It can be that little something that makes a piece go from “that’s good” to “wow!” And I think I knew once I completed the assembly of this piece what it needed for that wow factor.
To color the piece, I first used a single coat of black aniline dye using a denatured alcohol base. Then I added a fair amount of india ink to the mixture and applied a second and third coat. An alcohol based finish dries very quickly and it does not raise the grain of the wood, thus cutting down on standing. For the top coat, I applied two coats of a satin poly to get that matte finish I wanted.
For some reason I like copper, and I especially like using copper in my woodworking projects when I can. In this case, I used copper wire and copper leaf. The copper wire is about 28 gauge and pretty easy to work with. I bought a ten foot piece of bare “thermostat” wire which had seven strands. Unwrapping each strand was a bit of work, but in the end, I had seventy feet of wire. Each figure “x” wrapping used five feet of wire, and I used a drop of CA Glue to secure the end of each wrapping and that seemed to work well.
Before
After
Wired
The copper leaf used on the top was a mix of faux copper and real copper leaf, and I used a Rocco oil based sizing for the adhesive. To add some extra wow factor to the top, I did a bit of chemical patination by using Barium Sulfide and Sodium Sulfide to color the metal. Sorry, but my photos don’t really show the patination very well.
I am pleased with this piece. I more pieces ready to assemble a second stand that I might put together later. I still need to put a clear top coat over the copper on the top, but I want to wait for all the chemicals to cure before applying it. The top coat will just help prevent scratching of the thin metal leaf. I hope you like it!
Put to use!
That turned out very nice.
Looks great! Find a spot free of traffic patterns!