Metal Art | Quick Ship Metals News-Blog

Tampa Copper Surrealist Takes Best of Show

Dec 282011

By Frank Ross

This large copper sculpture titled Father Sky is Watching Us attracted a lot of attention

Copper artist Charles Bellofatto comes by his art and passion for creating from a personal frame of reference but he also feels his ancestral Cherokee roots have influenced his direction in life. His mother was part Cherokee and he explained, “I learned those ways as a young man until my family converted to Christianity, but I never forgot who I was. Native Americans have a long history of working with copper, and many of the Southeastern tribes did a lot of copper smithing. Typically medicine men and chiefs were the only ones to wear copper on their body but other adornments were worn as well such as wrist and arm cuffs and beads. They wore gorgets, or breast plates, very similar to those worn by European soldiers. These soldiers used copper to identify themselves or their units, like dog tags, but they were also decorative,” he explained.

In the photo of Bellofatto, posing with one of his sun sculptures titled “Thoughtful Sun”, he is wearing a gorget that he created from copper sheeting. The gorget speaks of his heritage as well as his love of copper. His business card states his work and his passion in one term, Surrealistic Artist. “Because of the nature of surrealism, I’m more of a traditional surrealist and don’t care for today’s Nuevo surrealists. Surrealism appeals to be because it gives the idea that our perception, dreams and any number of emotions can be experienced in being one with the art,” he said.

Bellofatto has been a painter as well as a sculptor. “I’m an individualist. I started out studying sculpting and mixed medium, converting objects into art. I was in a junkyard, looking for pieces to work with and discovered a roll of copper in a trailer they called their ‘collectables’ trailer. I thought about copper for a long time and was strongly drawn to it and intrigued by it. I went back and bought that roll. It had been used in roofing work and was in pretty rough shape, but I was able to work with it. Now copper is my main medium,” he said.

“When I first started considering copper I saw that a lot of people were using it but their work was very repetitive and boring. I spent a lot of time studying copper smith techniques. From my experience working in a machine shop I learned what it takes to mold, form and bend metal and how to bond it together with a torch. I considered making jewelry also, but people don’t care for their skin being green so I decided on metal sculpture. It has been an evolutionary journey,” he said.

Charles Bellofatto poses with a large sun sculpted from copper sheeting, wearing his gorget.

Totally involved in all aspects of creativity, he writes poetry about the artwork he has created, but feels that working with copper is preferred method of expression.
Bellofatto started out making sun sculptures and soon started getting specific requests for custom pieces. “The sun is a strong spiritual influence for many people. All of the suns I have created have been sold. I really make them according to the individual that commissions the piece, naming them and designing to fit the personality of that person.”

Special requests are often unusual, such as the recently request from a European couple that were getting married. They wanted a spider to use in their wedding ceremony. According to Bellofatto, spiders are sacred symbols in Indian spirituality so he was happy to accommodate their request and the two pieces were used predominantly in their wedding ceremony.

For a piece titled simply “Lizard”, he experimented with several coloring techniques to create the brightly colored piece. He prefers to chemically alter the copper rather than coating it with paint. For this particular piece he used vinegar and 10-10-10 fertilizer to achieve the coloration but noted the fertilizer left a crusty texture. He also prefers using sulfur for achieving a black color. The lizard is 18” in length.

At the Ybor City Art in the Park event recently, just east of downtown Tampa, FL. Bellofatto’s large piece title “Father Sky is Watching Us” attracted a lot of attention but it was “Mother Earth Takes a Respite” that caught the judge’s eye. The judge was so taken with this work he awarded Best of Show for the sculpture and a check for $1,000 in recognition for his exceptional work. While his work has been featured in several galleries in the Tampa Bay area, but the best way to have an original Bellofatto copper sculpture in your home or office would be to call him at 1-813-935-1276.

For a great price on copper sheeting, contact QuickShipMetals.com.

Stainless Steel Mirror Becomes Mandala in Minnesota Park

Fun Projects, Metal Art

Sep 142011

By Frank Ross

Richard Bonk's Magic Mirror Mandala sculpture is on display beside Silver Lake in Silverwood Park, just northwest of Minneapolis, MN.

Richard Bonk's Magic Mirror Mandala sculpture is on display beside Silver Lake in Silverwood Park, in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis, MN.

The challenging aspect of a mirror is the image reflected by them. Mirrors cause us to contemplate the reflection we are confronted with each time we approach one of these remarkable surfaces. Depending upon your personal reaction, this refracted representation may be pleasing or displeasing, but it will always cause one to stop and evaluate the vision beheld before us.

Just as a mirror reflects the aging process of those who stand before it, close examination of a mirror also reveals clues to its own stage in the aging life cycle. For glass mirrors you’ll begin to see the effects of the rear coating as it begins to slowly deteriorate and separate, and woe unto those who drop and break one if you believe there is merit to the storied seven years of bad luck that will follow. Acrylic mirrors eliminate the fragility of glass mirrors but their lifespan is severely shortened by the ravages of exposure to direct sun, or the hand of vandals.

Such was the case for a work of art being displayed in Silverwood Park, located in a northwest suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. This park is located along the shores of Silver Lake, with the primary focus on arts and the environment. In this tranquil setting, only minutes from bustling freeway traffic, visitors are provided the opportunity to relax in tranquil beauty. With such a setting, artists come to be inspired and display their work as well.

Throughout the park a limited number of works are on display, and one piece, Magic Mirror Mandala, is intended to cause visitors to stop and consider the elements of nature around them and the harmony that exists between man and the world we pass through. The artist Richard Bonk, of Minneapolis says he has spent his life considering “nature, the creatures, processes, forms, patterns and textures.”

In his comments about the work he states, “I spent countless hours looking for critters, setting up habitats for them, growing plants, and attempting to capture their essence in art explorations. I have experimented with drawing, painting, printing, sculpture and photography. Most recently I have utilized the computer to capture elements from nature through sound, photography, and other digital data sources, then transform that information from its ‘parent’ into an abstracted aesthetic portrait –often a mandala.”

