Transcription
[Music]
Hi, today I would like to show you how I made this sculpture from scratch and by hand. I wanted to experiment and play around with different materials, mixing timber and copper. So I'm going to show you the whole process. As usual, working with a rope piece of timber and turning it into this, and then shaping the copper into the timber. Then, for those of you who are curious, I'm going to show you how I've achieved this specific patina. I spent quite some time this week playing around with different options until I achieved this result. So I hope you're going to enjoy this video.
So I had a piece of timber in my workshop for years. I think it's elm, but I'm not sure of it. I just thought it's been sitting there for ages, might as well turn it into something. In terms of size, the width was 18 cm, and I've decided to go for 45 cm of length. I've cut a piece of paper to the exact same size of the timber that I'm going to work on, and I'll mark a kind of frame all around it of 15 mil. That gives me a framework in which I can design, and I know I'm not going to cut into it. You will see later. So I draw inside of it with my pencil and draw some interesting curves starting from that frame. When I was happy with the lines, I went over it with a permanent marker and then cut them out with an exacto knife. I taped it onto the timber and copied my lines with a permanent marker.
Okay, so I've got my starting point. Now I need to cut it out. I've started cutting the end with the jigsaw first, then used the drill with the biggest wooden drill bits and cut inside each of the shape. Then I use a jigsaw with what I call a precision blade. So normally jigsaw blades are quite wide, as you can see better now, and the one I'm going to use is much thinner. So you can get into curves, and that's going to make a whole difference in the kind of cut you're going to get out of it. So I went over every line, and I took my time. I let the jigsaw blade do its work, and as you can see, I have some really nice curves out of it.
So overall, I was happy with the cut, but I just wanted to do a little bit of touch-up. So I've used my Dremel with some sanding drum and went over the area where I started or finished my cut with the jigsaw. You can see the mark there, just to have a nice clean starting point. Then you can go at it in the traditional manner, using a wooden mallet and a chisel, and slowly carve your way into it. That takes a bit of practice and some time. You can combine this with the Dremel with the sanding drum in different grits, and that will eat into anything. So that's brilliant. And maybe you're as lucky as I am to have a router sitting on a shelf, covered in dust, because I haven't used it for years. And that tool literally saved me hours. I still need to do more work later on on the piece, but just getting rid of all the curves and the edges at the top and bottom, that was a game changer. So I went over all the openings, flipped it over, clamped it back against the table, and did the same thing on the other side. Go at it with the router again, and then I use the Dremel to soften all the edges, and I took my time with that. I'll make sure both sides were cleaned up. Now, it wasn't the final design, but it was a good starting point in terms of the shape, because I'm going to work with the copper against it.
The sheet of copper I use is 0.7 mm thick. I had a piece that is a bit wider than my piece of timber, which is always good. It's nice to have a bit of extra, but maybe that was a bit more than needed as an extra. I mark it up, cut it out with the jigsaw, and deburr it with a file. And you can see here my timber compared to the copper. That's bigger. Now, this is my home setup with my small popping torch, and it wasn't up for the job. This torch isn't strong enough to be able to heat the whole piece as one. So I realized I had a bit of an issue. If you have a torch that combined propane and oxygen, for example, it's going to be stronger, and you might be able to handle it. But with my home setup, I realized I'm going to work in sections, and I focus on the first one-third of the piece until I reach this dark overall shade, and I can see the cherry red behind my flame. Then I quench it. Even the bucket wasn't big enough for that piece.
Now, this third of the copper sheet is annealed and soft. The rest isn't. So I'm going to focus on that part. I apply it onto the piece of timber, and I use a plastic mallet and start hammering it. I can start seeing the outline of my curves, and this is where I use the marker pen and mark where I'm going to cut. Use the jigsaw to cut it out, and the file to deburr it. And that way, I had a smaller piece that was much more manageable. I can control the heat better, and I went over it again and again until I reached the cherry red. Went back at it, do more hammering, and the shape starts to get better and better. I realize I've used a bit too much of copper, so I wanted to remove some of it on the edges. I can reuse that to do some tests later on with the patina. Mark it up, cut it out, deburr it. The easier and quicker it is to manage when I anneal it with a torch.
So I went back at it for the third time. The shape starts to get better and better. It was still a bit bumpy, so I returned to the torch to anneal it, and then for the fourth part, I went with smaller repeated blows in specific areas. I can see that I was reaching almost a table, so I grabbed a bit of timber and raised it, so I have more space to work underneath.
