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Recreating French Bronze

July 11, 2008

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?

MiMi Stewart
product designer - Vancouver, Canada

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July 11, 2008

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
(Ted can offer longterm or instant help)
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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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!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
July 14, 2008

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.

Marc Banks
Blacksmith - Melbourne, Florida
July 29, 2008

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