The mandala is an ancient Sanskrit word that means both center and circle. While the concept of life’s circle and cycles has been used cross culturally over the decades, those who grew up in the 60s you may recall the song by Peter, Paul and Mary titled The Great Mandala. The lyrics to this period protest song challenged people to “take their place on The Great Mandala as it moves through your brief moment of time.”

In this work, Magic Mirror Mandalas, Bonk’s intent was to engage our human perception, in collaboration between outer and inner nature by creating four micro elemental worlds with mirrors. Once installed in the park two issues became readily apparent; the first by a whiff of smoke.

Many artists take advantage of the beauty and tranquility of Silverwood Park to create their own art.

Within the park there are nine designated art circles that have been designated for larger sculptures in addition to other areas where sculptures and other works of art are on display for shorter periods of time, but this particular piece was donated and is on permanent display in a prominent location.

“What’s interesting about this piece of artwork is you see different levels of circular imagery in the mirrors and each quadrant of the circle is planted with plants and the mirrors are oriented north, south, east and west which gives different amounts of light to the different gardens, demonstrating how the various levels of light can cause plants to grow faster or slower depending on their exposure. It’s a little bit of a philosophical mandala mirror kind of thing but it’s also a straight up lesson in gardening that illustrates how plants grow. Although I did learn one lesson that the mirrors get so hot in the late afternoon that it actually set the grass on fire, so now it has some rocks around it so we don’t have a fire danger in the park.”

The next challenge proved to be more devastating to the artwork itself. Moffatt explained that Bork had wanted to use a more durable material such as stainless steel with a mirrored finish but the grant that he acquired to create the work wasn’t significant enough to do it properly, so he settled for using mirrored acrylic and the constant exposure to sun had deteriorated the mirrors to the point that vandals evidently felt they were a good surface to be violated.

Because Silverwood Park is a governmental entity working on a limited budget that depends heavily on donations, Moffatt was required to obtain multiple bids before replacing the damaged mirrors. Evaluation of the bids proved QuickShipMetals.com had the best price, but according to Moffatt, the total experience of doing business with QSM was beneficial beyond just getting a great price.

“I sent a CAD drawing so they could have the proper dimensions, and they custom cut the stainless steel and shipped it right out. I talked with a number of companies in the bid process and besides having the best bid on price, the people at Quick Ship Metals that I ended up working with made it a very easy and pleasant process for me. And, it took less than a week to receive the order,” he said.

The park encompasses 120 acres, which includes 40 acres of lake bottom. An estimated 200,000 visitors each year pass through the park, so if you’re in the Minneapolis area and want to experience a beautiful park appointed with various works of art that complement the environment, check out Silverwood Park.

Considering your own artwork with an eye toward mirror finish stainless steel? Please allow QuickShipMetals.com to work up a price for you. At QSM, the price is always right, custom cuts are never a problem and the service is as dependable as stainless steel!

Copper Adornment Turns Everyday Objects into Art

Fun Projects, Metal Art

Aug 142011

By Frank Ross

If you’ve ever seen a copper clad wastebasket or mailbox embellished with striking illustrations on copper foil, there’s a pretty good chance that it was created by Greg Hentzi, a copper artist who works from his studio in central Massachusetts where his family history is well established. His grandfather was a watchmaker who came to the U. S. from Switzerland, plying his craft at the Waltham watch company for over 30 years, and his father has a room in the Waltham museum that houses his personal collection.

With this background, you might wonder why Greg isn’t in the watch business. The answer is that he, as well as his father, took the wise council of his grandfather to heart. He said, “no Hentzi should work in a factory. He sat there, went blind making watches. So, my father became a salesman,” he explained.

Years later, Greg was a history major with a master’s degree in education, working on a master’s degree in history when he went ice fishing one winter day. He was joined on the ice by an old man he described as looking like Franklin Roosevelt. Sometime during the wait for a bite, his newly acquired companion commented that, “I believe the young people will save the country when Nixon gets through with it.”

Greg Hentzi decorated this mailbox with a drawing of dragonflies alighting on stalks of wheat.

Greg replied, “I’ve got two master’s degrees and I’m going bankrupt.” The old man asked him what he was doing, and he explained that he was trying to make lamps out of old wood planes. The old man’s response was simple in concept but difficult to follow. He advised him to become an artist because an artist can always make money.
The old man’s name was Henry W. Longfellow IV, a descendant of the famous poet who was obviously more skilled with his hands than the written word for he had been in the copper business for over 30 years starting in 1938, until he had retired. One day when these new fishing companions were through ice fishing Greg went over to Longfellow’s home where he was dazzled by a wide array of copper wastebaskets.

That first glimpse of these copper-clad creations was all it took to set the hook into a fisherman who was angling for a new career.

“Those wastebaskets were beautiful, but I didn’t think I wanted to go into that business. I went down to the local hobby shop and they had some copper, so I bought some copper foil and drew some pictures on it and went back up to see him. He asked me again if I wanted to go into the business and I said, yes, very much so. And that’s how I got the introduction.

After his first attempts at drawing on copper, Greg decided he should know something about art, so he took 14 art courses to improve upon his techniques. “Even if you have no talent you can develop a lot of skills in an art course. They can teach you how to draw. So, I started drawing wastebaskets with chickadees on them. If you do anything 10 times you begin to learn how to correct your mistakes. If you want to learn how to tie trout flies, they suggest you tie the same Royal Coachman 25 times and you’ll get better at it. My drawing skills got better and I was able to draw sailboats, then clipper ships and then the birds came in and I was able to draw the deer. So that’s how I got into it,” he explained.

From the basics of drawing images on copper, he progressed to learn about varying the colors through patinas, stains and plating. “With copper, you can antique it and make it different shades and different colors. I was very impressed with how I was able to silver plate it. You just came out with a very pretty object with it (copper) when you were done. So I’ve just gone on to draw 175,000 pictures in copper. It’s always a challenge, every time I draw one. You’ve got to be careful and watch what you’re doing,” he said.

For this box, Hentzi drew a flight of chickadees on pine boughs.

