Gun Bluing as an art medium

Recently, I arc welded an abstract candle holder for personal use. After a good pickling and a thorough wire brushing, I was genuinly pleased with the appearance of the shiny steel. I then remembered that a few months before I has purchased a liter of Birchwood casey Super Blue on ebay. It was $60 which I thought was rather steep until I realized how concentrated it really was. The active ingredients are selenium dioxide and copper nitrate. These are potent oxidizers as well as being quite toxic. Great care must be taken when working with this material. Straight out of the bottle, this solution blackens steel immediately so if you are looking for more of a blue-gray, you will need to dilute with water considerably. I noticed during application that there was somr sudsing which means that they included a small portion of surfactant to the formula to improve its abililty to wet the metal surface. Also, when the satisfactory finish is obtained it is imperative that you flush the area with copius amounts of cold water and you dry completely. If not, the remnants will settle within the nooks and crannies creating unsightly rust spots. A heat gun on low would be helpfull here.

Here are some more photos of that candle holder.

You might not be able to tell from the photos but I applied a spray solvent based lacquer which

brought out a handsome shine to the deep patina. Next installment, I will try to get a lighter colored finish.