Okay, so now the first part of my copper looks good, and I grab the next piece of copper and try to anneal where I need to cut it. I place it underneath, use the marker pen to mark a few reference lines, then eyeball where my curves should be, and I knew I need to remove as well the top, because that's not necessary anymore. Cut it out with the jigsaw and deburr it. And now I can work on the second part. And I start working with this torch on the second part of copper to heat it up and anneal it. Place it into position. I wish I had a bit more copper to work with on the edges, and you're going to see very soon why. But at that stage, I was just placing it, hammering it. I start the whole process, but more and more I was going deep, more it become evident on the edges here. You see, I just wish I had an extra 10 mil of copper just to have some margin. So if you do something like this and you sculpt into sections of copper, make sure you have a bit more. It's better to remove it later than to have a gap. It's fixable, but it's just better to plan it initially.
I also had to remove some part of copper in between to make sure they were not overlapping each other, and I kept at it for the third part, repeating the same process until I had the nice shape. Make sure they line up nicely and they're not overlapping. Once my three parts were done, I use a ruler and mark it out to have a clean line all around it. Cut it out, and because the jigsaw is quite aggressive, they sometimes lift the copper plate. So I make sure I hammer it back flat, as you can see now. It starts to come together.
So my copper was now shaped, but it needed a good clean. So I've used a Scotch-Brite first, and then grabbed the Dremel with some polishing wheels to clean it up. Now it could be used as sculpture as it is, but I thought I can go further with the timber. I wanted to make it flow better, because at the moment it looks quite two-dimensional for me, and I knew I can carve in and create something that is much more organic in the way it flows. So I start marking up some areas that I wanted to cut and chisel out, and I just made a few reference lines here and there. Clamp it back against the table, grab the chisel, and then use a Dremel with different grits and went over it patiently, and it was worth investing the time creating something much more interesting in terms of the movement that it creates. Later on, I finished it up by hand with a sanding paper. I think it was 120 grit.
Now I was happy with it. The whole process is very dusty, so make sure you have some eye protection, respirator with filters on, and ear protection as well. Now I'm happy with the copper, and I'm happy with the timber, but I wanted to burn it because I knew it would be really interesting in terms of the contrast. I used my torch and I went over it, almost working in layers. Don't just stay in one specific spot because it's going to catch on fire. It's better working on it gently and go over it again and again, because some areas are quite narrow and they can catch very quickly and crack. So it's better to take the time and make sure you do it cautiously. Just make sure you don't go too far, and always have on hand a spray bottle with some water in it, because if it catches fire, you need to cool it down. And ideally, have a fire extinguisher next to you is not a bad idea either.
Okay, so now let's work on the patina. I spent quite some time last week playing around with different things, experimenting and trying to see how I can achieve certain colors and effects with patina. Now I'm going to talk about the specific recipe that I've used to work on my patina, but first, the most important thing is health and safety. There's three non-negotiable things I've used for doing all my tests: a pair of gloves, respirator with filters, and goggles. I always work outside. I happen to have a lean-to to my house, so I have some small roof to protect myself, but I have the best ventilation, which is essential. It only takes one minute to put the mask, the respirator, and the gloves, and honestly, it's worth putting the time because your health is your biggest asset. Once your health starts to go south, everything is going south. So protect yourself, make sure you're doing it properly and safely.
If you work with ammonia, there's one thing you really need to know: ammonia should never be mixed with bleach. It's not just highly toxic, it's deadly. So do not, under any circumstances, mix ammonia and bleach. This is deadly.
Okay, so now that I've talked about the basic health and safety, let's look at the ingredients I've used to work on my patina. First, I've used acetone. This is absolutely crucial to clean the piece properly before working on a patina. Then I mixed up ammonia and Miracle-Gro, the fertilizer. I use some coarse sea salt, some water in a spray bottle to clean it up, and the sealer. By then, my piece of copper has been sitting in my workshop for probably three or four days. I wanted to give an extra clean-up with the Scotch-Brite and then took my time to go all over it with acetone. Make sure your piece is absolutely clean before starting to patina. That is really important.
Then I mix the ammonia. I use 50% ammonia, 50% Miracle-Gro. I used those little recycled cups. I think they were for sauces or something like that, so I had the same cup and same quantity in each, and I mixed them up in a bigger bowl. Now, if you try it out on your own and do different percentages, let's say one-third, two-thirds, you might have different colors and you might have different results. So it might be worth experimenting with. I needed to raise the pieces on the table. Make sure your table is protected, and you have a few layers of tissue paper on top of it. And I'm going to start pouring my mixture onto it. And as gravity does its job, it will quickly go away from the high points and into the trenches.
One little tip I recommend is using Q-tips. And if you use baby Q-tips, they are wider, so they can hold more liquid. So I soak them into my mixture and then I apply it onto my shape. It will obviously accumulate in the trenches, and I try to bring it back to my high points and to have the whole piece covered. Now, you need the metal to have a layer of liquid on it so that by the time you grab some salt and add to it, they're going to stay on. But at the moment, they are white because they're not soaked yet, and they need to be soaked. So I went back and forth between my little mixture and the piece, and tried to apply it onto the salt, so I will soak it up. And you can see it now getting dark because I've been spending some time on it. I also tried to remove all the salt and liquid that were accumulating in the lower points. You don't need the salt there anyway, so I removed it. The chemical reaction will happen around the salt. So if you see a big cluster of those in one point, try to spread it out because otherwise your patina is not going to be even. I like the way the coarse salt reaction looks like, but you might have different reactions if you work with fine salt instead of coarse salt. So that's why it's worth doing some try and test before working on your main sculpture. I spend some time applying my patina until I reach this point.
