making rose info - Page 11

slobitz18222 · #**101** 05-16-2006, 10:57 AM

last nite I made another rose. To clean I usually dip in 10% muratic acil for a few min. and then polish with a scrubby. Last nite I used a 3M disc on a air tool the first time. I`ll never do that again, my throught got inflamed and my palate tasted funny. My son the doctor said the spinning air tool made cupric acid and it can give you some trouble breathing.

v2cad · #**102** 05-16-2006, 01:51 PM

Looks real good Stan.
I did the same thing when I made mine a few months ago. Looked pretty good until I soldered it together and all the shine went away.I probably had the same symptoms, but not smart enough to realize it. :-)
J.

butch foster · #**103** 07-15-2006, 09:38 PM

Here's a few progress pics of a bouquet a guy commissioned me to make for his wife's birthday. 14 flowers in total. 8 sterling with red centers, 4 rose buds and 2 yellows with pearl centers. The colored flowers are copper which have been patinated. At this point, the flowers are stuck in some modeling clay so I can bend the stems and arrange them so they aren't all banging up against each other. Now that they are arranged, I'll break them all down, give the sterling a final polish, paint the stems and then see if I can put the whole thing back together again. Final step will be to stick the bouquet in a bottle and call it done.

Butch.

dauer · #**104** 07-16-2006, 04:29 AM

Hi Butch,

That is REALLY beautiful! Your customer should be very happy, I have been toying with the idea of using some sterling but have been afraid of it tarnishing do you coat your flowers with anything to keep that from happening? Great work and thanks for sharing .

Dave

Bill B · #**105** 07-16-2006, 01:43 PM

That's real nice work Butch. I like the contrast of the different colors and shapes. I especially like the bright red buds.

FriarTuck · #**106** 07-17-2006, 08:28 AM

Wow Butch, beautiful work. Are these steel, and painted? You get such vivid colors it is stunning. Looks like the stems are copper, does copper take paint like that, or is it some other process. Really impressive.

Tuck

butch foster · #**107** 07-17-2006, 11:08 PM

Thanks for the feed back guys.

Dave - I don't clear coat the sterling. I polish it up to jeweler's rouge and let nature take its course after that. The small amount of copper in sterling silver is what makes it tarnish. There is a new sterling alloy called argentium which does not tarnish. As soon as I can find it in the gauge I prefer, I'm going to switch over.

Tuck - The stems in the first post are untreated copper. All the other colors you see were achieved using patinas and heat. The pic below is the finished piece. The woman whose birthday gift this is, collects sea glass so at the last minute I had her husband raid her stash and used the glass to stabilize the arrangement in the vase. The stems have been painted because I haven't yet been able to control the heat/patina combination to get a consistent green on the stems.

Butch