As much as I love mixing gemstones, pearls and found objects with metal, I’ve always been a secret admirer of other coloration techniques from patinas, to enamel, to resin, etc. Patinas are generally an intrinsic part of my artwork. I like to make metal look vintage, and bring out the tiny details I add to it, by adding a darker sheen to certain areas. And although you can do this and create many colors, the choices are still a bit limited.
I’ve played around with resin and even some enamel in the past, but these didn’t really do it for me. The colors all shine – and quite frankly, I’d like my colors to be more matte looking so you can see the metal and it’s finely etched details along with the color.
So guess what? I think I’ve finally found something – Gilder’s paste. Gilder’s paste is a bees wax based paint that you can use on metal. You can add color in may different hues – and it’s permanent! (However, I will still protect my pieces with a special metal lacquer because I’m paranoid that way.) The sample below is something I just started working on today. You have to wait approximately 12-24 hours between coats, so what you see here is not exactly what I expect this to look like just yet – but it is getting close.
Floral colored sterling silver pendant
Oh, the possibilities! I think some new designs may be emerging pretty soon from this. And I think I’ve found my colors!
