Step 7: The Finish

To finish the piece, we cut it away from the sprue, grind down what is left of the sprue connection, grind texture into where the connection was to hide the connection, and patina the piece. Sandblasting happens between most of these steps and a lot during the grinding steps. Sandblasting helps even out the texture and makes the piece more uniform. It also creates a slight texture for the patina to stick to. The patina is a chemical/heat treatment that oxidizes the bronze. Different chemicals will make different colors on the bronze. The lighter colored pieces in the pictures are the pre-patina, freshly sandblasted color of the bronze. This color does not last long. The finally completed statuettes are the darker pieces. Ignore the stone. I was just playing around with compiling them together somehow, but I decided against it.