Seems you got it spot on, see here batavia s stair after many years of use.
There will be a video on it, but will be in 2 or 3 weeks
These are Amati plates, I break them to individual pieces
Then I put them in vinegar for a few minutes, then using twizzers I pick them from vinegar and dip into amónia and lay them to dry in a cloth facing up (looks to me that the cloth bering more like a towel and the surface not even gives me better results)
After a few hours I sprinkle salt over the plates and pulverize a tiny bit more amónia over it
The time it takes the 1st layer of the amónia to dry affects the result, if it dries too fast you get just darkened copper and very little patina, in these case I pulverize amónia before the salt and amónia step, if it takes too long you might end up with too much dark blue, in this case I dip them back in vinegar and set to dry, and might repeat the salt and amónia depending on how far back it went
I also decided to do all the plates before, to be able to mix the all the "batches" since they might not look exactly the same
The look is decent, but it's, in my opinion, very "patchy" I belive it needs some blending after being on the ship which is what I've done in the central part on the picture from yesterday to test, it will be more visible once I do it on the full work
I've tried many many things and combinations, just vinegar, vinegar and salt, amónia fumes, amónia fumes and salt, urine, urine and salt, liver of sulfur fumes, and combinations of several
This is where I landed
Please remember to work on ventilated spaces when handling amonia
These are Amati plates, I break them to individual pieces
Then I put them in vinegar for a few minutes, then using twizzers I pick them from vinegar and dip into amónia and lay them to dry in a cloth facing up (looks to me that the cloth bering more like a towel and the surface not even gives me better results)
After a few hours I sprinkle salt over the plates and pulverize a tiny bit more amónia over it
The time it takes the 1st layer of the amónia to dry affects the result, if it dries too fast you get just darkened copper and very little patina, in these case I pulverize amónia before the salt and amónia step, if it takes too long you might end up with too much dark blue, in this case I dip them back in vinegar and set to dry, and might repeat the salt and amónia depending on how far back it went
I also decided to do all the plates before, to be able to mix the all the "batches" since they might not look exactly the same
The look is decent, but it's, in my opinion, very "patchy" I belive it needs some blending after being on the ship which is what I've done in the central part on the picture from yesterday to test, it will be more visible once I do it on the full work
I've tried many many things and combinations, just vinegar, vinegar and salt, amónia fumes, amónia fumes and salt, urine, urine and salt, liver of sulfur fumes, and combinations of several
This is where I landed
Please remember to work on ventilated spaces when handling amonia
I really am enjoying your build.
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2019
- Messages
- 870
- Points
- 343
You have all my sympathy 
It took me 1645 plate to do mine and I did not tarnish them as you do on top of it
It took me 1645 plate to do mine and I did not tarnish them as you do on top of it
