Patinas & Metal Paints

So what is a patina?

Traditional patinas are mixtures of chemicals that react with metals to create different surface colours. Many of Barnes’ patinas are variations of old formulas that have been used for years and made available as premixes for your convenience. All of these patinas contain acids, most will cause rust on iron and steel. A few of the patinas are terrific on iron and steel, such as Darkening Patina, Japanese Brown and Vista Green. Traditional patinas will vary in colour and effect on different metals.

If you’d like to achieve a patina effect on a non-metallic object there is an easy solution… just use one of Barnes’ range of metal coatings. You can use them to change one metal to another or they may be applied to a non-metal surface such as glass, timber, ceramic, plaster, gypsum, concrete, foam, resin and more.

Materials:

Materials you’ll need:

3 Paint brushes
Diamond Vogel Primer
Metal paint
Patina
1 x Plastic cup (per patina)
Permalac Spray

	Step 1: Here’s how we did it… As our flowerpots were made from galvanized steel, it was necessary to prime their surfaces with a Diamond Vogel Primer. Using a paintbrush, the primer was painted over the entire surface of the flowerpot, left to dry and then another coat was applied.
	Step 2: Once the second layer of primer had dried, a copper metal paint was applied using a paintbrush and left to dry. Once dry, another coat of metal paint was applied and whilst it was still wet we dabbed our chosen patina onto the wet metallic paint using a paintbrush (a small amount of patina was poured into a plastic cup for ease of use).
	Step 3: The final step was to spray Permalac over the surface of flowerpots. Permalac is a strong, UV stable lacquer that protects and enhances your patina finish. Disclaimer: Information in this project are offered as a guide only. The safe use of all our materials is the sole responsibility of the user. Please refer to technical and material safety data sheets for further information.
	Step 4: If the metallic object chosen to patina is dirty or greasy, use a metal cleaner prior to application of any metal coatings or patinas. If the object you wish to patina is non-metallic you will need to first coat the object with a metal paint. Metallic surfaces such as bronze, brass, or copper do not require a coating of metal paint as they will naturally react with the patina. To apply patinas you can spray, brush or use a sponge to dab the patina onto the metal paint.