Then I position a big plastic container that's going to be my fume chamber. Place some plastic pots to raise it, install my pieces inside of it, then use more ammonia. And instead of having them into one cup, I decide to divide them in three different cups because I wanted the fumes to go in the whole box, which is quite big. If you're really interested in patina, there's one book that I discovered that is brilliant: "The Coloring, Bronzing and Patina of Metals." I mean, look at those colors, it's gorgeous. So depending if you work on bronze, if you work with brass or copper, they show how they achieve such incredible range of colors, and you've got those little numbers to follow, and it will guide you through the recipe. And I mean, this is serious business. It's not about just a bit of salt and a bit of vinegar or ammonia. This is an extensive research, and if you're really serious about patina, there's something absolutely fascinating about that book to just see how they can achieve so many range of colors.
Okay, so now let's go back to our container. This is what it looked like after 1 hour. This is what it looked like after 3 hours, roughly. And this is what it looked like after 5 hours. This is where I decide to take it out of the box. So I had a reaction. I can see definitely a change of colors. I used the water in the spray bottle to clean it up. I need to remove the grain of salt. Within less than a minute, the water is going to dry out, and the grain is going to come back up. As you can see, instead of the wet darker part. Now, I've noticed that some areas, this one, have more brown than turquoise, and I start to freak out. So I was like, okay, I'm just going to grab and remove a little bit on the other side, and I regret doing this because I was removing the patina that otherwise would have looked so gorgeous. So don't touch it and let the patina do its work.
Then I place it all on a wooden board to make sure everything's going to be leveled. Position my timber onto it and make sure the pieces are in the exact position that they should be. Use some epoxy glue, two parts, a little cup, and a lollipop stick. Remove the timber, mix up my epoxy glue. I started small. I honestly should have used the whole thing because I ended up using the whole pack, basically. So now the game is to get it in between the seam, but not on the raised part that is going to be visible, and that is tricky to achieve. Then I grab my piece of timber and press it onto it without putting my dirty sticky fingers onto the timber. Apply a piece of foam because I knew I'm going to add some pressure. Overall, I didn't want the pressure to mark the timber. Then I use a board that was the right length, and then I just grab anything that is heavy on hand. I had some converters, some nail gun at some point, I just grabbed some bricks, anything that is heavy, and I let it for 1 hour. I had a peek after 1 hour, and I was suspicious. Even though technically it's like a 5-minute glue, I know it's never 5 minutes, and I can touch it. It was still a bit tacky, so I put everything back up with the weight and leave it for another few hours. Most of it was glued, but some edges weren't, so I gently hammered them back in and used some super glue. I should have used the applicator of the super glue, that would have been more precise, but at that stage, I just grabbed a lollipop stick to try to get it in there. And I recommend using those super glue with a kicker. The one I use all the time is my T-Rex, because that is just magic. It will do the job really, really nicely. And then I apply two coats of sealer.
Now, that's going to make it way, way dark. I knew it would get dark. I didn't expect that much because you see my initial sample that I was trying to copy is the one on the left, and it's much lighter than the one on the right. The final result. The big difference is the one I'm holding in my hand has been left in the fume chamber for one or two hours, and my final piece was 5 hours, so it's got more intense, which I was trying to achieve. I've got the intensity for sure, but I didn't expect it to go that dark. So if I was doing it again, I'm probably going to leave it in the plastic container for 2 hours.
Now my piece doesn't really look finished because you can see on the edges, you have the metal showing, and that's not really great. So I knew that was coming, and I had a little trick up my sleeves earlier that day. I grabbed some trim. I had some leftover piece of this really small trim which is curved. Cut it in the right size with a smaller miter box. You can find if you wonder where you can find this, it's usually in the tiling section of your DIY store. Give it a quick paint job with acrylic paint. Once dry, I apply it onto my sculpture with some super glue. And I regret curving the edges of my sculpture, so I had less timber flat to work with. It was a bit tricky, and I had some gaps.
One little trick I had up my sleeve when I had some gaps is some black filler. Now, this is 3D paint or puff paint, or whatever you call it. It's magical, and it will hide all sorts of seams. I used it so many times, and you really see my butt in the past, and here again. So S-Relief 3D paint from PBO, that's my secret trick.
And there you have it. The piece is finished, and looks kind of cool, I think. Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. Next time, I've got a more complicated and intricate sculpture to share with you, if it works according to plan. Until then, take good care of yourself. Bye-bye.