We’ll show you some tricks for

making your colors stick.

by Jill L. Erickson

TECHNIQUEALL LEVELS | METAL

LayerHow to

Colored Pencilon Copper

facetjewelry.comFCT-

MW

-102

416_

05

©XXXX Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.

Coming from a background in drawing

and painting, I’m intrigued with tech-

niques that allow me to incorporate

sketching and color in my metals projects.

Layering colored pencil onto copper involves

some of my favorite supplies: gesso (a paint

primer), wax-and-pigment pencils, workable

fixative, and color blenders. For me, it’s the

novelty of using familiar materials on a differ-

ent substrate — copper sheet — that makes

this an exciting technique to explore.

Preparing the metal is part of the fun. The

metal’s surface must have a texture or tooth

so that the primer and layers of colored pencil

have something to stick to. There are plenty

of low-tech ways to add texture to metal. If

you have access to a rolling mill or sandblast-

ing station, you can make quick work of the

texturing step. Then you can take your time

to build up layers of color one pencil stroke

at a time.

The curved, colored metal panel is 2 x 11/2 in. (51 x 38 mm). Including the leather straps, the bracelet is 9 in. (22.9 cm).

materials ■ Copper sheet: 18-gauge (1.0 mm), 3 x 2 in. (76 x 51 mm)

toolboxes ■ Hammering ■ Sawing/piercing ■ Finishing

additional tools & supplies ■ Metal-texturing supplies (choose from):

■ Dapping punches ■ Flex shaft with sanding disks, silicon or aluminum oxide points, or grinding burs

■ Roll-printer ■ Etching setup ■ Sandblasting booth

■ Bracelet mandrel or baseball bat ■ Leather strip: ½ x 12 in. (13 x 305 mm) (optional)

■ 2 D-rings: 1⁄2 in. (13 mm) (optional) ■ Tapestry needle (optional) ■ Waxed linen thread (optional) ■ Nitrile or latex gloves ■ Flat-tip paintbrush ■ Gesso ■ Acrylic paint: white (optional) ■ Prismacolor Premier fine-art colored pencils, colorless blender pencil

■ Pencil sharpener (Prismacolor) or craft knife

■ Workable spray fixative ■ Paint solvent (Turpenoid Natural) ■ Matte spray sealer

Before you beginColored pencilsNot all brands of colored pencils are suitable for this technique. I prefer Prismacolor Premier fine-art colored pencils, which have thick, soft color cores that allow the pigment to adhere to textured and primed metal. The high-wax formulation makes them easy to blend with a colorless blender pencil (a wax-based pencil without pigment) or with a small amount of paint solvent. The pigments are also fade resistant, making them superior to less expensive student-grade products.

You can buy Prismacolor Premier pen-cils in boxed sets ranging from 6 to 132 pencils. Some suppliers sell the pencils individually as open stock items.

These pencils are sold unsharpened. The high wax content gives them a creamy consistency that makes them easy to layer and blend. The bad thing about the creamy consistency is that it’s easy to break the pencils’ points if you sharpen them with something other than a special Prismacolor sharpener or a craft knife.

TIPS: To minimize breakage, use a pencil sharpener with the appropriate diameter, like the one made by Prismacolor. Before you sharpen your pencils, remove the half of the sharpener that catches the shavings, above, to prevent the blade from getting clogged; clogs will break the pencils’ color cores.

SketchesSharpen your colored pencils, and use them to draw a few design samples on sketch paper. Try angling the sharpened pencil to lay down a wide line of color. Layer darker colors over lighter colors, and

rub the blunt tip of a colorless blender pencil over adjacent colors to create a color mix.

Make simple doodles and geometric shapes to get used to layering the pencil colors. If you need a nudge of inspi-ration, fabrics provide great color combinations and patterns. I made sketches based on antique Turkish weaving patterns from a favorite coffeetable book.

rough and ready

Low-tech texture options• Buy pretextured sheet from metal suppliers• Sand sheet with 100-grit sandpaper• Place sheet on a steel block and hammer it

with punches

More texture options• Use a flex shaft with sanding disks, silicon or

aluminum oxide points, or grinding burs • Use sandpaper, mesh screen, paper cutouts,

dried leaves, etc. to roll-print sheet • Etch a pattern into sheet• Place sheet in a sandblasting booth

Scrap copper sheet is great for experimenting with texturing methods. Your sheet will need more texture than you’ll get by brushing it with a Scotch-Brite pad or steel wool.

