How To Patina Copper Pennies – Easy DIY Tutorial With Video

Do you want to know how to patina copper pennies? I love penny projects and I wanted to try to patina copper pennies and create a fun display with our initials on wooden letters that I had on hand. I’ll show you how to patina pennies and then create a lovely display.

What is copper patina? It’s that green patina color that shows up on the surface of copper items giving copper an aged look and a rich color.

If you want to know how to clean copper pieces please check out my other post regarding that.

How To Patina Copper

Let’s get started on the patina process.

1. Wash Your Pennies –

Wash your pennies with Dawn, hot water, and baking soda to clean off the oils and dirt on them.

2. Drain, Rinse, & Dry your copper

Drain the soapy baking soda water, rinse the pennies with clean water . The best way to do this is to use a strainer. Let them dry completely.

3. soak copper in vinegar and salt mixture

To create the patina solution, mix together equal parts of white vinegar and table salt so that it coats all of the pennies. Let the pennies soak for 30 minutes so the chemical reaction process and chemical reaction can take place. I did this in a small plastic container.

4. drain the mixture

Drain out the mixture but don’t rinse them with clean water.

5. Air dry the copper

Place the pennies on a baking sheet and let them dry completely so the oxidation process can complete its magic. You can add more salt over them as they’re drying if you wish. Pennies will patina at different rates so you can play with the timing to get your desired color.

Once they’re dry they are ready to use. You’ll have a lovely patina that may be a green color, brown color, and sometimes you can even get a little blue patina color. This is one of the simplest methods for artificial patination vs the natural patina aging process

How To Patina Copper Pennies DIY

I had these plain letters that I wanted to spruce up. I decided to use these lovely patina pennies for the project.

I placed my pennies onto the letters.

I hot glued the pennies into place.

Then you can hang them up in your home.

There are so many possible places to use these fun letters.

After making this project I had several people giggle and tell me that it’s funny “JC Penny”. I didn’t even think about that, and it is pretty funny. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

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How To Patina Copper – Easy DIY Tutorial With Video

Make a fun penny project and see how to patina copper pennies. Then use those pennies tocreate a fun display with with your initials on wooden letters.

Prep Time15 mins

Active Time45 mins

Total Time1 hr

Course: Decor and Decorating

Keyword: how to patina copper, patina copper, patina copper pennies

Yield: 1 Patina Copper Project

Author: Chas

Cost: $5-10

Equipment

• Hot Glue Gun

Materials

• Dawn and baking soda
• Vinegar and salt
• Wood Letters

Instructions

• Wash your pennies with Dawn and baking soda.
• Drain the soapy baking soda water, rinse the pennies off, and let them dry.
• Mix together equal parts of vinegar and salt, so that it coats all of the pennies.
• Let the pennies soak for 30 minutes.
• Drain out the mixture.
• Place the pennies on a baking sheet and let them dry completely.
• Hot glued the pennies into place.
• Hang and enjoy!

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