» Bronze Finish

Bronze Finish

May 15th, 2007 by goregt

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Creating a bronze finish for the dog portrait.

Bronzes do add a look of elegance to a sculpture and creating a bronze finish with paint is a pretty simple process. What I like most about a bronze finish is that it does not take long at all to complete the paint up of the sculpture.

I’m by far a better sculptor then painter so the bronze technique is an easy way for me to “complete” a project. I do from time to time paint a sculpture using technique other than the bronze finish but the process usually takes me more than a week to complete and I am running short on time for this project.

* This sculpture is created with Super Sculpey.

	The first step in painting is to prime the sculpture (which helps the paint stick to the clay ). I normally use an auto primer when I prime my sculptures. After the primer dries I then paint the sculpture black.Tip: If you use black primer it is easier to paint the sculpture black.

	My preference for the bronze paint is the Duncan Ultra Metallic UM 953. It is a little bright but I will tone it down in some of the later steps.

	The key is to leave some of the black paint showing through. You do not want to completely cover the sculpture with the bronze paint.

	Here is a picture of the sculpture with the bronze base. The bronze is a little bright for my taste so I’ll tone it down a little in the next step.

	I’m going to add a wash to my sculpture. I mix the black and bronze paint together with a lot of water. The goal is to get the consistency of milk with the paint. When you apply the paint to the sculpture it will run down the sculpture. I like to keep the paint dark so that the settles well in all the creases.Now doesn’t that look nasty…

	Here is a picture of what the sculpture looks like once wash has been applied. The bronze has been dulled down to a nice finish.