First I selected five strips of copper and annealed them using a hand blow torch. This was to soften the metal and make it more malleable. I heated it to a beautiful cherry red colour and then placed it in a tub of cold water to cool down. Due to the heating process, the metal’s face had blackened with dirt so it was then placed into the pickle tank for ten minutes to clean itself up ready for the next stage. Now soft, the metal allowed pattern to be imprinted on the surface using a roller and some patterned materials. I particularly liked the blue sheet of plastic with a series of holes in it as they widened when put through the roller and had more of the appearance of snake skin. I much preferred the more obvious patterns (such as the blue holed sheet) to the subtle ones (soft woven fabrics) as they left a clearer imprint and had more visual impact. I feel the fabrics made the made more textured rather than into an aesthetically pleasing and artist piece of metal work.
Technical Research 