Category: Materials

It is easy peasy to make red /brown rust, but green, blue, and grey and a little tricky. Not all wire that appears to be copper works. Not all copper coated wire works.

I used a copper garden mesh that is meant to keep varmints and wormy guys away from plants. I purchased a box of the mesh years ago, but it was too thin to use as a base for embroidery.

The paper is the green mask paper typically used for house painting. I cut a long strip, accordion folded triangles, and inserted a hair pin in every crease. The result was areas of pale brown to pink with large splotches of the original green.

Today I replaced the hairpins (two holes for them to slide through) and sandwiched the paper between layers of the copper mesh. Wrapped the lot with a cotton cord. 12:33pm

Placed the lot in a solution of white vinegar, peroxide, and salt.

I flipped the bound paper several times.

Added more salt after each flip. 12:48pm

Removed the bound paper from the solution. 1:20pm

The copper is oxidized nicely. 2:41pm

Ready to view the result. 5:03pm

The dark brown lines are the hair pins.

Unrolled

Some lovely results.

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