Patina on Zinc

by Dorothy
(Prior Lake, MN)

Q: I am making a foiled panel with a zinc border. I want the border to be a black patina and the foil lines to be silver colored.

Should I complete all of the soldering before I patina the zinc or can I get the zinc to the color I want it first, then solder the border on?

Our A: Zinc will not take to patina well. You may need to paint with reg paint on the zinc material.

My recommendation would be to go ahead and solder all the seams. Clean the design and apply a wax for a shine finish.

Then apply the zinc. I would hand paint the zinc border after it is applied.

It may be a more time consuming process but this way you wont need to do any touch up to the zinc.

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