Regarding errors, which are inevitable, he advises, “ Sometimes you can put the copper foil on a piece of glass and use a piece of plastic to rub that line out, but you never really get rid of it totally. When you’re finished with the drawing you can antique it with a black patina and leave that area very dark and it doesn’t show up. When I look back on some of my first drawings they look pretty primitive. I think I’ve come a long way since the first couple of years. But even the first drawings were salable. I took them to stores and people bought them.”

After years of struggling he introduced his work to the Orvis catalog and the volume picked up. Soon his work appeared in all the major catalogs including Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops. He also got an order from Duck’s Unlimited for 3,800 black Labs on copper, but lamented that he was drawing those in his sleep. While those were the big orders, he did not start out that big. In 1973, when he was just starting out he was the creator, salesman and shipping clerk. Once he had enough baskets created, he would load his old convertible down with 100 baskets and hit the road. “I would make the rounds up the coast of New England coast, on the coast of Maine and Cape Cod, calling on small gift shops, and they would buy five or 10,” he said.

“Copper foil is kind of interesting because your forte is what you draw on the foil. I think a lot of people get put off because they can’t draw well and sometimes the foil has problems because the tool doesn’t slide as well. Or, you buy foil and sometimes it has this stain inhibitor on it, that makes the foil nice and shiny but then when you go to put your stain on, it won’t stick to it. Or, if the copper hangs around a long time before you use it, it gets tarnish on it and the tool won’t draw across it. It’s like trying to draw a Bic pen across sandpaper. When the copper foil is new, the surface is slick and it’s like drawing a pen across a piece of ice; it slips very nicely,” he said.
Through experimentation, Greg has discovered that soap is the best solution to combat the challenges of drawing on tarnished copper, but then he cautioned, “You have to wash the soap off.”

To keep up with the demand for his work Greg’s life revolves around copper. “I sit here and draw them every night. I can draw a copper picture in about eight minutes, onto the basket when I really get going. I can do about 15 or 20 drawings in a night from six until 11 and draw until my arm falls off. When I get 15 or 20 done, I go out into the shop in the morning and I polish those and lacquer them,” he said.

Although he has employed others at times, Greg now draws all of his creations by hand and then antiques them before wrapping them around the baskets or mail boxes. Once wrapped on mailboxes, he secures them in place with small rivets. On wastebaskets he uses a Pittsburgh fold to secure the copper but another technique he uses is applying clay to the back of the copper foil. The clay has two benefits. First, it maintains the raised elements of the repoussé drawings and the clay also helps the copper foil stick to the surface of the basket.

Although the downturn in the economy has altered some of his marketing outlets, Greg is now selling his wares on the Internet, but an artist who makes his living making waste baskets the reality is there is little time to waste. “When you have full-time work it’s hard to change very much if you know what I mean. Just in the last couple of years I’ve gone into big pictures measuring 2’x3’. I think if I had gone into those earlier I might have some of them selling them for a couple of thousand dollars apiece now. You can only get so much for a wastebasket or a mailbox,” he said.

Greg’s work can be found online at various sites, but he doesn’t have a website at this time. However, his work is so widespread that a search for copper mailboxes or copper wastebaskets will turn up many options to consider.

Meanwhile, if you’re considering your own artistic inclinations, copper foil is a wonderful medium and you’ll find the best quality at the best price at QuickShipMetals.com.

Multi-Metal Sculptures Challenge the Creative Process

Fun Projects, Metal Art

Jun 152011

Rob Koehl's multi-metal sculpture of a cutthroat trout combines copper and stainless steel on a forged common steel body.

By Frank Ross

Sculpting in a single metal medium such as copper or stainless steel can produce some striking works of art, but combining the two into a single piece to achieve variations in color and texture presents the challenge of joining two dissimilar metals with different bonding and heat dissipating characteristics.

Rob Koehl, a metal sculptor in Cottonwood, Arizona wanted to emphasize the shiny silver back of a trout with the warm red tones of a copper under belly. If you have ever considered working in a multiple-metal medium but avoided it because of the difficulty factor, perhaps you can benefit from Rob’s techniques and tips.

This piece is built on a base of 14 gauge common steel that is forged to achieve the curved body, and then covered with 24 gauge stainless steel on the top and 20 gauge copper sheeting for the fishes belly. Rob uses a plasma cutter, MIG welder and oxy-acetylene torch, and begins the process by drawing out an outline of a fish on the steel with a piece of soapstone. Although the tail gets cut off due to size limitations of his forge, and recreated later, Rob finds that it helps to establish the correct proportions in the beginning. When laying out the trout, he leaves a little extra material to compensate for the curve of the body.

Once the basic shape is cut out, the slag from the plasma cutter is removed and the steel goes into a forge to heat it up for shaping the body using a wooden stump and hammer. Although Rob has done it both ways, his preferred method is to braze the copper onto the steel body first and then clean up the seam by grinding away any excess brass from the brazing process before joining the stainless steel. He begins by annealing the copper, so it is soft and ready to hammer into shape around the curved steel body. The annealing process is achieved by heating the copper in a forge until it is black hot and then dropping it into water. Once the copper has cooled a bit you need to clean up the surface with a finishing pad or brush and treat the surface with silver flux.

“When brazing the copper, you have to bring the area up to heat equally and copper is such a heat sponge so you have to move the torch around quite a bit. It helps to elevate the piece so you can apply the heat from the bottom as well. With brazing you’re not stacking metal like welding. You want to use the capillary action the flux creates to suck the bronze into the gap between the copper and steel. I use Wolverine silver flux with a small brass brazing rod and a number two tip on my torch to join the copper to the common steel. Then I run a bead down that and join the stainless steel next. I’ve found that by attaching the copper first it allows me to braze the copper on better. Ideally you want to get a good half inch of soldered area along that line to make room for the next process,” he explained.

“Once I’ve joined the copper, I hammer it down around the body and go back and clean up the line with a grinder to remove all of the brass so I’m not trying to weld into the brass when I lay down the stainless steel. When forging and joining the other metals together, it’s important to lay the project down on a flat surface to make sure you’ve got a clean line. It will save you a lot of work in the end if you keep the fish flat,” he said.

