As a gift, I made a 6×8″ copper plate of my sister’s cat, Missy. I took a few pics myself, then picked one out I liked best. Let’s get started!
I was fortunate that Missy was sleeping on something that contrasted with her colours, so it would be easier to isolate her from the background when I make the stencil. I decide to minimize the amount of black colour in the image, but keep the outline in the eyes and make a black border around the perimeter.
After I make the coloured design, I convert it to monochrome to import into the cutting machine software. I make some minor edits within that software to ensure no lines are lost around the eyes and paws.
From my materials I make six 6×8″ copper plate blanks; one of which is for Missy. I laminate the copper to the plywood, cut the plates to size, rough-sand the surface, file the edges, do a finishing sand of the copper, and the blank is ready to receive a stencil.
I transfer the stencil to the blank, then weed-out the parts to be painted black. I put on two coats of paint.
I do the background next, exposing the copper, applying chemicals, and letting react in the chamber. After a while, I remove the plate and use rubbing alcohol to wash off most of the patina that formed. This will give a bit of a swirling effect when I reapply the chems and let it react a second time. After reaction, I rinse, dry, and seal the background with clear coat.
Next I weed out the dark colour parts of the stencil, apply chemicals, and let sit. Once the dark brown is established, I rinse the plate, dry it, and seal it with clear coat.
I repeat the steps for the light brown colour. I generally check every few hours to ensure the colour is developing evenly, and might swirl-around any pools of liquid to get a more even mixing. Once complete, I rinse and dry the plate.
Finally, I weed the parts of the image that will remain bare copper, being careful not to smudge any clean copper with fingerprints. I seal the plate with clear coat, and the image is complete.
I add hanging hardware to the back, sign my work, and the plate is done. I will hold on to the plate for a bit to use it as a display piece when at the Farmer’s Market on the 26th of March.