by Staci L. Smith
Liver of Sulfur was the first
chemical I used when I leaned PMC. It can be used to darken your metals for an
antiqued look, or you can get color results with it too. Today I am going to
show you a couple ways that I use it for antiquing.
First of all, even though I mostly
use it to blacken my metal, I prefer it over Black Max, because its not as
toxic or harsh. I try to keep my studio chemicals to a minimum to keep it
better for the environment and my family. It may take a little longer to
blacken then using Black Max, but for me, it’s worth it.
Liver of Sulfur comes in two forms.
Lump form
Which come in
pressed, concentrated dried lumps of the product.
And Gel form
First I will talk a
little about the lump form.
1. Preparing your Liver
of sulfur : It needs to be dissolved in
water. It works best with HOT
water.
I like to use a giant lump, because it gives faster and
darker results. So I do a whole bunch at
ones to justify using such a large hunk.
When you get out your lump, do not get any water or moisture
in your container at all. Even the
tiniest amount will ruin your entire container.
I really like working with the dry form of the product, but this is the
downfall to it. I have lost a couple of
containers this way, and I am very careful.
So, using a tweezers I take a lump, place it in a plastic or
glass container (that needs to designated solely for this purpose- do not ever
wash and use for food purposes) and fill it with super hot, can’t touch it hot,
water.
2. Preparing your
metal: I give my metal a quick sanding with
some steel wool, just the help the surface take the chemical treatment better.
However, don’t do this if you are going for high shine. Clean, non-greasy metal will take the patina
better. Metal that is shiny and very
dense won’t take the patina as well. And
each metal reacts differently.
3. Place your objects
in the solution: Here is my tub of
goodies soaking. (did I mention this is
stinky stuff- you will want to use it in a well ventilated area…I do it in my bathroom
and run the fan)
4. How long to soak them:
I use my tweezers to check on the progress of my pieces, it can take
from 2 minutes to 15 minutes depending on how saturated your solution is, the
temperature of your metal (hot metal takes the patina faster) and the density
of your metal.
I have found that there are issues when I mix metals in my
solution. So I try to do all bronze, all
copper or all silver. It doesn’t seem to
get as dark when there is a mix of metals.
I have also found that bronze clay won’t patina well if it
is tumbled to a high shine. I also find
that it needs to soak a bit longer, and will develop mostly after it is out of
the solution.
5. After your metal
is done, rinse it well. Some people use
baking soda and water to stop the patination from continuing to develop, but
since I seal my items afterward, I just rinse very well. If it is a piece of jewelry, I usually wash
it with soap and water too.
Here is that same pile of bronze after its rinsed.
After this I buff the
high spots and or polish it and seal it to preserve the finish. This part is
very messy. When I do big batches like
this, I often wear a mask while buffing so I don’t breathe in the dust.
6. Liver of Sulfur can be disposed of in your
septic system. You can add baking soda
to neutralize it, but it neutralizes itself fairly quickly anyway.
Ok, now for how you can use the gel version. First, what I like about gel version is there
is no risk of ruining the solution, since it is already mixed. It also lasts for years.
You can use the gel the same way I outlined above, by adding
the gel to hot water. When I do it that
way, I usually add just a little at a time until the solution seems saturated
and nice and yellow.
Here is another method of using the gel. I use this often
because I love the color you can get on your copper.
1. Dip a
Q-tip into the gel
2. Rub the
Q-tip onto your metal. I push down hard on it, like I am trying to rub it in.
3. Wipe off the gel from the metal. I use a paper towel, and as it gets yellow, I
use a new spot until it rubs off clean.
As I rub off the liver of sulfur, and am pressing down. It gives the metal a nice warm brown tone to
it. I seal it soon after with either a
spray lacquer or wax or both. Please
note this is messy, and you may want to wear latex gloves so it doesn’t get all
over your hands.
4. Here is
what it looks like when it’s done. The bottom photo shows two, the one
on the left is antiqued and the one on the right is not.
5. There are also ways to apply liver of sulfur to
create a rainbow effect, though I have never had success with these.
So there you go, just
a little information on something I use ALL the time. When you antique your pieces, and buff away
the high spots, it accentuates your textures.
You can easily remove the patination by polishing or pickling your
piece.
