Piggybank Blues
Pouring out an old collection of coins from a piggybank led to an interesting find:
Fun fact we learnt from this: 10/20-/50-euro coins are made out of Nordic gold, which despite its name, isn’t made of real gold. Instead it’s an alloy consisting mainly of copper and a mixture of aluminum and tin. It’s popular for manufacturing coins because it has strong anti-microbial properties and also supposedly highly resistant to corrosion. The sweaty and humid conditions in my piggybank (and being in Singapore), coupled with sitting around for several years, eventually managed to form a layer of verdigris (possibly copper carbonate as the copper reacts with moist carbon dioxide) on the edge of the coin.
This brought us back to the first copper blue experiment we tried a while back, following the recipe in Jason Logan’s book “Make Ink” for copper ink. We got hold of a scrap copper coil from the engine of an old motorbike. After sanding away the enamel coating and soaking the coil in vinegar and salt, the liquid turned into an electric blue.
Looking closer, other than the blue copper acetate solution, there is a formation of greenish copper crystals on the surface of the wire. You can scrape away the crystals to use as pigments, but it is toxic and care should be taken when handling by wearing gloves and a mask.
For the next stage, we are going to leave out the copper acetate solution to evaporate and saturate, and see if we can get more crystals to form.
Upcoming Markets! (Come say hi!)
ARTCADE
1 to 2 April, 12pm to 7pm
Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
Free Admission
A market catering to illustrators, makers and creatives, we will be sharing a booth alongside Shirin, who will be there to showcase her own illustrations. Do be prepared to face crowds for this event as it’s known to be popular for art and craft lovers!
Kampong Bugis Cosmic Market
8 to 9 April, 11am to 6pm
66 Kampong Bugis
Free Admission
A happening event hopping on the Easter weekend, curated by Nithiya Laila from @brunchbandits! Come join us together with 20 local makers and growers sharing their wonderful craft. We will be there with some freshly painted artworks!
Hope to see some of you around,
Liz and Shirin