Colored Pencil on Copper: Just a Technique

NOTE: This Instructables does not result in a finished product. It is just a description of a technique used to draw with colored pencil on copper.

About 8 years ago, I attended a jewelry making convention. One of the classes I took was drawing with colored pencil on copper sheets. Not long after the convention, my spirit was broken, and I put aside everything I was working toward at the time. As I said in my personal intro, though, these Instructables are to make things I can't find or afford elsewhere. Therefore, I am reviving my jewelry making goals, and this is the first project I am reviving. I will walk you through the steps to draw with colored pencil on copper as I relearn them myself. There will be no resulting final product; this is just the technique to accomplish this skill. When I go ahead and make actual pieces, I'll add links to them.

For equipment, you will need:

1. Metal shears. I bought the Beadsmith plate shears from Walmart, as that is the cheapest price I could find. You could also use a jewelry saw to cut out your pieces.
2. A rotary tool, such as a Dremel. Mine is a Craftsman V20 cordless I got for free from Lowe's. If you have one, a flex shaft should work as well.
3. A Dremel #9933 structured tooth bit. These have been discontinued by Dremel; I found one for sale on eBay.
4. A specialized Prismacolor Premier pencil sharpener. This is available on Amazon.

For materials, you will need:

1. Rubbing alcohol and a paper towel or clean lint-free cloth. This is to clean the copper before starting.
2. 26-gauge copper sheeting. If you have the funds, you can get a 10-foot roll of this from Menard's hardware store. I have not found it at Lowe's or Home Depot.
3. Green patina.
4. A small brush to brush on the patina. I just use cheap ones from Dollar Tree.
5. A drop cloth of some sort. Free newspapers come in handy for this.
6. Latex or nitrile gloves. You'll want 2 clean pair. One to wear while touching the copper to prevent skin oils from getting on it, and the other is to wear when applying the patina chemical.
7. Prismacolor Premier colored pencils. Make sure they are the Premier, as those have a higher wax content than others.
8. Colorless blending pencil. This is for the top coat before sealing. I got mine at Michaels.
9. Acrylic sealer. I got Aleene's matte spray at the Meijer grocery store cheaper than online.
10. Sandpaper. You could also use emery boards from Sally's or Dollar Tree.
11. Renaissance Wax for a final protective coat.
12. A cloth for applying the wax.
13. A clean polishing cloth for buffing the wax.

Put on a pair of rubber gloves. This is so that you don't get skin oils on the copper while you work. Cut a piece of copper from your sheet. You will see an outline on mine. That is the shape of the original piece I made in 2017 at Bead & Button Show (now defunct). You can just cut out a rectangle for practice.

Apply rubbing alcohol to a paper towel. Rub the alcohol onto both sides of the copper. Allow the alcohol to evaporate before continuing.

Sand the edges of the piece to remove burrs.

Using the Dremel #9933 in the rotary tool, rough up the surface of the copper. This is so that the patina gets a good hold on the metal. This is necessary, as the pencil grabs hold of the patina. The pencil will not stay on the bare copper by itself.

SAFETY NOTE: In the picture, I am roughing without securing the copper piece. THIS IS UNSAFE! The only reason it is in the picture is I needed the other hand to hold the camera. Anyhoo, back to the Instructables.

Put the copper piece on your drop cloth material, and put on the second pair of gloves. If you are using reusable gloves, you can take off the first pair, but preserve them while you work with the patina. Dip the paint brush into the patina chemical, then paint the copper piece. Once fully covered, let it sit until it becomes shades of green and turquoise. If there are still shiny spots, repeat steps 4 and 5 and get a little more aggressive with the brush to get into the nooks and crannies. As you can see from the second picture, I had to redo a few spots.

The rectangle is my second attempt. As you can see from the bright copper edges, I am not getting the grinder all the way to the edge of the copper. When this piece is dry, I'll re-grind it and try again.

All pieces should start with a base coat of white pencil. So, start drawing white pencil on top of the patina. If the patina flakes off, then the surface was not properly prepared. You need to go back to Step 4. Once the piece is covered in white, rub it gently with your thumbs once or twice to melt it a little with your body heat and smooth it a little.

You can now color the piece as you see fit. For this practice, I chose a card from the Color Cube set (which gives predetermined complementary color palettes) and then chose the pencils that came closest to those colors. As I was choosing pencils, I noticed that each had a corresponding code. The red pencil, for instance, was PS922. That made me wonder if these codes coordinated with hex color codes at all. Sure enough, this website provides the hex codes for each Prismacolor pencil. How close was I? Here's the list.

1. Card = 1b2771; my choice 000092
2. Card = 2e6927; my choice 158245
3. Card = 9dbc16; my choice 4dad44
4. Card = e8c215; my choice e8a42c (pretty close)
5. Card = ee2e09; my choice ff4908

Prismacolor makes only 150 different colors, so matching every hex code perfectly is out of the question. However, I can use this info on future creations to pick palettes that more closely match the available colors.

If at any time it begins to feel like the color is no longer applying to the piece, then lightly spray it with the acrylic sealer. Allow this to dry and continue pencil application. Repeat as necessary until your design is complete.

PS: I know I am not an artist. For a practice piece, though, it does kind of resemble what I was attempting to draw.

Use the colorless blending pencil over your entire piece to smooth and blend colors.

1. Start by spraying the piece with the acrylic sealer.
2. Do this in a well ventilated area.
3. Allow to dry before proceeding.
4. If you want a shinier piece than this, use a gloss acrylic sealer instead of the matte I used.
5. Using a cloth, rub on some Renaissance wax to cover the entire piece.
6. Do this in a well ventilated area, because this stuff stinks.
7. I'm not sure if the pictures show this well, but the wax dulled the colors a bit.
8. When the wax is dry, use a soft buffing cloth to polish the piece to the desired shine.
9. I used a Dollar Tree microfiber cloth.
10. As you can see, the wax doesn't really add a shine.

And here is the finished piece. I learned a lot, and made several changes to this Instructables, while doing this practice. I'll practice some more before I make the jewelry piece. Those practices will be posted in an "Updates" step some time later. So, follow me if you want to see those practices or the jewelry piece(s) I create down the road.

This first picture is just of a color test I did using yellow and three shades of green. I did not seal the piece, as it was intended just to play with pencils.