Bronze Resin Sculptures
What is Bronze Resin?
Bronze resin is often used to make sculpture.
It’s basically a more affordable alternative to bronze.
The process of the traditional, lost wax bronze casting takes a long time and goes through many processes. So a lot of the cost of a bronze sculpture is the length of time it takes to make it, as well as the raw material of the bronze, which by the way comes in ingots like gold. Which looks pretty cool on a pallet.
To make a bronze resin sculpture the resin is mixed bronze powder so when the surface is rubbed back with sandpaper or wire wool, the particles of the bronze powder shine through, this gives the appearance of a ‘real’ bronze sculpture.
The resin is an incredibly precise material picking up all the crisp detail in the mold of the original sculpture made from clay. The down side of small bronze resin sculptures over traditional bronze is that they are more fragile. Like a piece of ceramic they can break if dropped, so try not to drop them or let your cat jump up and knock them off the shelf!
If you are displaying the sculpture indoors it will just need a bit a of light dusting now and again, you can also use clean paintbrush to dust any deep bits.
Can I put Bronze Resin outside?
Bronze resin sculptures are ideal for outside and require little maintenance.
What is Iron Resin?
Iron resin sculptures are made in the same way as bronze resin sculptures but with iron powder rather than bronze powder.
These are also ideal to put outside in the garden.
Iron resin, like corten steel, will develop a layer of rust which can look attractive in a garden setting, it can often resemble bark or slate which I love. I have an instagram film of this and will add the link here. The rusty patination will not harm the sculpture in any way, it just has a lovely natural look and never needs re waxing.
Caring for a Bronze Resin Garden Sculpture
If there is a build-up of dust, salt, soil or bird lime the sculpture can be washed with cold water using a big sponge, dishcloth, soft brush, old paintbrush or toothbrush, preferably not your own 😆
Little creatures think they are trees so do tend to make their homes in the deep texture so use your own judgment on how much to disturb them.
Over time the bronze powder in the resin will take on a natural patination because of rain water and sunlight.
You can just leave the bronze resin to do its own thing. It will eventually go a light blue, green, grey colour all over and then you don’t have to do anything.
How do I re wax a Bronze Resin Sculpture?
If you would like to keep it the polished bronze look to your sculpture then it’s good to clean and re wax it, maybe once a year, or every other year.
Choose a nice warm sunny day.
So the day before, you have washed it and it’s been drying in the sunshine or soft wind for the morning.
Now you want get your rubber gloves on, an old pinny and maybe an old dark coloured top ( it can be a bit splashy, but can be done gently as Graham is doing in the film_ insta clip to come ) Also if its on a stone floor or something precious then put some plastic or bits of old cardboard under the sculpture by tipping the sculpture and sliding it under, then the same on the other side.
Now you are going to apply a thin even coat of wax all over.
Tip some of the wax from the tub into an old jam jar with a lid, you can add a little bit of white spirit to it to ‘water’ it down but it’s not necessary, especially on a hot day as the wax will be more runny in the heat.
Apply the wax with a soft 1 or 2 inch natural bristle brush.
Be careful of the metal bit of the brush, the ferrule, you can wrap it with masking tape to avoid scratching the bronze resin if you are a bit gung ho.
Load the brush with wax and paint it on by dragging it backwards and forwards across the surface of the wax several times making sure it goes in the holes and deep textured bits.
If there is too much on there then wipe the excess off with a cloth, like a bit of old t shirt or dry dishcloth. As it dries just dab/stipple the surface to remove any brush marks. You may notice it pools in the low lying areas, you can drag the excess out of there and kind of keep spreading it about until it dries.
Keep going round the sculpture as it’s easy to miss dribbles. If the pesky brush marks or dribbles have dried hard then just get a bit of wax on the brush and re apply round the area persuading them to go and it will make them disappear.
Now leave it to dry for a few hours or next day and then you can use an old soft t shirt to polish the waxed surface.
Now congratulate yourself on a job well done.
If in doubt don’t worry, think of the sculpture as a piece of wooden furniture that you need to re wax every year.
And if you are really worried and you feel it’s really not in your skill set, or any of the skill set of any offspring or handy people you know then Graham and I can come and re wax if for you but we (or that kind of entertainment, see insta film clip) is very expensive 😆
If you are planning to do this I can send you a list of what you need and where to get it, so do email or whatsapp me questions and pictures etc, I am of course happy to help 😍
There will be an instagram film link here of Graham and I waxing a sculpture
This is the wax, if you are a nervous type then go for a lighter colour. I use dark oak as it gives the largest range in tones but the dribbles and brush marks show up more then the medium oak. But dont worry if you make a mess of it you can get it off again.
Liberon Black Bison Wax – Liberon is the brand name of the product, either the dark oak, medium oak or antique pine would work, https://restorate.co.uk/products/liberon-liquid-wax-polish-black-bison