Hi all, An architect asked for some suggestions for a project by the pacific ocean. He wants to clad(decoratively) parts of a high rise with a metal with a mottled brown(bronze) patina. I know that there are some stainless steels that do well around the salty air environment, but can you patina it to look like bronze? How about other materials like aluminum, copper, or actually bronze? Would they hold up in that environment? Once up access will be very limited and they will be outdoors.

The pendant necklace is comprised of a bronze sand cast of a Victorian button, bronze water cast hanger, & handmade brass chain. This pendant is the first thing I ever sand cast. I chose the button

December was a very busy month for me.  I completed and installed the hardware for the "treasure chest" engine cover for the pirate ship.  That necessitated a trip to the boatyard in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and a half-day's time.   As I feared might happen, the dimensions I was given for the engine cover were not accurate.  Fortunately, they were wrong in a way that I could cope with, since I had taken over sufficient tools to make just such a modification.  I had to shorten a pair of the straps, but the joints could be concealed where they pass under the other straps, so no harm done other than wasting a bit of time.  Treasure chest completeI also had to do some fakery on the woodwork itself, as the box was made of plywood with the grain running the wrong way, and it looked like a plywood box.  I was prepared for this eventuality and used a hook scraper I'd made and carried along for the purpose, and carved some shadow lines in the plywood to simulate plank joints.  I darkened these with a bit of dark stain, used a rattle can of black paint to add some shadows and "age" to the thing, and it looked considerably better.

Recently I've been working on a rather fun project involving forging and fabricating silicon bronze.  The client has a ship that is being re-fitted to look like a pirate ship, and this project involves making the hardware to decorate the engine cover so it looks like a pirate's "treasure chest."