Expert: Jochem Riskin - 6/22/2006

Question
I am a highschool art teacher who has taken on an ambitious project: My students have designed and carved low relief moulds for a 7 foot by 3 foot pewter mural.  The design has been cut into square tiles for casting.  The final moulds are made of ludo; we've done a test pour with one, by melting the pewter in a cast iron frying pan with a torch.  What I would like to know is;  how can we force some oxidation on parts of the design, to get contrast on the image, and can we polish and seal other parts, to maintain a bright silver look?

Answer
Dear Kathy

For the best result in your situation please do the folowing steps :

1. combine 2/3 thinner 1/3 black shoe pollish
  ( you can add more shoe pollish if you want to upper
  the effecr . ) Stirr this very good.

2. apply the mix to the pewter. Paint it on it, maybe even
  twice, untill all is black and dry.

3. polish of the parts that you want to optain a silvery look. If you are doing this manually it could take a while.
If you can, use a small "Dremel" or something of alike.

4. I would seal the whole thing of with varnish. It does remove a little of the shine, but it will ensure that the high polish stays high polish ( or silver look as you call it ), and doesnt get dull or covered with fingerprints over time. It is also good to protect the black background, and if you use the correct varnish, you can even wash it later.

Hopefully this info was usefull for you

Kind regards

Jochem Riskin