Copper - Creativity, Ancestry, & Human-ness

Today I'm taking a break from the more metaphysic-y energetic-y subjects to talk about a more hands-on subject:  Copper.   In a way, though, the working of metal helps me tie into the greater whole of my ancestry and what it means to be a creative being in this world. So while this post focuses in large on the process of working copper, the underpinnings are the connections I feel to copper and my ancient human-ness.  The thoughts around the idea are still forming - but there is something deep, connective, and spiritual for me in the working of elements.

Copper is one of the first metals that was worked by humans.  Copper has been in use by humans for at least 10,000 years.  When I work with copper I feel connected to my ancestors and in touch with a deep, ancient human vibration.

Copper is easy to work with because it is soft; it doesn't require a great deal of equipment or chemical to create something interesting.  Today I decided to explore aspects of some plumbing fittings I found at the hardware store.  I usually buy copper wire from the hardware store to work with - I make rings and bracelets and pendants. I've been looking forward to playing with fittings in the hopes that I can find a way to use interesting pre-made constructions and alter them into more creative, imaginative forms.  It's also easier and less expensive - though copper is relatively inexpensive in general - to work with copper sources provided by local sellers than using mail-order copper.

Today, I decided to work with a little copper fitting cap.  I wanted to see if I could anneal it and then mold it into a wider bowl shape.

I started by setting up my materials.  In this photo you can see the copper fitting on top of a marble slab that I am using for a heat sync to create a safe place to use the torch (marble absorbs a great deal of heat energy.)  Off to the side I set up a container with water to quench the hot metal - I also had a set of pliers ready to handle the metal.

I then began to anneal my copper fitting.  Wikipedia describes annealing as "a heat treatment wherein a material is altered, causing changes in its properties such as strength and hardness."  During working, the molecules in metal bond and rearrange in a non-uniform pattern. This creates hardness within the metal and also makes the metal brittle if it continues to be worked.  A good example of this is moving a wire too much - if it is worked back and forth repeatedly it will break.  In annealing, the heat breaks the bonds between the molecules in the metal and arranges those molecules in a uniform pattern.  This allows the metal to be worked because the metal is transformed from being stiff and hard to something that is workable.  Annealing must be repeated many times during a working process due to the fact that, as the metal is worked the molecules rearrange and the metal begins to get brittle and hard.  Metal can be annealed many, many times - perhaps indefinitely. 

I began my annealing process with the small BenzOmatic torch in the picture above, but it soon became clear that the copper fitting was too thick to heat evenly with a thin flame.  So I broke out the big torch.

Honestly, I'm usually nervous about using the bigger plumbers torch.  Really, if directions are followed, there's nothing too dangerous about it.  But it's still unnerving to think that I have a flaming can of propane in my hand.  It does lead me to be overly careful, which I think is a good thing where fire and gas are concerned.  I like the plumbers torch because it heats things up fast!

Because the copper fitting was manufactured it needed to be annealed before I could work on transforming it into something else.  So I set the fitting on the marble, moved the smaller torch to a safe distance for use later, and lit the plumbers torch with a striker.

The key to annealing is to heat the metal until it is red-hot.  At this point the heat is able to break the bonds between the molecules and the molecules are re-arranged.  I used the plumbers torch in a back-and-forth motion and the fitting started to glow red.  I prefer to use the torch in dim light so I can see the moment that the metal begins to glow - it's also to interesting to see the colors the flame makes as it burns off impurities in the copper.

After making sure that my fitting had become hot enough to glow, I turned off the torch and set it aside.  I picked up the copper fitting with my pliers and quenched it in the vat of water nearby.  I love the sound of the metal quenching in the water!   What an old and ancient sound!!!

After the metal cooled (which does not take much time at all) I removed it from the water and began to use a rubber mallet to mold the fitting around a metal form that belonged to my grandfather. My grandfather worked with trucks; much of the metal working supplies I inherited from him have to do with working large pieces of metal for truck repair.  I have some of the smaller pieces still, though they are old and I am unsure of the names, and I am glad to be able to use those in my artwork.

I followed the steps of annealing, then hammering the fitting over the mold several times.  As I mentioned before, it is important to repeat the annealing process so that the metal stays workable.

You can see the results of my work in the photo at the right.  The form I was using is at the top left, and the metal fitting I am working with is at the bottom.  It is my goal to continue to work with the fitting until the metal is much thinner and the size and shape of the fitting has expanded and been formed into more of a bowl-shape.

