Copper flame painting

Well, I may have a new hobby! LOL! And I will probably burn down this house! But oh! What fun! These were all done using a small kitchen torch and Amaco's light weight and medium weight copper.

I did quench most of these in water, but none in ice water. I will be doing more experiments using a bigger torch (just bought one at ACE) and using more oils and lotions to experiment with. I think that's the key...just play!

Circles made by taking the torch in and out from the copper and dipping in water between layers of color:


Inked a Paper Artsy rubber stamp with Mr. Clean Blue, stamped the copper, then heated it, then dipped in water.


This was done by spritzing with Mr Clean blue while holding the copper perpendicular during heat. As the solution runs off you get these lovely streaks....


For this piece, I heated the copper, dipped it in water, spritzed with Mr. Clean, heat, dip, spritz...just keep repeating til you get something you like.


Just a variation of the same technique


this is with kitty litter:


and yet another example of repeat dipping with Mr. Clean. I think we used Liver of Sulpher here as well.


After 4 or 5 dips, the Mr. Clean starts to form black lines....now this is what I call watercolor painting! But rather than a brush, it's done with a torch!


And this one..just lovely...I like it almost the best!


Want to know more? Well...stay tuned for the book! I have loads more experiments to do first. But painting copper with a torch....what fun!

Basic things to consider:
1. Dipping in ice cold water is not essential to get great colors. But dipping in something that is cooler than the temp of the hot copper gets amazing results.
2. Never follow the "rules" that someone else writes (including me!) Just do your own thing, play, and have some fun with it!
3. Since you are working with a torch, KNOW where the fire extinguisher is! LOL!!
4. Make sure you have a burn kit in your first aid kit.
5. Work over a firing brick, or outside on a day with no wind - don't want to be burning down your neighbor's house either!
6. Cooking oils will burn off. Fish oils will leave a pattern. Other oils...just play with them and see what you get!
7. Stamps give great background designs for this technique.

Now, I'm sure I've forgotten something. I'll keep you posted as I experiment and play! I want to try ammonia and salt, potato chips and water, sawdust and vinegar! LOLOL!

Ahhh....retirement! It sure is great!!!

Itsy Judi Bittie Book

This is just pure fun! My friend, Judi Hodgkin, in London, owns Scrapperdashery. And I LOVE her stuff! So I used her papers and some Paper Artsy stamps and a little bit of Ranger's Distress inks (Tim Holtz) to make an itty bitty book for her. And even though I put Judi's name in the title....it's really all about me!

The title page says "Eccentric art" "think happy thoughts" "think outside the box". What I want for my life is summed up in those 3 phrases.




On the first page, it says "odd things on my mind" and "unspoken words". Think about those phrases. We all have odd things on our minds quite often.....and perhaps it's best to leave them there and not tell a soul....so they remain there as unspoken words!!!





On page 2, it says "artistical", "altered" and "watching the world pass by". Is that me?




Page 3: "strange reality", "odd", "curiosity" "quirk" "transform" "weird" "dream". Dad always said, "don't do it just because everyone else does it". I think he wanted me to be my own individual self. He would be so proud!!!



Page 4: "the wild thing". Well, I'm not quite as wild as I once was.....but I think as I age, perhaps what's inside my brain is a bit wilder than anything else. Best leave those thoughts as "unspoken words"!!!!!



Art: it's the connection between the odd things in my mind, the unspoken words, that get turned into fun little projects like this. All with meaning....somewhere....somehow. Does " what you create" come from "what you are"? Because I think that deep down, we create a piece of us in everything we do.