For planners · Processes
What happens to the metal in each of them.
Copper reacts with its surroundings all by itself. Patination guides that reaction in the workshop instead of waiting for the weather to do it.
What takes decades outdoors is produced under control in a short time. The result ranges from a light brown tone through deep brown to the strong green of the carbonate layer, with reddish breaks depending on the treatment.
Base metal: copper. Colour range: green to turquoise, in places with reddish brown breaking through.
Browning produces a dark conversion layer on the metal itself. Unlike a coat of paint it does not sit on top of the surface but is formed out of it, so the texture underneath stays visible.
The result is a deep, warm dark tone that can be held evenly across large batches.
Stainless steel forms an invisible chromium layer in air, the passive layer. That is why it does not rust: scratch it and it re-forms by itself.
Controlled oxidation builds on this and produces defined colour layers. The point is that the result is predictable rather than accidental, and can be repeated on a later batch.
Every finished surface can be left as it is, sealed with wax or sealed with lacquer. This choice decides whether the surface keeps developing or stays as delivered.
In all three processes the colour is formed out of the metal itself. Nothing is sprayed on and nothing can flake off, because there is no separate layer that could come away from the base material.
