Heat Up Your Copper!
Another method to change the color of copper jewelry is to use heat. You can use direct flame with a torch, or simply use your household oven. Different temperatures and "cooking" times will produce different results — I'll outline the results that my experiments have produced below.
First, your jewelry should be clean and dry. While this method will work well for copper, sterling silver will not change color in the oven. Also, be sure any beads or stones are oven safe to the temperature you are going to "cook" your jewelry at — you don't want an annealed glass bead exploding in your oven!
Preheat the oven, and place your jewelry on an oven safe pan. You don't need to do anything special to it before or after "cooking", just use caution when the jewelry is removed, because it will be hot!
Feel free to experiment, but here are some results that I've seen with copper that I have heat treated in the oven.
3 hours, 300 degrees, plus 1 hour, 350 degrees. Results: Pink/Purple/White
30-45 minutes, 300 degrees. Results: Purple swirls with natural copper color
30 minutes, 400 degrees. Results: Gold/Brassy
Results will be temporary — the copper will continue to oxidize and turn to deep, rich brown. To return copper to its natural color, use one of Beading Help Web's jewelry cleaning suggestions.