To complete the look, Rob adds a ferric nitrate patina to bring out the black speckles in the steel in addition to turning the copper a deeper red. “Another technique I’ve found to add color is to heat the metal up and then brush it with a fine brass brush. The brass comes off and attaches itself to the hot surface and adds both color and dimension,” he added.

When the final buffing is done, the result is a trout so beautiful its colors are only challenged by the original cutthroat inspiration.
If you learn better by watching, check out Rob’s YouTube channel for this and other metal working techniques, or learn more about his artwork at robkoehl.com .
For all of your copper, stainless steel or other metal working supplies, shop Rob’s favorite supplier; QuickShipMetals.com.

Robert Trout, Tin Knocker turned Copper Clad Master Artisan

Metal Art

Mar 142011

Robert Trout is a metal artist with a distinctive style, an eye for detail and a passion for his craft and working with his hands. “I’ve always had art in my life, always had artistic ability but I never pursued it. When I turned 16, cars got in my way and I learned how to fix those. I’ve always wanted to work with my hands but after I got out of the service in 1968, I ended up in a factory job working for Xerox in western New York. About a year later I got the opportunity to train as an apprentice sheet metal fabricator, so I spent four years going to school learning how to become what they call a tin knocker and a welder-fabricator,” he recalled.

Robert Trout works with a sheet of hot metal, manuvering it into position carefully.

“In 1980, my wife came home with a book by Alex Bealer, called The Art of Blacksmithing. I read that book and looked around the shop. I had an anvil and a torch, so I thought, hey let’s start playing with this, it looks like fun! That started a lifelong pursuit of what I call a parallel path. I had a job working with metal that paid the bills and working with metal was my hobby. As a welder and tin knocker for over 32 years, I worked with sheet steel making duct work and stainless steel /aluminum and lead sheet and lead coated copper for roof flashing. I recently retired and now I work for joy,” he said.

Robert’s foundation in metal art began with steel, and he is a member of the Artists Blacksmith’s Association of North America (ABANA). However, in his early days of smithing he discovered there were about 5,000 blacksmiths nationwide and very few were working in copper. Since he knew that copper was king in the arts and crafts world as far as demand, he started ‘playing around with copper” about 15 years ago.

“There was some copper in the shop, and it’s kind of interesting, so I started working with it. Now the majority of my work is done in copper. When it is in an annealed state it responds to the hammer and is fun to work with. At first it was a puzzle to find how to best work with it, but after a while it became easy to work with and once the color was applied it became a work of art with a higher retail price,” he explained.

About 10 or 11 years ago he made the decision to become juried as a Roycroft renaissance artisan. Their headquarters is located near his home and his wife was raised in the village Roycroft restored. He took his wife out for lunch and they attended an art show there, where he saw a pair of strap candle sticks that caught his eye and captured his imagination. He went back to his studio and started working first with steel, and then when he was sure what how he wanted to tackle the entire project he brought out the copper and started work. In the Roycroft guild there are currently five artisans working in copper. Three are located in New York, one in Chicago and another in Alabama. Robert was admitted to the Roycroft Renaissance Guild in 1998 and was elevated to Master Artisan in metal in 2001.

Robert considers this ceremonial baptismal bowl to be his most significant work to date.

Robert is deeply committed to the Asbury United Methodist Church he attends, and he feels strongly that he and his work are guided by a higher source. So, it was perhaps appropriate that through this relationship he created what he considers to be his best work to date. The piece, a ceremonial baptismal bowl is another creation in 14 gauge copper; but careful and close examination of the detail work reveals a complicated series of patterns in multiple series of three, symbolic of the trinity that holds a particular significance to his faith. The bowl measures 24”, featuring three distinctly different hammered patterns. The stand that supports it has three legs and each leg is designed with three separate and distinctive patterns that continue the trinity theme. Making one leg with a bend is easy, but making three exactly alike is more of a challenge, so he created a custom jig to make the bend in the legs.

The stand has the same intricate detail as the bowl, with multiple repititions of the trinity theme.

The bowl was recently dedicated as a memorial to the mother of a member of the church which makes it even more significant to Robert. This project and others he has created for the church have led to his unofficial title “Gift Maker” with his church. The pieces he creates are so beautiful, and highly coveted by those who have seen his work, that church members call upon his artistry when there is a significant gift they want to bestow.

Besides his love of working with metal, Robert has a real passion for sharing the knowledge he has garnered over the years. “About six or seven years ago I was asked to become an instructor at the John Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. In fact, I’m getting ready to leave in a few days to teach my annual class down there. They’re trying to get me to commit to two classes a year because the one class fills up every year,” he said.

The American master blacksmith, Samuel Yellin, had a profound influence on Robert’s work, and he offers this statement of Yellin’s from the 1930s to summarize his life’s work.

By hammer and hand thou craft does stand alone.

I love metal. It is the stuff of which the frame of the earth is made.
And you can make anything you WILL.
It eloquently responds to the Hand at the bidding of the imagination.
When I go to rest at night, I can hardly sleep because my mind is a swarm with visions of all the wonderful metal that I can create by hammer and hand.

From Yellin’s statement, Robert has created his own.

John 1: 9 – The true light ,which enlightens every one.

When I dine with my family at holiday dinner we use all candle at the table and on the walls, where much Joy, good food and wine are used for the celebration for the event of the day. I think much about this verse and what it means to me and how I live my life.

So in closing I hope this helps you understand me a little more.
My craft is a time honored craft that I work at every day, to make fine metal in the arts and craft style and mentor new crafts people along their journey of metal craft. As we remember the time honored statement;
“O the craft so long to learn, the life so short.”

This pair of strap candlesticks was created from an inspiration visit to Roycroft studios.

Robert’s choice of metal brought him to Storm Copper and QuickShipMetals.com, based on the advice of another copper artist. He had been buying copper from another company, but was growing dissatisfied with their company policies and especially their customer service. “The place I used to deal with has a warehouse nearby, but to them I was just a number to chalk up on the broad as a sale. I felt that there was no customer service. With Storm I can buy as little as I need to finish a job. Before, if I brought less than a sheet I was paying as much as I would have for a full sheet, so they were forcing me to buy two sheets or more to get the best price and taking my check book a lot lower,” he said.

