So, I've gone on and on about how much I love to work with copper, brass and chemical patinas. Well, Christmas came early for me--I got my new universal patina kit from Sculpt Nouveau. Talk about a kid in a candy store! This website has everything, I mean EVERYTHING you can imagine to work with colors on metal. The selection of patinas is endless and so are the possibilities. The kit I purchased has a over a dozen colors of patina, metal cleaner, sealers, and waxes all for $75.00!! TOTALLY WORTH EVERY PENNY. By the way, the folks at Sculpt Nouveau have some great videos using these patinas posted on YouTube. Just put "Sculpt Nouveau" in the search box. So, I've been busy like a mad scientist mixing colors on metal and here are some images of the results...My first pin/pendant (and one of the most complex pieces I've done to date), and two bracelets I made using bezels made from copper tubing and brass bases. I so love these!!! I especially love the results you get from mixing blue and green patinas. These pieces are all available in my Etsy shop.
In my previous post I discussed coloring metal with chemical patinas. Well, there are also many more ways to incorporate the look of aged metals in your artistic designs. I love polymer clay, and when I began creating my Goddess series in polymer, I wanted to create pieces that looked like ancient artifacts. I found that metal paints and patinas work wonderfully on polymer clay! I begin with basic white polymer (Sculpy was my first choice because it was inexpensive to buy and easily available in big blocks). I create my Goddess forms in clay and bake according to directions. When she is cool and sanded down, I decide what the color pallet will be. Michael's Crafts sells Sophisticated Finish paints and patinas in gold, copper, brass, pewter, iron and a beautiful deep blue. All these paints have metal particles suspended in the paint base that react when in contact with the chemical patinas (often sold in sets with the paints) in blue, green, black, and rust. So, for the Goddess pictured to the left here, I simply painted her with 2 coats of copper paint, and misted on blue patina and watched the colors appear! When she was dry I added details with folk art paint, a turquoise cabochon and some wonderful Klew polymer clay leaves. I use Future floor finish or any of the glazes available for use with polymer clay to seal each Goddess and protect the finish. The image below shows (from left to right) an Earth Goddess treated with copper paint scratched and lightly misted with green patina then accented with 24k gold leaf and turquoise metal paint, a Moon Goddess in blue metallic paint and sterling silver leaf, a and a Stone Goddess treated with mixed stone spray paint and ivory folk art paint. I'm working on a rusted Goddess totem now. I've also used textured spray paints (the sand and stone series) layered with metal paints and patinas to achieve a truly ancient stone effect. The possibilities are endless! I strongly encourage all you wonderful polymer clay artists to play with metal paints and patinas--I'd love to hear about your experiments and see what you create! Let me know!
