Recreating French Bronze

Hi,
Have old spelter pair of statues that I need to recreate the two tones of faux bronze on.

<-- This is what I'm trying to accomplish.

Having difficulty with the dark brown patina. Have tried various metallic paints, Ruperts pearl pigments and acrylic paint combos, rub n buff, but cannot get the rich chocolate finish. Any suggestions?

Hi, Mimi. I'm just an industrial metal finisher, not an artist, so I can't speak from experience; but www.sculpt.com/catalog_98/patina/ColoredWax.htm has brown and black waxes that you perhaps could apply on top of the metallic coating that you have applied.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

If spelter= cast zinc try immersion copper and then correct with dyed lacquer.Immersion copper for Zinc: 30 gm copper sulphate;50 gm tartaric acid ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] ;50 mll ammonia + 1lit water.Can be used only on grease and oxide free objects!
Hope it helps and good luck!

I use wood finish in thin coats until I get the desired color. Thompsons does just fine. Try it on some copper flashing and see if it will work for you.