Patina

Over the past few days I have been working on getting a patina on some cuffs.  I have a vision in my head about how I want the final product to look, but its a different thing translating that!  I want the cuffs to have a rich patina without adding traditional color and then I will add pops of color with enamel pieces.
If Im only good at one thing, it would be color.  I think this is where my strength lies as an artist. I have always been able to match a color perfectly.  I can mix paint to match any color, I can recreate a color that I saw 20 years ago.  I FEEL in color!  I love enamel for this reason, it alows me to add soft vibrant color to hard cold metal. I love the dichotomy.

but for this project, Im having trouble.  

I first started by altering the color of the cuffs with heat. That was not the look I was going for!

 Then I added some different solutions.  Here is where they are now

I should probably just take some advice from Brian.  He is lousy with color but he is an expert with patinas!  He is a fine woodworker by trade but in the past few years he had created a few copper doors with a beautiful patina.  He has used everything from bleach to walnut shells. you can see his work  here at zo mill doors.  Im going to try a few more things before I conseed and ask for help! I really want to figure out how to get the effect I want without using a prepared solution. I also don't want much blue/green because Im going to add the color with enamel and Im afraid that it may clash.  I guess we will see where it goes.
By the way...These cuffs started as Bronze.