Not many people in life have been blessed with the position that Robert now enjoys. He loves his work, his family, his church and the life he has crafted from his love of metal work. Now he has people who are eager for him to teach the techniques he has mastered. “Life is good,” he said.

To learn more about Robert’s classes and work, visit this link: http://www.artsandcraftscollector.com.

Copper Patina - An Art Form Itself

Metal Art

Feb 162011

Celestial Ouranios, an 18" x 24" patina on brass was created by controlling the application of patina solution with paper strips.

While some may consider a patina to be a gratuitous closure to a work that is already finished, copper artist Stefan Alexandres has turned the patina into an art form of its own. Two pieces that serve as an example of this are “Divine”, and “Celestial Ouranios,” two 18”x24” patinas on brass that he created by using a common technique with a subtle twist he developed on his own.

To create these two pieces Alexandres used strips of paper to mask parts of the metal’s surface to control where he wanted the patina is formed. He simply applies the strips of paper and dampens them so they will stick. No glue or adhesive is used. Once the patina has been applied and left to dry the paper comes off easily to reveal the results of this masking technique.

Alexandres advises, “There are many ways to finish copper. Sometimes I leave a piece of sculpture or repoussé unfinished and live with it for a while to consider what type of treatment I will give it.”

One option that he sometimes uses involves paint.

Suspicious Circumstances is a 28x" 28" x 3.5" repousse on copper.

“Metal can be painted. Often I will use a clear base such as varnish, after cleaning the metal’s surface. After the base has dried I use oil paint and wash it out with a damp cloth to leave the paint in the indentations.”

While this technique can add variety to the options for coloration, Alexandres cautions that paint is not permanent. “Paints are made of pigments, and any pigment exposed to light will fade in time. Patinas are created from minerals and therefore the affect created by minerals will last over time.”

Another technique Alexandres uses to add variations and interest to a patina involves rubbing and removing areas to create highlights and subtle changes in the colors or patterns. This can be accomplished by using a scotch bright pad, steel wool or a wire brush on an electric wheel, but he cautions anyone wanting to use this technique to use a protective mask to prevent inhaling the dust created by this process, which can be laden with caustic chemicals that can damage the lungs.

Alexandres stresses the importance of developing your own style and experimenting with both the affects of various formulas as well as the way they’re applied. “What I’m doing with patinas works for me. Maybe some other artists are doing it differently,” he said.

"Man from Poetry" is a 28" x 28" repousse on copper with a patina created by heating the metal with a torch. Note the intricate detail in the two faces at the bottom of the shell.

He also recommends metal artists consider the options of applying patinas, stressing that “Patina’s can be applied either cold or hot, and the results can be very different.”

He also notes that patinas can be created from simple sources. “The water in Florida is very rich in sulfur. On a hot summer day if you coat a piece of copper with water that is rich in sulfur and leave it in the sun, you will see an incredible patina form.”

Alexandres also uses commercially prepared patinas that he purchases from ronyoungpatina.com. After he applies these formulas he uses a solution of baking soda diluted in water to neutralize the action and stop the development of the patina. Take a container of water sufficient to cover the area you are working with and add baking soda while stirring until the crystals no longer dissolve, then apply it to the metal’s surface, wash with clear water and let dry.

Patinas are an ancient technique, but how you use them does not have to be governed by tradition, previous methods or rules that limit creativity. Another great thing about patinas is they not immutable. If you don’t like the results, you can always start over or alter the results by removing parts or adding other minerals to change the affect. The important thing to remember is that a creative work that is rattling around in your head needs to come out. Buy some copper sheeting or brass sheeting and create a piece of metal art today.

QuickShipMetals.com has a great selection of copper sheeting and copper foil, as well as brass sheeting that will please even the most demanding creative spirit.

Metal is the medium for this artist with an outdoor flair

Metal Art

Feb 012011

By Frank Ross

This copper repoussé of a Native American dancer is filled with intricate detail.

Kirk Sullens has a gift when it comes to seeing the hidden beauty in metal. He is the sole proprietor of Kirk Sullens Metal Arts, located in Mount Dora, Florida. His work, over the past two decades, marks the waypoints in a long and winding path that began by simply turning the pages of a book. Sullens describes himself as a bookworm, a dedicated bookworm, and relates back to the tome that started him on his journey to becoming a gifted metal artist. For him the first step toward his future was taken innocently during the 70’s, in what he described as his “back-to-the-land movement.”

“I picked up a book titled The Complete Blacksmith by Alexander Weygers and that changed my life,” he said. To him, blacksmithing looked cool and from the moment he read Weygers book he said, “I was hooked.”

He started out in his backyard and then got some instruction. Now, some 22 years later, he says he couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Sullens was a long distance operator for AT&T when the company began cutting back its work force and offering to retrain their employees in another field. Seeing a great opportunity to further his passion for metalworking, Sullens asked if he could be trained as a blacksmith. Although he was told that he could never make a living as a blacksmith, and should choose some other line of training, he persisted and ultimately convinced them to finance his new passion for metal, heat and hammer.

Before his boss cooled on the concept, Sullens struck while the iron was hot.

This Native American themed lantern is one of a pair that graces the entry of the Bass Pro Shops/Outdoor World store in Broken Arrow, near Tulsa Oklahoma.

“I started looking for a school to train me and discovered the Blacksmith’s Gazette, published in Washington State. There was an ad in it for a school near where I lived in Missouri, but when I called about enrollment the instructor said that ad was old and he had stopped teaching,” he explained.

Either Sullens was destined to be a blacksmith and nothing was going to stand in the way, or he is one persuasive salesman because he convinced Bob Patrick, one of the country’s top blacksmiths, to teach one more student and he was soon pounding out 6 weeks of one-on-one training.

One thing led to another and Sullens found his way into a great job building custom designed metal art for Bass Pro Shops/Outdoor World many retail stores. After 15 years of creating all types of animals, countless metal railings, fireplace doors, lamps, lanterns and assorted decorative items he decided it was time to open his own studio.

