Bronze Hands Lost Wax Project

Only one way to get good at matching texture. Get in there and do it! You can get it close enough, only you will know where it was. As is now, EVERYONE knows its there.

 

Hahahahaha true true. But I’m tired man and it’s on the underside where people won’t notice it unless they pick it up. 8 months is a long time to fight a project. And my confidence tanked after watching the welder try on my test hand and the amount of grinding and detail work I’d have to do made me sigh with resignation. I finished the initial polish and now I’ve got it vinegar fine patina’ing for the next few days

 

Need to buy different kinds of carbide wheels and some sand paper drums for the dremel or flap wheels or stone burrs to remove the chatter marks from the carbide burrs. Then you sand blast the piece at the end to even out the texture and make it look uniform. Lot of work, but that's why bronze sculptures cost so much. Looks like it came out well.

 

8months is nothing man. I can do that on my head. I've been bashing my head in on this chunk jewel nightmare for probably twice that. Some things just take longer than others and that's just the way it is sometimes. Zap has some good tips on blending repairs. I always start with the bead blaster and end with it too. You'd be surprised how you can make some serious stuff disappear. Remember, 200years ago, there were NO POWER TOOLS! Guys had to make a hole, stuff them with little bronze scrap pins and hand file and chase details back in with super sharp hand tools. That was some serious labor. A dremel makes working bronze child's play. When it came to patinas, pieces were often buried in the ground with hay, cow shit and then pissed on for months on end. I'm not joking either! We got it easy these days. Too bad the average person could give less than 2shits about what we do. The big foundries in Colorado are IMPOSSIBLE to compete with. They must run massive editions to make a few bucks per piece. To me, they might as well be friggen walmart! I prefer one of a kind pieces or seriously limited numbers. If something doesn't really captivate my attention, I'm not screwing with it. Spare time is really hard to come by for me so I try to use it wisely.

 

if spare time is hard for you to come by then 8 months worth of work is probably the hour-equivalent to 2 months of work for me. I'm well into over 300 hours on this (at least). that includes having to build a bunch of my tools cause i started with nothing. most of it's been insane learning curve and not knowing wth i'm doing at the beginning. I shake my head when I look at the pictures of the stupid things i was trying to do to even get a wax model made in the beginning. smh

 

You'll get faster and figure out tricks along the way. Just wait until you decide to scratch build something out of wax. You dont need a silicone mold for everything you make. If you are willing to roll the dice and trust your abilities, you can save some time and money too and do things directly in wax. Take that porch light I made. No molds on that one, but 6 months of glass work, a kiln, pid controller a few cans of boron nitride at 50bucks a can.. Ya, this hobby can be humbling big time. The clowns on youtube have no clue what we do. The best thing I can suggest is make peace with the wax work and learn to enjoy working it. I hated it with a passion in the beginning. I'm no master by any means, but each thing I make gets a little better. Wax is a remarkable tool and the possibilities are almost endless. Yeah it costs more than the bronze, but when you F up, chuck it back in the pot and try again. I think you need to make a 2 piece jewelry box for your next project. Zap made one and so did I. It would make a great gift for that special woman in your life. I've found running a build thread here helps keep me motivated. If only I could get the balls to attempt the stainless pool my wife wants.

 

Just saw that they make a silicon bronze mig wire for wire fed welders. I have one of those. The tig welder seemed bulky and difficult to nuiance the weld... or the welder just wasn't experienced with brazing like that. anyways, with a .03 mig wire, i bet i could control the fill ALOT more precisely... anyone ever try brazing with a mig wire welder??
oh actually i have a flux core welder. they prol don't make flux silicon bronze wire...

 

You would need a gas bottle. I've never seen flux cored sil bronze wire. Doesnt mean they dont make it, but I doubt it. You really need that gas envelope to protect the weld and keep it clean with sil bronze. I can assemble a tig welder with a cheaply HF arc welder, a tig torch and a gas bottle. But by then youd have 500-600 bucks in a half assed setup. Save up and get the Ahp or wait for some feedback on that other cheap chinese machine in the same price bracket. Both of them appear to be very capable machines for the money. For precise work of our scale, its tig all the way.

 

Never done it myself but it's pretty commonly used at autobody shops, mig brazing, as it's called, puts less heat into the sheet metal resulting in less distortion. BTW, mig brazing requires 100% argon shielding gas.

 

I did a small repair once using oxy/acetylene with a welding torch. I used a thin piece of waste from the mold for filler and 20 mule team borax for flux. It worked pretty good. I just used files to finish it.

 

Lol all vinegars are not created equal... I was out of the vinegar I used last time (either white or apple cider vinegar) for patinaing... so I used what I had on hand... red wine vinegar and a bit of rice wine vinegar.... lol it turned out neon blue... wth?! LOL
Gonna pressure wash it and try again with apple cider vinegar.

 

It won't take much to get that off. Greens and blues are very delicate unless done over time and very slowly. I still don't like green for this project. Just my opinion. I'd run browns and buff back the flat parts leaving the dark in the skin cracks/folds. Working man's hands. Not midnight in the garden of good and evil. Go to bass pro shop or cabellas and get some birchwood casey brown in the gun department.

 

I hear ya about the color. That would be nice but it’s a commissioned work so I’m letting the siblings decide the details. still shocked at how blue it was! It did come off easy tho.

 

Do you have an example of a project you used that birch wood Casey brown on?

 

Not personally... It's just like typical brown you see on bronze pieces. I know you can't buy liver of sulfur locally, that's why I suggested bass pro shop.
The look is about the same as LoS.

Tell them the green will remain fragile, look fake as shit and it will flake off and look like hell. "Customers" don't always know whats best, Especially relatives!
A liver finish will age beautifully with a wax protecting the finish and when people touch it, it makes it that much nicer when it picks up oils from their hands. The green will not change because you have to lock it in under some clear coat which will most likely yellow with age. Then it has to be started over.

If you want green, you are going to have to learn to do it with heat and cupric nitrate, it's applied very diluted and in super thin coats. Think wood stain, NOT PAINT!

 

What’s your los application process?

 

Warm the piece to around 200. Spray the stinky shit on, wipe it off. Coat in wax.
Done! lmao.

 

Your green btw reminds of whats inside a can of miracle grow fertilizer. That color has got to go!

 

Hahaha I think I’ll be able to convince them to go for a los look more than the vinegar fume look. Thanks for sharing your patina secrets!

 

Good now I can EDIT that. I'll send it to you in a PM.