What Repair Type Should I Choose? Welding or Adhesive? If it does, it is most likely Spelter or Resin and not an authentic Bronze. Turn the item upside down and determine if it feels top heavy. Spelter and resin are both comparatively light, but they are sometimes attached to heavy wood or stone bases to give them extra weight. If it scratch easily and feels like plastic, it is resin. If it is silvery gray color, it is Spelter. If the scratch reveals a copper / gold / yellow color it is bronze. Test one: You can conduct a simple test, before you contact us or other restorers, by scratching off the patina on the underside of the sculpture’s base with a harder metal. To find out what is your sculpture made of, see tests below.īronze Napoleon bust - damaged. Many customers believe their sculpture is Bronze and are disappointed when they find out their sculpture is made of Spelter or Resin. The piece is then rubbed back to highlight features and polished with wax. After cast is removed, patina is applied the metallic looking surface. Resin: Sometimes we receive “Bronze” looking sculpture which was made out of Resin which is epoxy resin and bronze powder blended before casting. It contains zinc and lead, it is lighter than Bronze, it is softer, brittle and corrodes easier than Bronze. Spelter is a lower value metal also known as white metal or pot metal. Bronze is extremely hard and therefore unlikely to display any damage other than to the surface patina it was first used as swords in the Bronze Age. Bronze is very heavy and when tapped with something hard it makes a ringing sound. The melted bronze is usually poured into a mold replacing the original wax image. Most metal sculptures that come to us are made of Bronze or Spelter.īronze is an alloy, two or more metals melted together, in this case copper and tin melted at 1,400 degrees F. Then find out what metal was used to make the sculpture. The sculpture’s value is determined by the artist, who made the piece, was it cast posthumously and who owned it. Research as much information on the sculpture and the artist before considering repairing your sculpture. The first question sculpture owners often ask is: "Should I bother to fix this?" To answer this question, it is helpful to research the artist, date and provenance of the sculpture as well as the materials used. Customers ask for advice with a common questions "Should I repair my metal Sculpture? Is that Real Bronze, Spelter or Iron?
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