I’ve seen several other wood turners using the metal reactive paints and wanted to try for myself. Good old Santa left some in my stocking this year so I rushed out to the shop to try and was absolutely blown away by the results. I did try several methods to apply the paint – first coat I used a sea sponge, not perfect. The second coat I used a foam brush but I still detect “brush strokes”. I think on the next I will spray the paint on to get a smoother copper finish but after applying the activator most of the brush strokes are only apparent on close examination. This one is a late Christmas gift for my son who is a metal artist — he should appreciate it!
That’s a good bit of work Alan. I’ve been turning for a very long time mainly making undecorated bowls but am just recently taking more interest in colour effects. I’ve tried mixing dyes on some rippled ash bowls and was pleased with the result. They sold, too. I’d like to try some like yours. Can you tell me something about the products you used here? And how do you apply the activator? That seems like the key step.
Terry, Glad you found my humble little site! The product is from a company called Modern masters http://www.modernmasters.com/. I had several bowls that just showed too many brush strokes. The best finish I got on the copper was using a rag to apply. The activator was tricky. On the test pieces I got too much and it created drips down the bowl. I tried different spray bottles but the activator makes them one-use as they don’t seem to work any longer after spraying it through them. I think on this project I used a sea sponge to apply. Give it a try, it is very dramatic looking. I am taking this into town today with some other pieces to the shop that sells my work. Hopefully other people will like since I have a pretty big time investment in exploring this.