Playing with Gilders Paste

I am always in the look out to find new products to use in my jewelry making and this product is really fun and easy to use. Gilders Paste is a wax-based medium used to highlight metal, wood, resin, ceramic and much more.
They have a lot of colors to choose from and it really gives the opportunity to add color to metal in an easy and practical way.
Before adding the paste we need to clean our metal piece, it has to be free of dirt and oil. The paste works better in a surface that it is not very smooth, in case you have a smooth piece, you can use a fine sand paper to create some texture in the metal.
You can use your fingers, a cloth, small brush or a sponge to add the paste. You can also blend some of the colors together or thinner the paste with mineral spirits to make the paste softer to apply with a brush. 
The paste dries in 10 minutes to touch but it takes 12 hours to fully dry, you have some time to take the paste out if you are not happy with the color ;o). 
You can finish up your piece with a clear lacquer.

Here you can see some of my pieces I applied Gilders paste.

OAXACA

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Bronze and Gilders paste (African Bronze and Silver)

MILAGROS
©2010 Lorena Angulo
Bronze, sterling, coral, azurite and Gilders Paste patina.

©2011 Lorena Angulo
Bronze, brass and Gilders paste silver, Iris Blue and African Bronze.

In this picture you see how the copper mask looked before and after the Gilder Paste application. 

SPRING MASK
©2009 Lorena Angulo
Copper with Gilders Paste (African Bronze, Patina, Inca Gold and Silver.)