Look around department, hobby and home improvement stores and you will see a large selection of copper-plated items. Copper is a popular medium for jewelry, birdbaths, and indoor and outdoor ornaments. Instead of paying the high prices for those copper items, there are a few things you can do quite economically and still be able to enjoy the copper accents. By using copper sheeting, you will make something new in no time.
Jewelry
Jewelry, for instance, provides a large selection of copper. A simple but elegant copper jewelry design is crosses. Make a copper cross necklace with matching earrings.
Purchase a sheet of thin copper sheeting from the home improvement store. At the hobby store, purchase necklace chain, jump rings and earring hooks.
You will need a rubber mallet or ball peen hammer, whichever you prefer; sand paper; tin snips; a hole punch or small nail; and a copper sealer.
Draw the desired shape and size of the cross onto the surface of the copper sheet. Make the necklace larger than the earrings. Cut the shape out with the tin snips. Lay the crosses on a hard surface and lightly pound the surface of the copper until you achieve a distressed look to the copper. Stop when you like the design. Remember, each piece will be slightly different.
Punch holes in the tops of the crosses, sand the edges and apply a copper sealer. Allow the sealer to dry and attach the large cross to the necklace with a small jump ring and slide the holes of the smaller crosses onto the earring hooks.
Back Splash
Add copper tiles to your back splash in the kitchen. It is a simple matter of removing random tiles if you already have a tile back splash and pressing thin sections of pounded copper around the tile and replacing the tiles.
Once again, sand the edges and apply a copper sealer to the copper before putting them in place. The sealer prevents the copper from tarnishing and/or turning green.
Additionally, cut the copper to fit inside picture frames. Purchase large, shaped stamps from the hobby store and press the stamped design into the middle of the copper. Place the sealed copper inside the frame without the glass and hang on the wall.
Birdbath
Using a thicker sheet of copper and using a large, shallow bowl as a pattern, cut the copper four inches wider than the lip of the bowl with the tin snips.
Pound the copper to a desirable finish and lay over the bowl. Pound the copper gently into the bowl. Fold the edges over and punch four holes equally spaced around the lip of the copper bowl. Sand and seal the copper. Add your desired length of chain to each of the four holes. Join the four chains together with a large key ring and hang outdoors for a birdbath.
