it will probably be christmas morning by the time I finish it. Had to go back to work so no time to sand blast it. Wont be home for a longtime. I did bring it with me so was able to chip most of the shell off, cut off the vents and do some chasing and it does look flawless which is a relief.
Thanks Thats more or less it. I did it in one piece as it would have been difficult if not impossible to weld on some of the corals. All I have to do is weld a piece to close the window in the shark and a small hole that was used to connect the shell inside the shark to the outside in the tail region
Finally got some argon and new gas lenses for my TIG, so was able to weld windows and holes closed on my shark and reef sculpture. My TIG skills have deteriorated considerably as can be seen by the amount of grinding I had to do to clean up my messy welding. Final sand blast and patina next.
Wow. Absolutely wow. You nailed IT! What are you going to color it with? I'm very interested in the patina. Wow just wow!
thanks zapins I have been collecting different patina recipies and techniques for a while now so will start getting the chemicals together and experipent on the first casting that didnt come out to well
Have you made any headway on the patina yet. I was searching around and found this website which might be useful. They have a range of premixed formula under Restoration and Finishing tab. https://www.tiranti.co.uk/
I have some recipes and 'The colouring, bronzing and patination of metals' book. So I have everything ready except time. Im away from home alot these days so no time to do it. I was scuba diving recently and was inspired by the green and blue everything looks after about 15 m and will do the first try using these shades rather than trying to replicate the true colours of the corals as they would be at the surface. I think it would be create a more subtle underwater feel. I think using multi colours of orange pink purple yellow etc would be too much on the eyes for a bronze at least. I'll see how it goes, probably try both and see how they look. Thanks for the Tiranti link. I have used them in the past for silicone rubber but they got a bit too expensive. I will look at their patinas though, I dont remember them doing them last time I looked which would have been over ten years ago.
I like the look of these ones. Bit more traditional in how they work and look https://www.tiranti.co.uk/Products/Vista_Patinas edit Ive just seen this one https://www.tiranti.co.uk/Products/Traditional_Blue_Patinas/516-632 Just what Im looking for. It may be worth the investment instead of trying to create the effect myself from the individual chemicals
I ordered some of that same blue along with some white. Not entirely sure how it's applied. It says it's a cold application, so I'm guessing you just make a paste, apply it, leave it for a while and then wash it off. A bit of experimentation is probably called for. I found that site because it can get really expensive buying raw reagents. Bismuth Nitrate seems to be wildly expensive. Between £60-100 for a 100g bottle + £60 hazardous mat shipping charge. Yeah... too rich for me.
I used bismuth nitrate once. after the wax was applied the white turned a duller dirty white so wasnt really what I was looking for t the time. I made it myself from adding nitric acid to Bismuth metal from what I remember. It wasnt that expensive doing it that way from what I remember and I ended up with quite alot of it and I think I probably still got most of the bismuth metal left somewhere. Its still quite cheap on ebay at the moment