a rusty patina to the metal. I use vinegar, typically, and it seems to be the most consistent as far as producing a, I guess, a natural-appearing rust on the doors in a quick fashion, so that I can get the doors basically out the door to the client.
So I had a client that was talking to me about wanting more copper in the door. Well, I don't often work with copper. It's a very soft metal, too expensive to work with, so it's not something I actually keep in the shop. And on several occasions, I've actually tried to find a patina that gives steel a copper look.
Alright, looking on YouTube, most of what I find is how to copper plate. And through that process, I discovered that what they're using is a, is it a chemical called copper sulfate? So my first task was to find copper sulfate. And during some research, I found a product called Route Kill by Seth. The main ingredient in this is copper sulfate.
So I'm gonna show you what I did the other day that I thought was really cool. If you're trying to rust metal, or you're trying to get some different looks on metal, and yeah, you've got to check this stuff out. This is really cool.
Okay, so one of the first things you're gonna have to do is you're gonna get yourself some Route Kill, or at least something that has copper sulfate in the product. Now, you'll know it's copper sulfate because it is kind of this blue crystal type of substance. Pour in some copper sulfate into a bucket. Alright, and then just add water to it. Now, I haven't worked out like any particular ratios or anything like that, but I've had probably about a cup and a half of water, maybe a handful of the copper sulfate, and then basically, you just stir it until it's dissolved.
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Okay, I think that pretty much has dissolved. All of the crystals. Have you've ever seen that, that series Breaking Bad with Jesse and Walt and they're making meth? It's kind of what the blue crystals look like. The blue crystals that they had that they used in the movie, or in the sitcom, or whatever you want to call it, the series. I wonder if that's what they used for the prop meth, so to speak, was was copper sulfate.
Okay, so once that is done, alright, I use a 22 gauge sheet steel. This is the type of metal that I use for my doors, cold rolled 22 gauge. Now, this only comes with a peanut oil, I believe it's a peanut oil that keeps it from rusting. So all I do is I just kind of give it a quick wipe. I don't prep it with anything. I don't put any degreasers or anything like that. I just prep it.
Here is the cool part. I just take a regular chip brush. Now, I'm gonna relocate this just a little bit and kind of tilt you down, give me a little bit more of an angle there. Alright, I just start to paint this on, and you can see in some areas what immediately, immediately it started to react to the steel. This is what's nice about this copper, copper sulfate. Now, this is pretty saturated right now, and I'm not sure if you can actually see this. We'll see if I can zoom in and you can just kind of watch this process happen. Can you see it kind of taken over the metal? It is totally taken over that metal, and that was quick.
Now, if I go ahead and run more over it, it will wipe off some of that top layer, but you still have a really fast process of getting some patina on that steel. Now, if I were to take my cloth, I can wipe off some of that.
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But it does still leave some of the discoloration in the metal. It's still very. And then I can go back, even put on a second coat. I'm actually starting to get some, some color in there, like some blues, or at least it might be blue in my eyes. I don't know if I've told you guys, I'm colorblind, so I don't see colors the same way everybody else does. So to me, oh my god, I've really got a cool.
Alright, so now I'm going to show you the same thing on the same piece of steel. I'm going to saturate this with a copper sulfate, and then I'm going to use vinegar. If you're looking for something that is a faster process, then you gotta check this stuff out. It's really kind of cool.
So I don't know about you, but for me, I find that really exciting because it opens up a lot of potential for different designs and different colors and different techniques on the doors that I offer my clients. It's even something that you could use if you're doing tabletops, or you know, art on the wall. But I thought it was a very cool process.
So remember, copper sulfate on cold rolled steel reacts, you know, almost immediately and gives you some really cool colors and patterns. And now I have noticed that over time, it does start to dull as it continues to work. So you want to rinse the steel once you've reached a point where you like where it's at, because it'll keep working.
Let me show you some pieces that I did earlier and where they are now, and I didn't rinse them at all. They just kind of kept, I guess, eating away at the steel.
Okay, so this is a piece that I did the other day, and it's hard to tell, but on this side is where I added the vinegar to the copper sulfate, and this was all just copper sulfate. So you can see how there's a slight difference. But here, let me show you something else on the other side. Alright, this was a little bit more controlled where this was all brushed on copper sulfate, but then what I did is I sprayed on a semi-gloss lacquer on top of that once it dried. And I don't know if you can see, but some patterns even developed into the semi-gloss and kind of created another pattern within the metal.
So try some different things with this. This product, I mean, I think you can really get some cool things. This is something that excites me. I hope it excites you. If you liked what you saw, give me a thumbs up. If you haven't subscribed already, do me a favor and go ahead and hit that subscribe button right there. If you have some time on your hands, check out my other video about rusting metal. So we'll see you next time and have a great day.