Thank you for your recent purchase of a Gibby bronze. Even if you are not new to collecting bronze sculptures you may appreciate recommendations for the care of your bronze sculpture. I hope you find this “Quick Care Guide for Bronzes” useful.
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I use Everdur silicone bronze 873 for casting all of my work. It is and an alloy made up of 95% copper. This is the most workable and most common of the highest quality bronze used in the fine art casting industry. Because there is such a high copper content, this means that it has the potential to oxidize and turn green. To deter this from happening within a short period of time, I seal all of my bronzes with Nicholas Lacquer to complete the patina coloring process while the bronze is still warm and mostly, if not completely, void of moisture. Then I follow it up with an application of a thin coat of carnauba based paste wax.
These two sealing processes are meant to lock in the chemical reactions and pigments created while creating the patina. This should get you off to a good start to maintaining your patina color.
I would like to mention here that like all fine collectibles, there would be an aging process that occurs to the look of your bronze. No patina stays the same exact color forever. Things will happen to the color of your bronze no matter how you care for it.
The question is how it will age and how quickly. The reasons for this, UV rays may break down the exterior seal on your bronze exposing it to the elements, which then break down the patina colors. Secondly, internal moisture from the environment can affect the patina from within. In addition, certain chemicals utilized in patinas have a tendency to continue to react over time. The most common of these elements is sulfur. Over time, and very gradually, you may notice that your bronze may appear a bit darker and often richer in color. This may be due to the amount of sulfur left on the piece in creating certain effects required for the patina. Other chemicals (which I try to avoid) might be considered less stable by nature and change color at a faster rate.
There are various preferences when it comes to how a patina ages. My goal with my work is to use the most stable methods and materials so that the patina ages gradually to reflect it’s true age and not prematurely. But there is only so much I can do after the bronze leaves my studio. So, for this reason, I have written this guide.
First of all, it is good to note that the bronze itself should last thousands of years provided that it is not blatantly abused or vandalized with heavy tools. The nice thing about bronze is that it has its own security system. If someone tries to hit it with something, it has a built-in alarm system and it sounds like BONG!!! So, there is no need to worry about the bronze disintegrating even in outdoor or underwater applications.
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Second, UV rays kill patinas and it doesn’t take long in full sunlight. So the amount of maintenance depends on where you display your bronze. For instance, I have bronzes that I have never had to do anything with except dust. Even that was optional. And I have seen bronzes outside in full sunlight completely lose their original patina within a few short years because no maintenance was done to them. So consider where you will display your bronze to determine a maintenance plan. In general, indoor bronzes need very little maintenance unless they are right next to a window in full sunlight or near a close water source, like a sink or a fountain. All bronzes displayed outside need a regular maintenance plan involving cleaning and resealing. The nice thing is that it is not hard to do and depending on where you live in the world you may not have to do it all that often.
Bronze can periodically be polished quite vigorously with a clean soft cloth, to achieve a lovely finish, the soft brush (such as a shoe brush or soft toothbrush) being best for textured areas. Care should be taken, however, not to rub the parts of the sculpture, which protrude, such as noses and ears, as in time polishing on these areas will result in the patination wearing to reveal a very shiny area. (Shiny noses are a common but unattractive sight on many old sculptures!) Care should also be taken around any harness or tack, which is probably the most fragile part of a sculpture. This tends to be fabricated out of thin bronze or silver sheet and is therefore quite soft.
On rare occasions the patina on a new bronze will discolour a sort of grey colour, in certain areas. This happens mostly in dark brown or black patinas and has to do with the moisture in the atmosphere. This can be corrected very simply, call for advice.
If damage should occur to your sculpture, it can almost always be repaired. Please contact me for advice at www.gillparker.com
As a general rule the patina of a bronze and the subtle changes which will happen over years, will be part of the ‘history’ of that piece of art. The patina of bronzes as they mature can be an amazing addition and only add to the brilliance of the piece.
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