Drawing On Copper Sheet

I purchase my copper plates from a printmaker s supply company online.

Drawing on copper sheet.

Although the drawings show the components in detail some items such as nails may not be shown for the sake of clarity. Use a pencil to draw a design on your copper. Metal embossing tools or a stylus may be used as well for similar effect even a craft stick presses the metal down enough to create a design. In using the term mil however the larger the number the thicker the copper sheet will be and so 16 mil copper sheets are thicker than 8 mil copper sheets.

Drawing can also be used to cold form a shaped cross section. Cold drawn cross sections are more precise and have a better surface finish than hot extruded parts. Most punching and blanking technology through drawn or press let the material deformation to get what we wanted dimensions. To create your designs set the copper shiny side down atop a sheet of shipping foam or craft foam.

Steels copper alloys and aluminium alloys are common materials that are drawn. Press the design into the metal with the capped end of a pen as if you were drawing on paper. The thicknesses that basic copper carries are 1 mil copper foil 1 4 mil copper foil 3 mil 5 mil 36 gauge 8 mil 32 gauge 10 mil 30 gauge. Place a piece of copper on a flat surface.

I usually use 050 inch 16 gauge thickness but a thinner plate is perfectly fine for painting on copper. Use a size appropriate to the size of wall hanging you want to make. Copper plate if properly prepared is a smooth archival oil painting surface that s been used by artists for hundreds of years with stunning results. Copper materials are shown in copper color all other building materials are shown in black.

The drawings are presented in two colors. Consider starting with a smaller piece first such as a 5 x6.