Copper
Copper
How copper jewellery is created
Copper as jewellery
Copper is believed to be the first metal used to make jewellery. In its stunning beauty, copper is a great element with unique abilities. It is said to strengthen your health and balance your body.
Copper is often referred to as "the metal of love". It is also known for bringing positivity and good luck to your life. It helps you embrace and understand your inner energies and balance your chakras.
The material
Copper is one of the 118 chemical elements and in contrast to e.g. silver and gold, Trollbeads uses copper in its pure form. Copper is a beautiful metal ranging from a gentle reddish/brown to a darker red colour. Copper can be found directly in the ground. Today, most copper is cultivated from great copper mines where ores rich in copper sulphides are extracted and refined into beautiful copper thread.
Pure copper has an amazing red/brown colour that shines like a warm embrace. When copper gets in contact with air and water, a chemical reaction occurs, and the copper will start to oxidize, which means that it will start turning into a dull green colour; this is called a patina. As an example; it took the Statue of Liberty 25 years to turn from bright and shining red to her now characteristic green colour.
Craftsmanship
When we make our characteristic copper beads, it is done with the same technique as we use when making our Sterling silver and 18k gold beads; the ‘cire perdu’ or ‘lost wax’ method.
The process starts by sculpturing the design in red wax. Hereafter a plaster model of the sculpture is made. Copper granules are then heated in a small bowl, melted and poured into the plaster cast, filling out the model nicely. When the copper has solidified, the plaster is submerged in water, resulting in the plaster disintegrating. At this point, the small copper sculpture is completely black. It is then dipped in an acid bath, which makes it turn pink. When the copper bead has cooled off it is polished and is now ready to shine on your bracelet.
