Playing with FIRE
So yesterday I was looking at How to EASILY Anodize Titanium at Home (2 Methods) and wondering if I should invest in a dozen or so 9-volt batteries and where I might purchase some insulated alligator-clip wires...
This morning it occurred to me that I could test out Method 2 -- the heat method -- without needing any extra equipment; just a gas stove and some fine metal tongs, which I had. And a pyrex dish filled with ice water. And some already-anodized Titanium scales, which I had thought I had ruined by over-tumbling them.
So....
I did some playing with fire.
Ta-da! I got the multi-colour effect by sticking just the tip of the scale in the flames; that caused the oxidation to be graduated from the tip to the base. Cool, eh?
Then I wondered, in the interests of science, what would happen if I did the same thing with copper scales. I made the mistake with the first one to put it into the ice water, and it went completely black with firescale. Then the second one, I put on my breadboard, which now has a leaf-shaped outline burnt into it. So I got my smallest tempered glass board and put the scales on that instead. Two more dud scales, but the rest were... astonishing. Nothing that I had expected. So cool!
The trick with the ones with the v-shaped pattern and the dark base, was not to leave it poking into the flames too long, only to allow the tip to heat to a dull red. If one left it a teeny little longer, the colour-change went over all the scale like an oil slick, which was really cool, but if one left it a moment beyond that, it went a uniform pale pinkish-orange colour all over, not very interesting. Very tricky timing.
I polished them with Renaissance Wax, I hope that will preserve the colours.
Edited to Add:
So of course I had to try with other metals.
Bronze: very similar to copper, but it was more difficult to get it to go multi-colour. Instead it tended to go a greenish yellow all over.
Lost one scale to firescale. Viva la Science!
Stainless Steel: Now, this was cool. I managed to get this to go multi-coloured with the "heat it unevenly" trick. Colours from brown through to deep magenta, purple, blue and sometimes light blue. Similar to the Titanium, probably for similar reasons: refracting different wavelengths of light. The stainless steel took longer to do the colour changes than the titanium did, partly because I was moving it around more, not wanting it to overheat.
More Renaissance Wax on these scales too, oh my finger hurts from the buffing. But so pretty.
No pictures of these ones. My finger hurts. 8-P
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This morning it occurred to me that I could test out Method 2 -- the heat method -- without needing any extra equipment; just a gas stove and some fine metal tongs, which I had. And a pyrex dish filled with ice water. And some already-anodized Titanium scales, which I had thought I had ruined by over-tumbling them.
So....
I did some playing with fire.
Ta-da! I got the multi-colour effect by sticking just the tip of the scale in the flames; that caused the oxidation to be graduated from the tip to the base. Cool, eh?
Then I wondered, in the interests of science, what would happen if I did the same thing with copper scales. I made the mistake with the first one to put it into the ice water, and it went completely black with firescale. Then the second one, I put on my breadboard, which now has a leaf-shaped outline burnt into it. So I got my smallest tempered glass board and put the scales on that instead. Two more dud scales, but the rest were... astonishing. Nothing that I had expected. So cool!
The trick with the ones with the v-shaped pattern and the dark base, was not to leave it poking into the flames too long, only to allow the tip to heat to a dull red. If one left it a teeny little longer, the colour-change went over all the scale like an oil slick, which was really cool, but if one left it a moment beyond that, it went a uniform pale pinkish-orange colour all over, not very interesting. Very tricky timing.
I polished them with Renaissance Wax, I hope that will preserve the colours.
Edited to Add:
So of course I had to try with other metals.
Bronze: very similar to copper, but it was more difficult to get it to go multi-colour. Instead it tended to go a greenish yellow all over.
Lost one scale to firescale. Viva la Science!
Stainless Steel: Now, this was cool. I managed to get this to go multi-coloured with the "heat it unevenly" trick. Colours from brown through to deep magenta, purple, blue and sometimes light blue. Similar to the Titanium, probably for similar reasons: refracting different wavelengths of light. The stainless steel took longer to do the colour changes than the titanium did, partly because I was moving it around more, not wanting it to overheat.
More Renaissance Wax on these scales too, oh my finger hurts from the buffing. But so pretty.
No pictures of these ones. My finger hurts. 8-P
This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1070009.html. (Comments
) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.