This custom copper metal address plaque is an order from a friend as a present to his wife. He knew she loved my work and that she wanted to steer away from the typical looking house numbers. So he put me up to the challenge of creating something totally unique!
This project took a lot of forethought and planning prior to getting into my studio for the fun. Since the plaque needed to be seen from the road, I planned a sign that would be 9" tall x 14" wide. With copper clay, shrinkage occurs during the firing process, so I had to plan the copper clay letters about 30% larger than the final product to ensure they would be about 5" tall after firing.
Once the numbers were distressed and the edges were smoothed, I fired them in my
special kiln designed for metal clay. The high heat of the kiln burned off the binder in the metal clay and the particles fused together to create solid copper metal pieces. The color drastically changed from a matte terracotta to a high luster copper.
My customer wanted a rustic look, so I used a variety of treatments to give the copper metal a warm and rich color.
Next, I needed to create a backing that the numbers could be affixed to. I chose a 1.02 mm thick, 18 gauge, copper metal sheet . Here you can see the raw copper metal prior to hand distressing.
I transformed the appearance of the copper metal sheet by using hand tools for distressing, as well as the same techniques I used for the numbers, to give the metal a low luster yet rich color.
To give the numbers a floating appearance, I hand made individual metal tubes and soldered them onto the backs of each number.
Once the numbers were affixed to the backing, and a clear coat was applied to the metal for protection, the plaque was ready to go to it's new home!
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LPDstudios for more hand made gems!
