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Copper tray
When Toby and I swung by my mom's place on the way home from the cruise, she gave us a copper tray that my dad had picked up when he was stationed in Turkey about the time I was born. I believe it's part of a Turkish coffee service I vaguely remember sitting around the house, but I have no idea what Mom did with the coffee pot. It may be long gone, or it may be stuck in a box somewhere waiting for Mom to get around to unpacking it.
I think today's project is cleaning off umpty-ump years of dull brown patina to expose the shiny copper. (If anyone feels the need to protest "But patina! Verdigris!" please note that the patina here is dull brown and is hiding the tooled pattern, and the verdigris spots are doing much the same thing: it was not designed with patina and verdigris in mind.)
I started on the back, so if I screwed up and marked it, it wouldn't show. I'm currently using an Internet-sourced mix of salt, white vinegar, and flour (to form a paste that will stay on the tray for a bit), wiped off with paper towels. Seems to be starting to work.
I've stopped for the moment because we only had about 1/2 cup vinegar, which is odd as we have every other type of vinegar possible (well, maybe not every type, but plenty). So I need to make a grocery run, which means I need to figure out if I'm cooking tonight and if so, what. I also need a toothbrush, so I can get into the tiny lines on the engraving, although I'm a bit torn as to whether I should leave them alone, so the darker patina in the grooves will make the design pop, or just go ahead and scrub 'em out.
I may also break down and just get some copper polish and damn the noxious chemicals.
This is the back, after the first application of vinegar/salt/flour paste. I think it may have originally been painted black, so as to protect it while sitting on the ground or a table, and the paint's worn off over the years. The greyish-looking stuff is patina that's come partly off, I think. It may also be paint that's come partly off, but that's fine if that's the case. It's just going to sit on the coffee table.
Here's the front--I haven't gotten around to doing anything to it yet. (This is also a reminder to myself to wash the front of 40-odd years of gunk before hitting it with anything.)
And as good a close-up of the engraving that you're going to get out of my phone. (Also, the pic's sharpened a bit to bring the pattern out: it's not this noticeable in reality.)
I read a recommendation to get some beeswax and rub a thin layer onto your copper item after you clean and polish it, which makes sense to me as it'll prevent the air from tarnishing it quite as fast, so beeswax is on my list.
I think today's project is cleaning off umpty-ump years of dull brown patina to expose the shiny copper. (If anyone feels the need to protest "But patina! Verdigris!" please note that the patina here is dull brown and is hiding the tooled pattern, and the verdigris spots are doing much the same thing: it was not designed with patina and verdigris in mind.)
I started on the back, so if I screwed up and marked it, it wouldn't show. I'm currently using an Internet-sourced mix of salt, white vinegar, and flour (to form a paste that will stay on the tray for a bit), wiped off with paper towels. Seems to be starting to work.
I've stopped for the moment because we only had about 1/2 cup vinegar, which is odd as we have every other type of vinegar possible (well, maybe not every type, but plenty). So I need to make a grocery run, which means I need to figure out if I'm cooking tonight and if so, what. I also need a toothbrush, so I can get into the tiny lines on the engraving, although I'm a bit torn as to whether I should leave them alone, so the darker patina in the grooves will make the design pop, or just go ahead and scrub 'em out.
I may also break down and just get some copper polish and damn the noxious chemicals.
This is the back, after the first application of vinegar/salt/flour paste. I think it may have originally been painted black, so as to protect it while sitting on the ground or a table, and the paint's worn off over the years. The greyish-looking stuff is patina that's come partly off, I think. It may also be paint that's come partly off, but that's fine if that's the case. It's just going to sit on the coffee table.
Here's the front--I haven't gotten around to doing anything to it yet. (This is also a reminder to myself to wash the front of 40-odd years of gunk before hitting it with anything.)
And as good a close-up of the engraving that you're going to get out of my phone. (Also, the pic's sharpened a bit to bring the pattern out: it's not this noticeable in reality.)
I read a recommendation to get some beeswax and rub a thin layer onto your copper item after you clean and polish it, which makes sense to me as it'll prevent the air from tarnishing it quite as fast, so beeswax is on my list.
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