Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas, Recipes and Processes. Various
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again and let dry. Apply 1 or 2 coats after the first is perfectly dry. Handsome smoked hues may be obtained by holding the bronze either over the dust of lighted peat or powdered rosin thrown on lighted coal, so as to obtain a smoke which will change the color of the varnish employed. The varnish must be liquid enough to be worked easily, for this style of bronzing is only applicable to brass.
Green Bronze On Iron.
—Abietate of silver, 1 part; essence of lavender, 19 parts. Dissolve the abietate of silver in the essence of lavender. After the articles have been well pickled apply the abietate-of-silver solution with a brush; next place the objects in a stove and let the temperature attain about 150° C.
Blue Bronze.
—Blue bronze is {139} produced by the wet process by coloring white bronze (silver composition) with aniline blue. A blue-bronze color can be produced in the ordinary way from white-bronze color, the product of pure English tin, and with an alum solution consisting of 20 parts of alum in 4,500 parts of water boiled for 5 hours and washed clean and dried. The bronze prepared in this manner is placed in a porcelain dish, mixed with a solution of 15 parts of aniline blue in 1,500 parts of alcohol, stirring the bronze powder and liquid until the alcohol has evaporated entirely and the bronze color becomes dry. This manipulation must be repeated 6 or 8 times, until the desired blue shade is reached. When the bronze is dark enough it is washed out in warm water, and before entirely dry 1 tablespoonful of petroleum is poured on 2 pounds of bronze, which is intimately mixed and spread out into a thin layer, exposed to the air, whereby the smell is caused to disappear in a few days.
Bronzing With Soluble Glass.
—To bronze wood, porcelain, glass, and metal by means of a water-glass solution, coat the article with potash water-glass of 30° Bé. and sprinkle on the respective bronze powder.
Brown Oxidation On Bronze.
—Genuine bronze can be beautifully oxidized by painting it with a solution of 4 parts of sal ammoniac and 1 part of oxalium (oxalate of potash) in 200 parts of vinegar, allowing it to dry, and repeating the operation several times. These articles, protected against rain, soon lose the unpleasant glaring metallic luster and assume instead a soft brown tint, which bronze articles otherwise acquire only after several years’ exposure to the atmosphere. A beautiful bronze color which will remain unaffected by heat can be imparted to bronze articles by the following process: The object is first washed in a solution of 1 part of crystallized verdigris and 2 parts of sal ammoniac in 260 parts of water, and then dried before an open fire till the green color begins to disappear. The operation is repeated 10 to 20 times, but with a solution of 1 part of verdigris crystals and 2 parts of sal ammoniac in 600 parts of water. The color of the article, olive green at first, gradually turns to brown, which will remain unaltered even when exposed to strong heat.
Bronze Powders:
See also Plating for general methods of bronzing, and Varnishes.
Gold And Silver Bronze Powders.
—Genuine gold bronze is produced from the waste and parings obtained in gold beating. The parings, etc., are ground with honey or a gum solution, upon a glass plate or under hard granite stones, into a very fine powder, which is repeatedly washed out with water and dried. There are various shades of gold bronze, viz., red, reddish, deep yellow, pale yellow, as well as greenish. These tints are caused by the various percentages of gold or the various mixtures of the gold with silver and copper.
By the use of various salt solutions or acidulated substances other shades can be imparted to bronze. In water containing sulphuric acid, nitric acid, or hydrochloric acid, it turns a bright yellow; by treatment with a solution of crystallized verdigris or blue vitriol in water it assumes more of a reddish hue; other tints are obtained with the aid of cooking salt, tartar, green vitriol, or saltpeter in water.
Gold bronze is also obtained by dissolving gold in aqua regia and mixing with a solution of green vitriol in water, whereupon the gold falls down as a metallic powder which may be treated in different ways. The green vitriol, however, must be dissolved in boiling water and mixed in a glass, drop by drop, with sulphuric acid and stirred until the basic iron sulphate separating in flakes has redissolved. Another way of producing gold bronze is by dissolving gold in aqua regia and evaporating the solution in a porcelain dish. When it is almost dry add a little pure hydrochloric acid and repeat this to drive out all the free chlorine and to produce a pure hydrochlorate of gold. The gold salt is dissolved in distilled water, taking 1/2 liter per ducat (3 1/2 grams fine gold); into this solution drop, while stirring by means of a glass rod, an 8° solution (by Beaumé) of antimony chloride, as long as a precipitate forms. This deposit is gold bronze, which, dried after removal of all liquids, is chiefly employed in painting, for bronzing, and for china and glass decoration.
Metallic gold powder is, furthermore, obtained by dissolving pure and alloyed gold in aqua regia and precipitating it again by an electro-positive metal, such as iron or zinc, which is placed in the liquid in the form of rods. The gold is completely separated thereby. The rods must be perfectly clean and polished bright. The color of the gold bronze depends upon the proportions of the gold. In order to further increase the brilliancy the dried substance may still be ground. {140}
Mosaic Gold.
—Mosaic gold, generally a compound of tin, 64.63 parts, and sulphur, 35.37 parts, is odorless and tasteless, and dissolves only in chlorine solution, aqua regia, and boiling potash lye. It is employed principally for bronzing plaster-of-Paris figures, copper, and brass, by mixing it with 6 parts of bone ashes, rubbing it on wet, or applying it with varnish or white of egg in the preparation of gold paper or for gilding cardboard and wood. Mosaic gold of golden-yellow color is produced by heating 6 parts of sulphur and 16 parts of tin amalgam with equal parts of mercury and 4 parts of sulphur; 8 parts of precipitate from stannic muriate (stannic acid) and 4 parts of sulphur also give a handsome mosaic gold.
The handsomest, purest, and most gold-like mosaic gold is obtained by melting 12 parts of pure tin, free from lead, and mixing with 6 parts of mercury to an amalgam. This is mixed with 7 parts of flowers of sulphur and 6 parts of sal ammoniac, whereupon the mass is subjected for several hours to a heat which at first does not attain redness, but eventually when no more fumes are generated is increased to dark-red heat. This operation is conducted either in a glass retort or in an earthenware crucible. The sal ammoniac escapes first on heating, next vermilion sublimates and some stannic chloride, while the mosaic gold remains on the bottom, the upper layer, consisting of lustrous, golden, delicately translucent leaflets, being the handsomest mosaic gold.
Genuine Silver Bronze.
—This is obtained by the finely ground waste from beating leaf silver or by dissolving silver in aqua fortis. This solution is then diluted with water and brightly scoured copper plates are put in, whereby the silver precipitates as a metallic powder.
Imitation Silver Bronze.
—This is obtained through the waste in beating imitation leaf silver, which, finely ground, is then washed and dried. In order to increase the luster it is ground again in a dry condition.
Mosaic Silver.
—Mosaic silver is an amalgam of equal parts of mercury, bismuth, and tin. One may also melt 50 parts of good tin in a crucible, and as soon as it becomes liquid add 50 parts of bismuth, stirring all with an iron wire until the bismuth is fused as well. As soon as this occurs the crucible must be removed from the fire; then stir in, as long as the contents are still liquid, 25 parts of mercury and mix the whole mass evenly until it can be ground on a stone slab.
BRONZE VARNISHES: See Varnishes.
BRONZING