Sullens uses a torch to bend a piece of steel forming a pair of antlers.

While his goals is to develop a trade catering to the horse people that are abundant in central Florida, he also creates commissioned projects for clients around the country, as well as following the many ideas that take root in his fertile imagination.

He is currently working on a sign for St. John’s Cycles a bicycle shop located in a nearby town. As fortune often smiles on Sullens, he was in the cycle shop to get a bike repaired and struck up a conversation with the owner, who was looking for a metal artist to build him a sign from an 1880’s advertising. The work features a steel shield, a bicycle and a copper repoussé of a naked woman with long flowing hair. He has completed the copper repoussé and expects to have the entire project finished before the February 14th grand opening.

This copper repoussé is part of the bike shop sign, and measures approximately 29 inches wide.

Sullens picked up his copper working style over time but he feels that his techniques became more refined after attending a workshop put on by George Dixon, whom he says is currently one of the best in the business. “I enjoy working with copper but it presents different challenges from doing repoussé in steel. Copper is very yielding to the tool and tends to show every tool mark, while steel is a much harder metal and doesn’t show the telltale lines created by tooling the metal into a raised form,” he said.

It was during the process of ordering materials to build the bike shop sign that he became involved with Storm Copper, and true to Sullens’ luck, this relationship has become one of tremendous satisfaction.

“I was ordering copper from another source but after several frustrating experiences I became very dissatisfied with their service, so I started surfing the Internet and that’s when I found Storm Copper. There was a little mix up with my order and I called their customer service department and spoke with a very nice lady who took down my information, then I got a call from another person who quickly followed up with more details. It seemed to me that everyone in that company had taken ownership of my problem and took a personal interest in resolving it and making sure I was happy with my purchase. I haven’t seen customer service like that in a very long time. I’m a Storm Copper customer for life,” he said.

This ornate metal screen features a copper repoussé of a four-foot alligator.

Although Sullens prefers to work in heavier gauges of copper, the airborne copper lady for his latest project was made from 18 gauge copper sheeting. Should you have a copper project in mind, Storm Copper has the perfect piece of copper to meet your needs and expectations. But if something should go awry between the order and the execution, one thing you can count on as sure as copper’s golden hue, the customer service can’t be beat.

You can see more photos of Sullens’ artistry at his page on FaceBook.

Order on line, or call our friendly customer service department toll free at 888-334-2177.

A love of Copper Repoussé

Metal Art

Jan 202011

Stefan Alexandres looks over the elaborate copper work he created on two medieval themed doors.

I met Stefan Alexandres at a medieval-themed Orlando restaurant, complete with a museum that included a forge for working with iron and copper. Just inside the shop’s entrance, surrounded by displays of various mechanical torture devices, I was taken with two huge doors covered with stunning works of copper art. The artwork featured very ornate designs and dragons typical of the period.

I inquired about the doors, and the man who rose to respond was Alexandres. I soon learned he is the copper artist in residence at the museum when he is not teaching one of his classes at the Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park, Florida.

The doors, which were his creation, had been removed to repair damage that had occurred from misuse. The technique used to create the elaborate metal work was repoussé, a love of his since childhood.

Repoussé is a technique that dates back to antiquity, and perhaps that’s where copper artist Stefan Alexandres was first exposed to the love of his life that is second only to his wife and daughter. Not that he is that old, but Alexandres, a native of Greece began his professional life at the tender age of 12 when he became an apprentice for the traditional metal arts in Athens where he worked from 1964 to 1972. His training was based in the instrumental Byzantine Art for ritual tradition of Greek Orthodox Church. He was also involved with museum reproductions for archaic designs. After spending 2-1/2 years in the army he opened his own studio, and then traveled to Europe, Africa and Asia, before immigrating to America in 1989 with his wife and daughter.

Alexandres begins a piece with the chasing technique, following lines of the sketch he has drawn upon the metal's front surface.

Repoussé and its companion technique chasing are two processes that go hand in hand. Repoussé is a French word that describes the process of working a malleable metal from the reverse side to form an ornamental design. Chasing is a term which refers to a groove or channel that is formed by pressing down with tools from the front side of a piece of metal. A work of metal art is begun by first chasing the design from the front, and then embossing (repoussé) from the backside. These steps are alternated as many times as necessary until the work is completed to the satisfaction of the artist.

Alexandres looks at several full-sized drawings created for other projects.

This time consuming art form is not for everyone. Alexander explains that many of his students begin a project and then give up because this process doesn’t lend well to instant gratification. The process requires patience and perseverance to slowly expand and shape the thin sheets of copper without breaking through.

But before any work can begin, there has to be a plan. Alexandres was good enough to illustrate the process.

“I start all of my projects with a scale drawing on a small piece of paper to make sure I have the correct idea. It is easier to make corrections on paper than copper. When I feel I have what I want, I expand the drawing to a full-size and then transfer that to the copper sheeting. I make my own drawings based on my imagination. I draw inspiration from history, mythologies, folktales and real life. Preliminary drawings are my means of exploring the potential of an idea by saturating it with many visual possibilities. These drawings are overlaid and combined together to create a new assemblage that captures the original inspiration. The final piece is often the culmination of these new visual ideas integrated with visions I had documented years ago in small sketches,” he said.

A box of half-finished copper hearts sits on a bench in Alexandres' studio.

Alexandres says he always recommends students make a heart for their first repoussé project because the process is a quick introduction that teaches the basics of creating a design, and then they can expand on the basic shape that by adding other features such as words or flowers. In his St Cloud, Florida studio a box of copper hearts stand as a testimony to those numerous and varied heart projects. Copper artwork in various stages of completion hangs from every available rafter and wall of his studio and each has a story behind it.

“Over the years I’ve done a lot of trees because they give you a freedom to let the work take on its own direction. With a horse, for example, you have to worry about proportions, but trees grow as they wish and proportions are not a critical issue, within reason,” he said.

