We installed an eBay find as door handle for the Dazzleloo. These doorhandles are Art Nouveau or transitional to Art Deco, and, I think, older than our house. They’re cast steel and I bought them stripped. I am sure they had been painted at some point in their life but I don’t know what the original finish would have been. Perhaps some sort of gilding.
I had them for a long time, even before we bought the house if I remember correctly, and I decided to use them for the loo.
We had just installed them on the door but I wanted to finish them some more. Also they had begun to rust.
Today I took them out, brushed out the little rust (brass brush), sprayed the back of the ring plates with clear lacquer (they were leaving rusty marks on the door), then applied a coat of guilders wax as a patina. I used the “patina” colour which is a nice verdigris.
I post a couple of phone pics but I will post some better camera photos in part 2 once these are finished and installed.
So far it looks exactly like I wanted it to! love when that happens on a process I’ve never done before ;P the patina really brings out the pattern more.
So my notes:
This appears to be a wax product with mineral spirits as a solvent. It dries out in the tin but you can revive it indefinitely (this is the reason why I chose this product in particular).
I had it sitting around for a bit so it was quite dry, separating from the sides of the tin. It could still be applied but this consistency was not ideal for the deep texture of the handles (it would be perfect for other items though), I could not get it to the bottom of the recesses, which is where you want most. I tried with cloth and finger and this again was not ideal. Finally I poured a few drops of white spirit and applied with brush.
This worked wonderfully but the consistency was a little too thin. I suppose ideally I’d have poured some white spirit and let it sit for some time to reconstitute to a paste, but I was in a hurry so I made do this way, which was ok.
I let the paste dry a bit (when very thick, it dried out enough to buff much faster, not surprisingly), then buffed with a cloth. I found that a soft (jersey) cloth removed too much, but a stiff piece of denim rag was ideal. I let dry some more then buffed with scotch brite pad.
Now I am supposed to let dry 12h, so I will spray lacquer it tomorrow or when I have the time. I’ll update.
Edit:
