I checked out your video on your process, amazing!!!!
And you are an amazing painter also!!!!
I don't understand how you get the darkened definition on your portraits...do you paint it in later???
Truly Unique!!!Great Work. I esp love this piece with the grid marks....SteelyJan

There are several methods to achieve darks that I have found so far . (Darks as shading and outline are essential tools for painting , so too for firecolour if it is to be as versatile as other mediums.)
1. Annealing the sheet to dark grey blacks in an oven gives you most of your shading.
2.Torchstrokes which are persistent and 'violent' on a particular area can produce blackened areas - this process is greatly aided by applying a bit of water to that area before hand.
3.Outlines can be acheived by brushing on water with a fine brush for the drawing then torching over to create very fine dark lines .This is the direction my experiments are now heading in .
4. Lastly there are chemical patinas that give you a range of blacks and many colours , inks , those sort of things . I experimented with them in the beginning , but now I tend towards methods that rely solely on heat and water to produce the desired effect.

thankyou , that was my intent entirely , I'm glad you liked it.

Thank you QuiQue , this is only the beginning!
It fascinates me that one can acheive a colour ' painting ' without adding physical material to the ' canvas ' . All these colours are inherent in the copper's surface itself , waiting to be unlocked .
Now I need to learn more of the nomenclature and techniques of the metal smith to really synthesize this into something to rival other mediums .
Colin

hi
i love your image of the lady with the oven grill pattern am currently a student experimenting with heat colouring metals. how did you get the so defined grill marks on to the copper I tried holding a peice of brass on top of the oven grill over my gas hob but is no where as defined as yours? also if i paint water on to the copper in the outline i want will it blacken when i heat it? but how do i prevent the water from drying out and dissapearing before it darkens from the heat? can i have a link to your video earlier mentioned. many thanks for any advice given
steph

Hello Steph , Good questions , I'd be glad to help with what little I've learned so far . I've tried brass and several other alloys and found copper to be the best for range and intensity of colours.
The grill marks on this peice are from the oven rack inside a conventional electric oven. They are a complete fluke that I simply worked with . Sometimes sheets will prime smoothly in the oven , and sometimes they come out with wild patterns and/or grill markings. I will upload a new image of one of these flukes .
The water dries immediately but it also ' scars ' or' blemishes' (oxidizes )the copper . Depending on how you use your torch , this can act as a 'resist' effect , or can create a dark burnt blemish . Here is the link to a video showing some of these techniques- just keep experimenting you'll get it . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SQwAF7mX30