07/09/2021 blue patina for copper

Adding a blue patina to copper using fertilizer

In this post, I want to write about adding a blue patina to copper using fertilizer. The brand I am using is Miracle.Gro. I have read about it here and I thought it is a great way to patinate copper! Because most of us are using fertilizer to grow our flowers. So, it is good to find another cool application for them! I have a short video that I am showing this simple process.

 

 

Here is the way I am using it:

  1. Cleaning the piece and polishing if required
  2. After cleaning I am adding Liver of Sulphur in some parts to see how they will look like next to each other and even applied a very small piece of gold using keum boo technique
  3. To make the patination solution I use spoons inside the package of fertilizer and I mix one large spoon of water and 2 small spoon of fertilizer (almost 1:3). Result will be a blue solution.

  1. I add the solution to the copper piece using paint brush
  2. I let it dry completely. I will leave it to dry at least for 47 hours!
  3. After drying, you can leave your piece like that but I like an even surface and I don’t mind if some part of patination removed by polishing. So, I will go on and polish the piece using sandpaper
  4. Try various grits! I have tried 1220 grit and it was removing too much of the patina, so I switched to 2000 grit
  5. Then it is better to seal the patina. Of course, it is better to use a metal sealer, but you can use any sealer you have and then, we are done!

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