It's not easy being green.
When the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York in 1885, she was the warm reddish-brown colour of freshly exposed copper. But then copper did what copper does.
It reacted with the world around it.
Oxygen began changing the surface first. Over time, moisture, salts and atmospheric chemicals joined the party, creating a complex mixture of copper compounds. Some of them are green and blue-green.
The result is that magnificent patina we now associate with Lady Liberty.
And despite what you may have heard, it isn't simply a layer of “copper carbonate”. Natural copper patinas can contain oxides, sulphates, chlorides and other compounds depending on the environment.
In other words, copper's surroundings help determine what it becomes.
BUT WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE POLISH HER?
Because that green patina isn't merely decorative. Once established, it helps protect the copper beneath from further corrosion.
So Lady Liberty is perfectly happy with her green transformation. Your copper jewellery may be another matter.
Copper's willingness to react is precisely what enables me to create the extraordinary blues, greens, reds, oranges and golds in my copper art pendants.
The problem is that copper doesn't necessarily know when to stop.
Fortunately, I know how to spot that perfect moment when I've pushed her creativity just far enough to create something truly beautiful.
And then I bring it to a screeching halt.
I protect the finished copper piece between a dome of glass and a hypoallergenic stainless steel setting, protecting it from the air that would cause it to continue changing or tarnishing.
Lady Liberty looks magnificent in green. But I want your pendant to stay just the way I like it. You probably do too.
Each Copperologist pendant is individually created from genuine copper, never reproduced, and exists only once.
Yours, in copper and curiosity,
The Copperologist