Finishing
by Kathi
(MIchigan)
What do you use to remove some of the patina after darkening. I have found a lot about adding patina but very little about what to do after the patina is added.
Stacy's Answer:
Hi Kathi!
I use an artificial steel wool pad (my name for them - not the manufacturer's) by 3M. I refer to them as scrubbie pads. I prefer the grey color as they are very similar to the 0000 steel wool pads without the mess, rust or splinters. They are available at Lowe's home improvement stores in the paint department. They're very durable and you use them over and over until they fall apart.
Liver-of-sulfur patinas are easiest to remove while they're still wet. Even after scrubbing and then tumble polishing for a few hours, often I find I have to scrub silver a bit more and re-tumbled before I like the look. It's still not bright silver, but has more of a mellowed patina look. I use the same pads for removing excess blue and green patinas on copper too along with excess liver-of-sulfur. If you take off too much, simply re-patina and remove the desired amount.