That said, Alexandres trees are not just simple trees. Looking more closely, in the detail of the tree bark, faces peer out from within the trunk, adding additional points of interest. This 32” x 28” piece is titled “Devotion.” He explains the faces by saying, “In some cultures, humans regard plant forms as spirit beings, separate from him but sharing in life and respected as such, here is that modern man must respect nature as a life form.”

This 32” x 28” piece is titled “Devotion.” He explains the faces by saying, “In some cultures, humans regard plant forms as spirit beings, separate from him but sharing in life and respected as such, here is that modern man must respect nature as a life form.”

Enamel on copper is another passion of his, and jewelry of a different sort is his latest direction. “The things I’m doing are not like anything you’ll find anywhere. I’m working on a series of titanium rings that are quite unusual. No other artist is doing what I’m going. If there is one, I want to meet them,” he said smiling.

When working on a small flat piece of copper Alexander sets his work in a container of German pitch to anchor it in place, allowing for detailed work without movement. For larger pieces he uses common roofing tar because of the cost. German pitch, he cautions, is very expensive. As he moves his torch over the roofing tar to soften it beneath his work, the acrid smell rises to fill his studio. Once the pitch has been softened, the copper can be worked carefully until the pitch begins to harden again, then the torch must be reapplied to maintain the desired resistance beneath the metal. Once the work has been completed from the back side, the metal must be heated for removal, cleaned of the pitch and repositioned for chasing work on the front side.

To achieve the various thicknesses and intricate detail he desires, creating the tools to create the art is the first challenge. Alexandres hefts his tool bin and moves it across the studio, setting it down with a pronounced thud. From its many pockets tools protrude a plethora of steel tools of various shapes and sizes. He also has a collection of hammers that would lead one to believe that he never met a hammer he didn’t like. One work bench is literally surrounded by hammers hanging from a rack. Each rack is packed with a variety of different weights and shapes designed to achieve a variety of affects.

“You can spend thousands of dollars on tools. Copper or any type of metal artwork is a limited market and the potential for sales is small, so the tools are therefore expensive. It’s not like a bicycle, where every home has at least one. So, every artist has their own inventions. I have never seen two artists use the same tools. I have developed my own, but other artists would have something similar to substitute,” he explained.

To illustrate his point Alexandres moved to the table he uses for hot work and started pulling out pieces that he has created to form various shapes, and one was the shortened handle of a baseball bat. He uses it to support his work when forming a large curving shape such as a metal mask.

For the most part, Alexandres' selection of tools were created for specific techniques.

Alexandres works with all types of copper, silver and gold but the bulk of his work is based in copper. Although the bulk of his work is done on the middle weights of copper sheeting, he has worked with all thicknesses of copper from foil to the heavier gauges, selecting the appropriate thickness that matches the ultimate ambition of that day’s vision.

To complete a piece of copper artwork, Alexandres uses a variety of color effects are created by a combination of several methods and techniques. Special paints, metal stains, traditional patinas and gold or silver leaf create more dramatic effects. In the end, bees wax or clear varnish protects and retains the finish. In my next article, we will delve into the techniques Alexandres uses to color or patina his artwork.

In the meantime, you can explore more images of his work at his website, http://stefanalexandres.com/Art/Home.html. If you are inclined to study the techniques of chasing and repoussé, perhaps you would be interested in one of his classes at Crealdé School of Art.

Should you have the urge to jump right in and start a project of your own right away, QuickShipMetals.com has just the right piece of copper waiting for a creative imagination.

Creating Patinas on Copper and Bronze

Fun Projects, Metal Art, Simple Solutions

Nov 102010

By Frank Ross

A torch can create dramatic changes in a copper patina very quickly.

In addition to its many and varied uses in the electrical industry, copper is also the most popular metal for artisans because no other metal has the ability to produce so many rich, beautiful colors by virtue of its own compounds.

For the creatively inclined, the urge to see different and varied color patterns in our environment is as basic an instinct as hunger and thirst. One of the most exciting aspects of working with copper or any of it bronze alloys is the beauty that forms as a film on the metal’s surface through natural weathering or artificially introduced chemical treatments. This chemical film is called a patina and the process patination.

The natural patination process takes time, and depending on the environment impacting a particular piece of metal it may take years. For many, the additional down side to the lengthy natural process is dissatisfaction with the resulting coloration after the long wait. So, it’s not difficult to understand the popularity of hurrying the process along. Expediting this process can be achieved with either heat or chemicals, and the difficulty factor varies from simple to complicated and potentially hazardous.

Although we live in an age of instant gratification, this love affair with man-made patinas is not a recent phenomena. Historically, the use of patinas can be traced all the way back to ancient China, and the earliest periods of bronze casting. Ancient pieces have been unearthed with distinct evidence of chemically induced patinas. While experts speculate over whether the coloration was done for establishing class distinction or simply for decorative beauty, the simple fact that patinas have been around for a very long time is undisputed.

The copper pattern on the left is called Georgia, and on the right is the New York pattern. Both have a patina created by heat. They are set on top of unaltered copper for comparison.

As the sophistication of chemical treatments for creating patinas improved, rivaling those formed naturally, techniques using wax and oil treatments were developed to protect and preserve the coloration. Over the centuries, individual foundries developed secret formulas for distinctive patterns of coloration that came to distinguish their castings. Naturally these formulas became highly guarded secrets that were not divulged. Even today, artisans who develop distinctive formulas guard them carefully; however, there are many formulas that are commonly known and shared freely.

We’ll start with the easiest method, heat, and then move on to commonly available household chemicals that produce good coloration. Once you’re comfortable with the basics, we’ll take on the more complicated methods and formulas.

Heat is one of the simplest methods of achieving varied and interesting color patterns with copper, but it’s difficult to duplicate the colors with regularity or over large areas. Chemical patinas are more predictable and with practice, patience and attention to detail they’re more consistently duplicated. Over the centuries, metal artisans have discovered the key to consistent results requires minimizing the variables by strict adherence to quality materials, exacting measurements and methodical application techniques. This is not a process that can be approached with apple pie techniques which call for pinch of this and a dab of that.

Some of the variables that impacting patina results include the composition of the metal being used, the particular formula selected for application, purity of the chemicals and water used in the formulation, method of application and perhaps most important – surface preparation.

