I‘m an art student working on a sculpture piece whose main component is copper piping. I need to oxidize it quickly and evenly. Most of the suggestions I‘ve found either take months or need to be submerged, and that simply isn‘t an option. Any suggestions?
chlorine. soak it in water that has a lot of chlorine in it.
this website has a list of quite a number of different suggestions. You can spray or brush chemicals on your copper surface. Generally you should be a well ventilated area. Don't forget that you can do the last suggestion. Washes of actual acrylic paint can indeed work. Just make sure you don't paint it solid, then it could be any material. In addition there are already made up patina solutions for copper which you can buy. As you probably would have to order them I don't know whether your time constraint is such, that this is not an option.
using store bought chemical will probably give most uniform patina. find a silversmith, metalsmith or jewelry supply store they will have afew types and be able to answer more questions
