Frank Lloyd Wright: urinate on copper

[snopes]

Comment: I heard that Frank Lloyd Wright, when he was present on a
construction project that he had designed, if there was any copper
flashing, that he would tell the workers to urinate in a coffee can and
paint the urine on the copper to turn it green quicker than the natural
elements ever would.

(The proceeding has been a badly written run-on sentence.)

[Casey]

I don't know about Wright asking it, but since urine is acidic, it will discolor copper and many other metals. A soak in vinegar will do the same.

[Open Mike Night]

According to a couple of different books, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a building for Florida Southern University, The students did most of the work, trading labor for tuition - including collecting their urine to age the copper.

here's one account - Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright by Brendan Gill

The Life and Works of Frank Lloyd Wright by Maria Constantino also makes the claim.

[DrRocket]

Back in the old days, it was very common for gunsmiths to soak the hot, freshly forged barrels in cow urine to prevent corrosion after the gun was completed.

[Four Kitties]

Gives an entirely new meaning to "copper flashing" doesn't it?

Four Kitties

[Floater]

I once took a ferry across Stockholm harbour when I overheard two ladies discussing the buildings they saw on land. They both agreed that it was such a waste to put copper on the roofs because it gets so corroded with time.

I managed to restrain myself and didn't throw them over board.

[Daphodil]

My BIL studied metallurgy and when I asked his advice on how to give a particular patina to copper for a countertop he recommended that I pee on it. Good to know he wasn't yanking my chain.

[Chickee Daizy]

I'm almost positive that I remember seeing some home design show, probably Trading Spaces or something like it, where the designer, the carpenter, and the man in the team were peeing on a big piece of copper that was going to put on the front of a counter.

There are a lot of ways to patina copper but most sculptors and jewelers use concentrated chemicals to get blacks, blues or greens as needed. Urea (carbamide) will produce a nice blue patina but because it's generally so diluted in healthy urine peeing on copper isn't a very practicle way to color it.