While every step and element of this process is important, you can’t achieve a consistent, quality patina when you start with a dirty surface. All traces of oxidation, oils and contamination must be removed before you apply patina chemicals. The most common offenders that require removal are oils that have accumulated from handling and the manufacturing process. To avoid recontamination and protect your skin as well, use a pair of heavy-duty industrial gloves during the cleaning and rinsing process as well as subsequent handling prior to chemical application.

A fast cleaning process can be achieved with acids or combinations of acids by dipping the copper in an undiluted bath of 50% sulfuric acid and 50% nitric acid for a few seconds, but this is not a method that is practical for home use. A more practical approach requiring minimal physical effort is to soak the metal’s surface in a 10% solution of sulfuric acid for six hours. For metal that is badly oxidized you may have to rub aggressively with a fine grade of steel wool or a Scotchbrite pad. Once the excessive oxidation is removed wash the surface with a good quality detergent and rinse it thoroughly in water, wipe the surface dry with a solvent such as methyl alcohol. Use a clean towel, compressed air or a hair dryer to dry the surface completely and apply your prepared chemicals within a half hour to avoid re-contamination.
As mentioned above, the easiest chemical-free (other than surface preparation) method for producing a wide variety of colors on copper is using heat. Once your metal has been properly cleaned you simply pass a blue gas flame slowly back and forth across the metal’s surface and observe the change in coloration as the temperature rises. The best method of producing the heat is to use a small, hand-held propane torch that is commonly available in any hardware store.

Once you begin to apply heat, you’ll notice that the colors develop slowly and change gradually, beginning with a reddish orange hue. Additional heat will change the reddish orange to a bluish purple. Next you’ll observe a brassy color followed by a darkening red that transitions into a deep purple. The final effect is an iridescent chestnut. Once you see this color develop, remove the heat immediately. If you continue to apply heat after the chestnut color begins to appear the color will flake off and you’ll have to clean the surface again and start the patina process from scratch. There can also be disappointment on the early ends of this color spectrum as the first two colors can partially disappear when the surface is coated. All other colors are permanent, so it is best to stay in the middle of the color spectrum.

Once you’ve achieved a patina that is pleasing to your eye, the next step is to protect the colors you’ve achieved. You can apply a wax such as Johnson’s Paste Wax while the metal is still warm or wait until it has cooled to apply a coating of lacquer. If you apply wax, once the metal has cooled you’ll need to buff the waxed surface to get a polished appearance.

In our next installment we’ll experiment with common household chemicals and you’ll be amazed at the results you can achieve.

QuickShipMetals.com offers a number of decorative copper styles for your patination.

Margo's Lazy Susan; the ultimate oxymoron.

Fun Projects, Metal Art

Nov 042010

By Frank Ross

Talking with Margo is an interesting experience for two reasons. First, she lives in Texas but when she speaks a distinctive British accent is apparent. The next thing one notices is that Margo is very enthusiastic about the projects she creates using copper. She credits her father, a woodworker who liked to make his own furniture, as the source of her creative spirit.

A previous copper project was an inspiration that required the help of a local welder. I found a metal tree that I loved, but it needed some additional branches for what I had in mind, so my local welder added some more curved branches. Then I painted the tree and cut out 100 copper leaves with a tabbed extension that I used to secure them to the metal branches by wrapping them around the metal and gluing them on. The adhesive I used has held firmly so far, she explained.

Her latest effort, a lazy Susan table she created for her backyard patio area is quite stunning. Putting this project together required a bit of planning. “I’ve always found that it works best for me to draw a project out on paper first, so I make a scale drawing just to make sure I get it right. I use a limited number of tools so my projects are planned around a jig saw, a 10″ miter saw, a small tile wet saw and a few other hand tools,” she said.

Margo maintains that this table is quite simple to build. She began with plywood cut into a 40″ circle and sealed it well because the table stays outdoors all the time. Next, she cut another circle of Hardy board to secure the copper to and raise its surface even with the completed tile work. To adhere the copper, she used Loctite PL Premium Polyurethane construction adhesive. “The trick to getting the boards cut properly is to take a yardstick and drill a hole in the end, and another where you want the outer circle to be. Use a small wood screw to secure the ruler in the middle of the circle, put your pencil in the outer hole and carefully draw your circle. If you’re careful it will come out perfectly,” she said.

Margo’s second tip is for getting the tiles evenly spaced on the board. For this task she relied on her handy wooden yardstick again. By drilling a hole close to the side, and securing it in the middle once again, the edge can be used to mark off the exact line to be used for laying tiles in even rows. By measuring and drawing the lines around the entire circle in this manner, you will know exactly how the tile will lay out before you commit the adhesive to the surface.

The edges are distinguished with a copper tubing commonly found at a local builders supply. For the tile work, she selected Premium Listellos golden white/metal border 7/8″ tiles. Once the tiles were secured, she completed that phase of the project by grouting with an oyster colored grout and wiping the surface clean with a damp cloth. To give the table the characteristic spin of a lazy Susan, Margo found a bearing made by VXB Bearing company on Amazon.com website. The center of the table is made of 0.20 gauge sheeting copper, purchased from QuickShipMetals.com.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Margo is now designing another table to wrap around a large oak tree, and working up a list for the copper and other materials she’ll need. “I’m the happiest when I’m in my workshop working on a project and not in the kitchen. I’d rather grab a quick sandwich and keep on working. That’s what I really enjoy doing most, creating a project in my mind and then bringing it to life,” she said.

Older Entries

Quick Ship Metals News-Blog

Tampa Copper Surrealist Takes Best of Show

Stainless Steel Mirror Becomes Mandala in Minnesota Park

Copper Adornment Turns Everyday Objects into Art

Multi-Metal Sculptures Challenge the Creative Process

Robert Trout, Tin Knocker turned Copper Clad Master Artisan

Copper Patina - An Art Form Itself

Metal is the medium for this artist with an outdoor flair

A love of Copper Repoussé

Creating Patinas on Copper and Bronze

Margo's Lazy Susan; the ultimate oxymoron.

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