Amazing Casting Products: From Plain to Patina... Faux Copper Patina How-to by Carole Lassak

Hi!! My name is Carole, and I'm addicted to Amazing Crafting Products! Today I have a confession: For the longest time I was too intimidated to try painting my castings. You see, I'm not an artist. I lived with art majors in college, and I definitely couldn't do what they did with paint, pens, ink, charcoal, and all that other stuff that produced images. So, paint just wasn't something that I considered. I didn't even have any in my craft arsenal.

With a little help from friends, I got over my phobia. So, if you too are hesitant about painting the castings from your molds, here's an easy project, guaranteed to give you great results.

The original of this piece was from a friends garage sale find of an old copper piece. It measures about 4" x 5". I used Amazing Mold Putty to create a mold from the original piece using these standard directions. I used Amazing Casting Resin for the casting and followed these standard directions for mixing and pouring the resin.

Here the Amazing Casting Resin in the mold is just beginning to bloom – this is when the resin begins to change from a clear liquid to a white solid.

After the casting was set and removed from the mold, I used jeweler's file to smooth and rough edges and eliminate any over-pours. When I file the edges, I'm careful to angle the file so that any resulting bevel is on the underside of the piece.

Next, I selected my color palette for transforming this plain white casting into a beautiful piece with a faux patina finish. I used acrylic paints and chose black green for the base coat, leaf green for the accent color, and metallic gold for highlights.

With a small round brush, I completely coated the casting with the black green, taking care to cover all the sides, edges, and nooks and crannies.

When that coast was dry, I added the leaf green accents with a barely wet stipple brush. I gentle dripped the brush into the paint, then tapped off excess by stippling onto scrap paper until the brush held just the slightest amount of paint. Once the paint meets the piece, I find that it's easier to add more than to take away too much. Of course, how heavily you stipple your piece is totally a matter of personal taster.

Again, let that paint dry before adding the gold highlights. These I added with a sponge brush that had even less paint on it than the stipple brush did. I just wanted to graze the topmost areas. The difference after adding the gold highlights is subtle, but definitely adds another dimension to the piece.