Rarely do I make dedicated test pieces. Especially when it comes to art. In my humble opinion art is created as the artist goes. There is an inspiration and then creation, but it isn’t tested. Typically my large items are 3d modeled, 100% designed before starting fabrication. I make changes along the way sometimes to make improvements, but the overall design is concrete.
On this project I was committing so much steel and patina it was going to cost more than a hobby “close enough” look.
So I made this little bugger from the Patina post. The only thing I was unhappy with on the test run was the amount of rust that showed up from behind the overlay. I would have preferred instead of rust, having more of the tiffany green. (the brown looking crust around the edges is the rust I’m talking about)
On this large piece I applied primer on the entire backing piece and the back side of the overlay. The rust is formed from contact with raw steel, so primering both surfaces before welding them together stopped the formation of the rust. It added a ton of extra work to the process, but I wanted this thing to be perfect! New and improved even.
Full circle…. it got me feeling blue. Too much blue. Oh, so very blue. My wife loves it, but for me I love the green. The green I busted my hump to create and get just right.
Process Photos
Right after it was cut and cleaned up a bit. My size 14 boot for a size comparison.
Here I marked out the overlay on the backing piece. I did this to make my brush strokes flow with the piece. The primer I am about to apply is very thick, similar to a build up primer but even thicker than that.
Primer half applied in this photo. Don’t mind the feet!
The overlay has been metalized on both sides and the backing piece has now been coated.
Both pieces ready for the difficult task of welding through three coats of metalized coating and primer.
Turns out I didn’t take any pictures of when I was freezing my butt off outside trying to weld through the paint layers! Anyway, movie magic the welding is complete! This is all copper at this point.
Now we’ve added bronze in this one.
Alright patina applied! It turned green very quickly on the small version… The directions say to wait up to 12 hours. I’m sure it’ll be fine!
16 hours later….. Eh. That looks really blue. Blue and actually sad, not just blue. Just down right depressed. We’ve got a jumper!
Hit it with another coat. I’m sure she’ll go green this time. Mucho patina juice has been applied!
Well. It’s blue, and there isn’t a darn thing I can do about it. We’ll add some more just because.
The contrast between the darker top and brighter bottom half isn’t as pronounced in person, the camera highlights it a bit. But the blue does have a fun brightness to it in natural light. I don’t hate the piece by any means but it wasn’t what I was trying to accomplish. I have to look it at like this, some great things are absolutely accidental and this little accident isn’t too bad.
