Patina

Once your work is welded and repaired to perfection so that it is a replica of the clay you originally began with you will want to patina the surface, not only to give it life but to protect the surface as well. The best advice I can give you is find an artist skilled in doing patina's and explain to them the look you want for your piece.  Be honest if it is not what you saw or envisioned (you are paying for it.) Nothing can not be redone!

Patinas are done by heating your bronze with a torch and spraying or dabbing with a brush of acid on your piece until you get desired color. Often it is done with mixing and layering different acids.

Some people (both artists and patrons) prefer just the standard old fashioned bronze look.  Others can patina a bronze to copy either true colors of an object or even have  bronze look like stone or wood.  They are truly artist in themselves. All artist have to remember if you are out of your comfort zone learning a process in sculpture or you treasure the time you have to just create in clay, so be it. Some artists do it all, I am not one of them.





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Keeper of the Sacred Spirit
13 1/2 w x 10 x 9
only five left in this edition
available on oval wood base and polished stone also
pictured sandstone

  Just a little side laugh in the old days of early bronze artist would invite their guest to go out back and pee on the latest work. "Acid is Acid"!

Each piece has a story so here is the story with Keeper of the Sacred Spirit.

"Keeper of the Sacred Spirit" was actually done using a neighboring buffalo ranch where I could go and take my pedestal and work.  The bull I used was named Aspen and even though he was powerfully built you could actually scratch his nose.  One day as I set up my clay to begin work as I had done before I reached over to give my morning scratch and Dave (the owner of Aspen) hurried over to inform me that the one I was approaching was not Aspen.
Needless to say I learned a lesson that day that all animals must be treated as though they are potentially dangerous. Also, that a lot of buffalo look alike but don't necessarily have the same temperament. Many years ago I remember hearing of a female artist being trampled by a buffalo.