Remember my bronze buddha from last year?

I took him from terra cotta to bronze using the Dixie Belle Patina Paint in Bronze with the green spray, and some Bronze gilding wax on the highlights.

I also added a few rusty spots to him using the Iron paint with the green spray.

I put him back in the garden and he stayed out there all year.  Then last week I whacked him with the hose while watering and broke his hand.  Ooops!

So after gluing his hand back on, I thought I’d share how well he weathered the third snowiest winter on record here in the Twin Cities.

Aside from a couple of spots on top of his head and that one spot on his face, he held up quite nicely.  Keep in mind that I did not use any sort of sealer over the patina paint.  Also, I was painting over an original paint on terra cotta that was failing.  So it’s not surprising that I had some problems.

But it was easy enough to fix.  I simply dabbed some Bronze paint over those spots, along with his repaired hand, and then sprayed them with the green spray.

I will say that the crack in his repaired hand sort of gathered the green spray and became a little more noticeable.

But really, if you didn’t know it was there I don’t think you’d notice it.

While I had the Bronze paint out, I decided to also spruce up my Chinese lantern.  You may not remember it, but I found this free at the curb during White Bear Lake’s Trash to Treasure day.

Sure, it was a little beat up.  And that piece in the middle has a big crack in it, but I just face that part to the back.

But after two years in the garden, the top was really starting to look a bit ratty.

And when you’re standing and looking down on the garden, the top is most of what you see.

You guys, it was so simple to give this a bronze medal metal winning makeover.  It literally took less than an hour.  I brushed the dirt off first, then painted a first layer of the Bronze paint.  It dried in no time because it was an absolute perfection of a day, 70 degrees and sunny with low humidity (and yes, I was working outside).

Once the first coat of paint was dry, I added a 2nd layer and while that was still wet I sprayed it with the green spray.  And ta da!

One thing I will note here is that the bronze patina develops much faster than the rusty iron patina.  Basically within about 15 minutes to half an hour.

In addition, maybe don’t follow my minimal prep example if you aren’t OK with potentially having to touch up your paint down the road.  I probably should have cleaned the lantern properly before painting, rather than just brushing off the loose dirt.  I also probably should have given it a base coat of either the Dixie Belle Prime Start or, since this isn’t metal, any chalk style paint would do.  That would have given the best results for long term adherence.

But I wasn’t concerned about that, as seen with my Buddha, I have no problem with coming back and touching up some spots every couple of years.

I’m also considering putting these items in the potting shed for the winter from now on.  After last winter when both of these were completely buried in snow for a couple of months, I’ve decided maybe they’d last longer if I store them for winter.

Before I go, you may be wondering why I chose the bronze finish for the lantern instead of my favorite rusty finish (using the Iron paint), and honestly it’s just because I already have quite a few rusty pieces in my garden including multiple pots, an iron bench and chair, and several rusty metal trellises.  So I needed to mix it up a bit.

Although a bronze medal is usually third place, I’d give the Bronze patina paint the silver medal in my line up of the patina paints.  So if you’re looking for a change of pace too, check out the Bronze!

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing all of their Patina Paint products for this makeover!