How to Make Your Steel Different Colors - Kevin Caron

#FabricationTips #MetalworkingTips #KevinCaronArt

From kevincaron.com - Artist Kevin Caron plays around with some patinas from Steel F/X - you won't believe what they can do!

Kevin Caron is standing at his workbench with 10 bottles of patinas from Steel F/X. They're just some of the patinas that the company offers to color metal, and they all work cold!

He's set up a bright, shiny steel bell outside and is ready to play with the copper and flame patinas.

You just wet the metal with clean water, and then spray on the patina. Kevin Caron is starting with the copper patina. He sprays it on, then washes it back off again with the water and dries it with compressed air. You can already see the color start to show.

Next Kevin Caron comes in with the flame patina. This time he didn't wet the metal first, but just sprayed on the patina. You only leave it on 10 - 15 seconds, so he rinsed it off quickly, then dried it.

He then shows the results. The bell, which was shiny steel, is now a variegated copper and dark flame on one side, but where he didn't rinse off the copper patina at all, the bell looks like bright copper!

Kevin Caron likes to play with these things because he is always learning.

You can see how quickly the color changed. He's going to experiment some more with water, without water, outside in the sunshine, where the UV can hit it - other patinas he's used are definitely affected by the sun. And it's 100 - 105 degrees where Kevin Caron was patinating!

With these patinas, as soon as you're done, you need to put a clear coat over the patina or it will rust. Dry the metal thoroughly first, then apply the clear. Clear is a very important step!

Steel F/X offers a clear lacquer or Kevin Caron has just used a clear varnish in a spray can that he got at the big orange box store.

Kevin Caron is ready to wrap this up and go back to work, so you have time to hit that "Like" button and to subscribe to see more how-to videos as soon as they come out and to visit kevincaron.com to see my wild sculpture!

Well, you might want to stick around for another moment to see him give that bell hell ...


"Inspired sculpture for public & private places."

Artist Kevin Caron has been sculpting full time since 2006. See - and hear - his amazing metal and large format 3D-printed sculptures, which are found in public and private places coast-to-coast and online at kevincaron.com.

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