As I am right-handed and have limitations since an injury, I found it necessary to take a break from the work after a short while.  The next steps will be to anneal the fitting again and return to shaping it, next with a ball peen hammer (with a rounded end) and a small anvil.

I truly enjoy working with copper - as I mentioned before, I feel so tapped in to an ancient, ancestral vibration when I connect with the metal.   I would encourage everyone to find a way to connect to the ancient humanity of us all - and I'd bet if you think about it you probably already do, whether hiking well-worn paths, meditating at the ocean, or knitting in front of the wood stove.  There is so much we can do to come in contact with our basic human-ness - the human-ness that is connected to the earth, the environment, that works and creates and envisions.  The humanity that creates and generates and envisions and imagines amazing things - that partners with the world.  The human-ness that is caring and creating and honoring and in alignment with all the spirits we share our existence with.  

Truly, today my work was banging on a piece of metal in the basement.  But through that work I feel connected to every being in my ancestry that held a hammer, that connected to the amazing things in the world and shared an idea with spirit and somehow brought an idea into fruition.  Maybe I'll be able to make a copper bowl out of this - maybe it will just look like a weird, overly-large monopoly hat. Either way, it's the spirit of the thing that matters to me.  

I honor you - and myself - and our human-ness, and the connection we have to the world.

Namaste

Made of Stars

This morning, I started to read The Four Agreements.  I've never read it, though it has been recommended to me many, many times.  The first chapter begins with a story about "The Smoky Mirror."  The story is about a man who is learning to be a medicine man.  He had a dream, and in that dream he hears his voice say "I am made of light; I am made of stars."  In his dream he also discovered the following:


Everything in existence is a manifestation of the one living being we call God. Everything is God. And he came to the conclusion that human perception is merely light perceiving light. He also saw that matter is a mirror — everything is a mirror that reflects light and creates images of that light — and the world of illusion, the Dream, is just like smoke which doesn’t allow us to see what we really are. “The real us is pure love, pure light,” he said.

This reading this morning did two things - the reading continued, and as it continued I realized how much it was in alignment with my thoughts on manifestation and the idea of "what we think, we become."  It also made me think.  It made me think of the universe, and manifestation, and the science of manifestation, and it made me wonder how it all works.

One of the things that I immediately thought of was stoichiometry.   According to Wikipedia  (all of the science-y information I've included is from Wikipedia, really), stoichiometry "is a branch of chemistry that deals with the relative quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions."  I remember balancing equations in chemistry in high school - it was relaxing and meditative.  Now, I think the important thing about the ideas regarding manifestation and why it led to thoughts on stoichiometry is the idea of balance, or relative quantities.

I remembered ionic and covalent bonding.  Covalent bonding is chemical bonding where electrons are shared.  Ionic bonding is, according to Wikipedia, a "chemical bond formed through an electrostatic attraction between two oppositely charged ions."

attraction - and balance - exists everywhere

And this made me think that the Law of Attraction is really, truly about attraction at a molecular level.
I have heard many times that, as we work on our own stuff, as we succeed and learn to manifest, we change our vibration - we refine ourselves and alter our own chemistry, in a way, or maybe even our own electrical signature... something that changes the way we resonate in the world.  Maybe that effects, truly effects, how we "bond" with the universe.


What limited information I have found indicates that the greater the "electronegativity," or how likely an atom is to attract.  So if two ions have a large difference in electronegativity, they are more likely to attract eachother. In contrast, electropositivity refers to how likely an atom is to donate, or give itself away.

So what if, since we are made up of atoms and ions and electrical signals and chemicals and all sorts of wonderful stuff... what if, when we do our work, shed that which no longer serves, and change our vibration... what if this truly does altar our ionic structure?  What if this increases our electronegativity in comparison with the universe, and makes it more likely that we will attract what we are trying to manifest.

I don't really know if this is what happens... but I know energetics are more concrete than many would think... I know that there are body systems that are not completley understood  or even given serious thought by the current medical and research establishment.  I know the human body, mind, and spirit, are capeable of amazing things.  And so, if we are, and we are 'made of the stars,' then we are made of the same stuff as the universe.  And in that way, the energetics of the universe, the energetics of coincidence and deja vu and rainbows and the aurora borealis - all of that is in us, too.

So overall, I think it's definitely something I will think about.  How does changing my vibration, my energetic frequency - how does that change my physical self, perhaps even my electonegativity?  How does working on my stuff allow me to have a greater attraction to the amazing things in the universe at a cellular, molecular level. 

'I am made of light; I am made of stars'