Copper and the Blues

Isn't it interesting that copper turns blue in the kiln? I would have never guessed the first time I plastered copper leaf onto a piece of clear glass. You can imagine my surprise at the results. I am always trying new techniques and of course being the adventursome firebug I am I decided to throw some metal in the kiln just to see what happened. I got some very mixed results. Copper foil does NOT turn blue much to my chagrin. It turns a dark reddish brown color. Not to say that it wasn't an exciting discovery, but my mind was churning over much more impressive reults for the duration of the 8 hour firing. The silver foil was so thin it just disappeared. Now I know that silver turns yellow in the kiln because I tested some silver wire links I made and they came out amazing, but the silver foil vanished like a vampire at dawn. My favorite of all the metals is the copper leaf and I can't seem to get enough of it. I branched out and experimented with it, the product of that experimentation is seen here. I started using iridized frits in conjunction with the foil and I was rewarded with bubbles and 3-D effects in my pieces.