Copper Patina
Click photos to enlarge
In a hundred years acid rain will create a
patina on the copper dome of a state capitol. That is not a paint or a stain. It is a change in the copper. It happens by itself and lasts forever. It is the same thing with the patina on these copper peace poles, but I cause it to happen in one day instead of one hundred years, so that the patina on the peace pole contrasts with the text
to make the peace prayer stand out. The pictures on this page were taken to try to convey what the text looks like.
Click the photo at right to see the text with and without a flashbulb. It is enormously tricky to capture reflective text in a photograph. Accomplishing that
distorts the appearance of the patina. The color of the patina is more accurately represented in the photo of the peace pole at left that contains no text.
I was working on a peace pole when I leaned it against a tree to take the photo at right. Below is a close up of a bear paw (a school's symbol) with rain drops on it that is on that peace pole. The wide expanse of the paw helps show what the text looks like in real life, although, once again, the color of the patina is skewed. I haven't yet captured both the text and the patina accurately in the same photo.
To see a photo of the original development process for the copper patina, click here.
