Cleaning tarnished copper?

[bylillian]

I work in copper a lot, and as it's not coated in any way, tarnish soon becomes an issue. Since it's mostly wire, just using a polishing cloth works fine...for a while. Any suggestions?

[Polly]

There are a couple of things you can do to help minimize the tarnishing.

Before handling your copper wire, wash your hands thoroughly to remove oils.

When storing wire (or wirework), put it in a locking plastic bag and squeeze all the air out of the bag.  It might also be helpful to include (in the storage bag or area) a 63-538 Silver Protection Strip, which inhibits tarnish in airtight areas.  On second thought, those strips protect against sulfur compounds that tarnish silver, it might not give the same protection with  copper.

After displaying copper jewelry, especially if it gets handled a lot, you might want to give it all a quick polish as you put it away for your next show.  Wiping the light fingerprints off early, is easier than waiting until they leave heavy-duty tarnish marks after being set aside for a few weeks or months.

Anyone else have handling or storage hints to prevent/minimize tarnish?

--Polly

[PrairieGal]

I clean copper and bronze jewelry by soaking a few minutes in lemon juice. The metal comes out shiny and bright. It will tarnish again in a short while, however. I've read that putting a piece of chalk in with the piece will prevent tarnish but haven't tried it personally.

[Metalman]

Copper tends to be particularily active.  There is not, to my knowledge, a good way of keeping copper clean in and of itself.
There are various things to be done to your work, but they will change the nature of the work.
1] Have it plated, nickel then gold [recommended by a metals engineer]
2] Lacquer it [problematic because it chips and is really hard to clean up]
3] Investigate copper patina formulas and make a virture of the coloration of the copper.  This could settle the surface down so that it no longer changes with age. The down side is that some patina formulas are hard core chemicals.

As to cleaning, the lemon juice mentioned above may work well for you. Other cleaners get into hard core acids, etc. requiring gloves and vent hoods - not something you will want unless you are doing serious production.

Last thought: Now that you are getting your wire work down, maybe its time to move up and start using silver or gold for your work. '>

[Polly]

I *like* the color of copper!

You can't get copper color in sterling silver, although you can get a close-to-copper color with rose gold.
But I've never run across rose-gold wire....

So I think it would be hard to move "up" to precious metals and keep the look I like with copper.

--Polly

[Metalman]

Okay - true enough, copper does have that luscious color quality, which is copper, no substitutes but tarnishing is also copper - no substitutes.
So, there are some anodized aluminums in copper color which are close in color. And,...
We have ColourCraft wire - a color coated copper wire. This  coating is enamel and fairly durable. There is what is called 'natural' which is copper wire coated with a clear enamel. Check page 51 in the Catalog, or the 46-700 series on the website. We have 18 ga up thru 28 ga.

[azurefire]

One method I've heard of for protecting brass and copper from oxidation is to wipe it with a thin coat of tung oil.  It won't last for ever.  But whatever you coat with has to be removed when it starts failing, and this is much easier to remove than lacquer.  I've never gotten around to trying this though.

[bylillian]

Thanks for the advice!
I tell my buyers that the more they wear copper, the shinier it gets, like silver.
And I like copper. It's durable, looks really nice, has the same hand as sterling, and is relatively inexpensive. (I'm not very fond of the Artistic and other "copper" wires--the folks who want copper know it will tarnish and are leery of non-tarnishing "copper". And bulk copper wire is much, much less expensive.)
I do quite a bit of silver work as well, and I plan on adding gold to the mix soon. It's just pricey enough that I get very nervous about working with it. Of course, I used to feel the same way about silver, so I should get over it after I ruin a few ounces of wire.  '>

[Metalman]

You Go Girl!
Any body quoting Terri Pratchett is on the right page in my book.
As to silver and gold.  Silver, especially in the finer gauges of wire, is really pretty cheap - the same can not be said of gold, at anytime

[Todd]

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