Fascinating example of the importance of sand blasting a piece before patinaing it.
I gave the back legs of this sandblasted guy a soak in vinegar and water to remove some investment material, and accidentally created a patina example. Check out the different patches the legs. The vinegar darkened his legs, forming a patina. The spots where I held him without gloves didn’t darken as much, due to the patina being impeded by skin oils. The spots, like the claws, where I’d just taken a grinder to, patinaed as well, but went golden. Fascinating! This is why it’s best to sandblast a piece right before patinaing it, to give yourself a clean spotless surface!
Sandblasting is also useful for spotting surface flaws, which is why I sandblasted this guy even though I wasn’t ready to patina him.
via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/fPkyjM