Kevin is sanding the surface of his 3D printed sculpture Glance so that he can apply a patina to make it look like patinated brass. He is roughing the surface of the sculpture with a product called Abranet, which his brother, a woodworker, told him about.
Abranet is a very strong, flexible sanding mesh that you can actually look through. When you sand with it, the mesh doesn’t get clogged with debris. It’s also cooler than using power equipment like a vibrating sander so you don’t burn your work.
Kevin and the Voice sand the surface with the grain, removing any shiny finish, then wipe it down with a damp cloth.
Next they set the sculpture on a couple of wooden blocks so Kevin can apply a base coat of Sculpt Nouveau’s Brass B Metal Coating. This is amazing stuff – you can put it on pretty much anything. It’s ground-up brass in a suspension medium, so it gives it a real metal surface.
Kevin starts by applying the coating with a small roller, then sprays a tiffany green patina on it. The base coat needs to be wet when the patina is sprayed on.
He then gives up on the roller and uses a brush to finish applying the coating, while the Voice sprays on the patina. At one point, Kevin raises his magic lift table so he can get to the bottom of the sculpture. Slowly, the sculpture begins turning green.
After application, the brush is cleaned with water.
Kevin explains that the application is usually done when it’s warm – you can set it out in the sun, use a blow dryer or a heat lamp. Arizona is usually very dry and hot, but they had just had two damp, cool days, so the humidity is higher in the studio and the temperature is in the 60s, so he’ll let it sit overnight.
Once the sculpture is dry, he can come back with some steel wool and lightly sand it to bring out some of the highlights and color underneath.
After he wipes down the sculpture and is happy with how it looks, Kevin applies a clear coat. That final coat can be sprayed on with a spray bottle or a little air detail paint gun like you use on a car. Then he lets the sculpture sit out in the sun for a few hours.
When using these patinas, if you’re not happy with the results, you can make any adjustments you want – before you apply the clear coat. If you’ve put on the clear coat, you have to sand it back a little to get to your previous finish. There are also different patinas – blues, greens, copper, etc.
Kevin is going to let the sculpture sit overnight and see what it looks like in the morning. You see a final pan of the sculpture just after application, then a photo of it finished.
At the end of the video, Kevin assures viewers that everything will turn out right ….