Texturize copper sheet. The paint primer and colored pencils used in this technique will not adhere to smooth surfaces. You need to texturize the 18-gauge (1.0 mm) copper sheet you’ll be using to make your panel. For a list of texturing techniques, see “Rough and Ready,” opposite below.

NOTE: For best results, match the coarse-ness of your texture to your image or pattern. For example, a delicate design is easier to render onto a moderately sanded surface than onto a surface that’s been textured with a ball-peen hammer.

Make a panel. Cut your textured copper sheet into the desired panel shape for your design [1]. Shape the panel as desired. I curved mine by lightly tapping it over a bracelet mandrel with a rawhide mallet.

NOTE: You’ll need to complete all shaping and soldering before you add the color. If your project includes soldered elements, make your soldered connections now.

Clean the panel. Use steel wool and water to scrub the surfaces of the panel to remove any oil or dirt. Rinse the panel in water thoroughly. Hold the panel by its edges to set it aside while you prepare a weak liver of sulfur solution.

Patinate the panel. A patinated surface helps the gesso adhere to the metal. Put on nitrile or latex gloves, and submerge the panel in liver of sulfur. Remove the panel from the solution, and rinse it with cool water. For a darker patina, dip the panel and rinse it again. Allow the panel to dry completely.

Apply gesso to the panel. Using a flat-tip paintbrush, apply a thin layer of gesso to the textured surface of the panel [2]. (See “What’s Gesso?” above right.) I tinted my gesso with acrylic paint. Allow the gesso to dry completely according to the manufac-turer’s instructions.

Part Preparing a panel

1 2

what’s gesso?Gesso (the Italian word for “chalk”) was traditionally a mixture of animal glue and plaster, chalk, or gypsum. Painters applied a coating of this mixture to their canvases and allowed it to dry. This dry base layer prevented most of the linseed oil in their paints from being absorbed by the canvas.

By the 1950s, most gesso formula-tions were made with an acrylic base instead of animal glue. Acrylic gesso is a quick drying, flexible primer. These properties make it a convenient primer for the colored-pencil-on-metal technique.

Acrylic gesso is typically white, but some suppliers also sell it in black.

To customize your gesso, try these techniques:• Mix acrylic paint into gesso to

create your own colorful primers. • Add sand (available at your art-

supply or paint store) to gesso to give it texture.

• Use a palette knife or fork to scrape into a layer of wet gesso to give it texture.

The artist-quality colored pencils used for this technique are sold unsharpened.

Draw an outline on the panel. Referring to your sketches, lightly draw the outline of your design on the dry gesso surface [1].

Apply a layer of color. Using your chosen pencil colors, fill in your design, covering the gesso with one layer of color [2].

NOTE: To prevent a sharp pencil point from scraping through the gesso layer, blunt the pencil tip slightly by rubbing it on scrap paper, or use the side of the pencil to apply the first layer of color.

Apply fixative to the panel. Spray a light coat of workable fixative over the first layer of pencil. “Workable” fixatives are formu-lated for pencil, chalk, and pastel drawings that are in progress. Allow the workable fixative to dry completely according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

SAFETY TIP: When using workable fixative, solvents, and spray sealers, work in a well-ventilated area.

Add the remaining layers of color. Apply another layer of color, and then spray it with fixative. Continue to build up layers this way until you achieve your desired depth of color.

Blend adjacent colors. To achieve a subtle color shift between adjacent colors, apply a layer of pencil, but don’t spray that layer with fixative. Blend the colors with a Prismacolor colorless blender pencil [3] or a flat-tip paintbrush dampened with paint

PartColoring and finishing

4 5

1 2 3

!

solvent [4]. I prefer to use Turpenoid Natural solvent because it’s less caustic than traditional turpentine.

NOTE: Use the solvent sparingly; too much solvent can lift off the color.

Allow the solvent to dry completely. Then apply a coat of workable fixative, and continue to build up layers of pencil and workable fixative to achieve your desired result.

Seal your design. Apply a coat of matte spray sealer to the panel [5]. Let the sealer dry completely. Repeat to coat the panel with three applications of sealer.