Should Copper Jewelry Be Aged?

After making several styles of copper banglecopper bracelets were all photographed as well as the
bracelets, I found they began to tarnish very quicklyone that had been polished with #0000 steel and and
after coming in contact with my skin. On a hot summera polishing cloth. The bracelets were dipped in warm
day, a newly made copper chain turned black while Iliver of sulfur solution only a minute or so until they
wore it. To keep the bracelets relatively shiny and toturned black. After removing from the solution, and
remove the tarnish required frequent rubbing withrinsing in water, I dried them thoroughly. Steel wool and
#0000 steel wool and an occasionally with a polishinga polishing cloth were used to polish each bracelet to
cloth. The copper chain was more difficult to clean.bring out the highlights. The photographs are on our
After reading many blogs and several articles on theblog.
value of aging copper jewelry, I decided to conduct anAging gives character to the jewelry by darkening the
experiment to compare the appearance of newcrevices just as oxidizing silver jewelry adds to its
copper jewelry and the appearance of the sameappearance. The design elements in the copper are
jewelry aged. Copper naturally tarnishes easily givingaccented by the polished highlights. Unless a coating is
an aged look, but not a very dark color for quite someadded, the jewelry will have to be renewed periodically
time, just a dulled look.with #0000 steel wool and a polishing cloth. This will
After reading several articles about aging coppertake very little time. The whole jewelry piece has an
jewelry in liver of sulfur, which is used to age copper, Iunusual finished appearance after aging. My
decided to use photographs to compare how eachpreference has changed- prefer aged copper jewelry.
bracelet looked before and after aging. The new shiny