Bronze Herons Attacked by Road Salt

By Age of Bronze

October 30, 2015

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Georgina Entry Wall - 2014 - Georgina, Ontario, Canada
 
"Importance of Maintenance"
 
This was a competition that I won back in 2014 to create 2 bronze herons and a painted steel Lake Trout to grace the landscaping that replicates the shores of Lake Simcoe, designed by Mark Setter and Associates. The herons were installed in October of 2014 that were finished in a statuary brown translucent patina. The Entry Wall is located at a very busy high traffic area, Woodbine Avenue and Ravenshoe Road in Georgina, Ontario. Throughout the course of the winter the herons were exposed to air born moisture and salt used to de-ice the roads. The transformation of the condition and appearance from October, 2014 to March, 2015, was incredible. They bronze had taken on a heavy green corrosion caused by this condition. My visual intent of the bronzes was to keep them brown and have the translucent appeal of the bronze appearing through the patina. After leaving them for the spring and summer to date, the rain has luckily washed off some of this green layer. However, they will still require maintenance to remove more of this corrosion layer back to the brown patina to stabilize the surface and then seal the bronzes with a cold application of Renaissance Wax. I have been in conversation with the municipality to research the composition of the salt mixture used on the roads.
 
Brett Davis, Sculptor and Patina Specialist in Metal Conservation
Age of Bronze


Maintenance on the Bronze Herons - October 2015

The maintenance was carried out in October of this year. The greenish corrosion was mechanically removed exposing more of the original brown patina. Not all of this corrosive layer could be removed as there were some areas where the corrosion had developed into a thick layer, that also made the removal from the crevice areas very difficult. Once this stage was complete, each bronze was washed with a diluted solution of Orvus W A Paste and water, that was followed by a rinsing of clean water and dried. A cold application of Renaissance Paste wax was applied to the surface of the bronze and allowed to set up, and then subsequently buffed using clean cotton rags and natural hair shoe brushes. To date the salt mixture is still unknown.
 
Brett Davis, Sculptor and Patina Specialist in Metal Conservation
Age of Bronze