Hi, I paint metal all the time. You said it's sanded already. It needs sanded just like wood, so the paint has something to grab onto. I use any metal primer, then paint with oil base industrial paint (alkyd), available at most paint stores. Habitat ReStores and HD probably have it in their miss mix paint section. Anyone who works with a lot of metal probably has some laying around. It takes about 18 hours to dry, usually covers with one coat and is very tough. It's what they paint fire hydrants and other outside metal with. I'm guessing that it will be ok in a birdbath bowl. Let it cure for about a week if water will be sitting in it. Have you thought about leaving the aluminum bare inside the bowl and painting the rest of it? Aluminum has a nice look and the oxidation is the natural protective coating on it, so it doesn't need paint or any other coating. It will always clean up with a few SOS pads. Hope that helps. Linda

I'm not sure its a do it yourself project. Ask around and get pricing for a screen and recoat. Bonakemi makes one type and Tykote makes the other. Changing to a matte finish is easy and is done all the time. The acrylic is seldom used in a floating but doubtful you have that. Price should be under $2 a sf.

Thanks for that info, Casey. Yes, I've always used the brown backed sandpaper. Like I said, It's a chore to use sheet after sheet after sheet because of clogging. I envisioned myself buying it by the reem. I'll give that red-backed paper a try. I also have a sanding block, and it's got a fine wedge edge on one side and a curved edge on the other. It's come in handy a few times. Do the sanding sponges last? I'm just wondering how many projects I could expect out of one. I'm a fussy furniture painter. I like to finish and paint the insides of drawers, the sides of drawers (that go in the carcase), the back, etc. Basically, the entire piece gets sanded and painted, except for the bottom. You know how you can see a beautifully painted piece of furniture, then you open a drawer, and all you see is bare wood, or the remains of the prior finish with drips and smears of paint and who knows what else? I just think it looks tacky, and it's just lazy not to finish the whole piece. I painted a pair of cheapo pine nightstands that had been stained a gross dark color. The drawer framing was even worse, but I painted it all the same color, then used a vintage wallpaper to line the drawer bottoms, and it turned out really nice.

I have been a metalsmith since 1988. It's not a "job", I don't work for someone else. I have an MFA in Jewelry and Metals, earned in 2006. As part of my training we studied forging, welding, casting and fabrication from sheet metal: in copper, brass, bronze, nickel, and silver. Including blacksmithing in iron. NO PIECE was considered complete until a proper PATINA was created. It is an important part of the finishing process, whether through application of chemicals from a bottle, liver of sulphur, fuming with ammonia, etc. Though it it IS an important part of the work, it is still an APPLIED patina. Here is the definitive book on the subject, which I and every other metals student studied : https://www.amazon.com/Colouring-Bronzing-Patination-Metals/dp/0823007626 Oxidation is nothing more than a chemical reaction between the molecules in the metal and compounds in the air (as in your outdoor bronze example) or compounds applied, such as the sulphur released by a liver of sulphur solution. A microscopic layer forms which is technically an alloy of the metal and the chemical, such as silver sulphide. You APPLY a patina chemical. OXIDATION is the result. Calling it "artificial" ...well: it's ALL artificial. I don't know of a single sculptor or jeweler today who lets their pieces color naturally in the air. It is because you cannot control the result that way. Go to an art fair like the Des Moines Art Festival (not a craft fair with "yard art") and talk to some modern day bronze sculptors. Ask them if they let their pieces color naturally. From ancient times through the Renaissance to the present day: sculptors have colored their metals. I have seen old recipes calling for burying the piece in sawdust with urine added; akin to the ammonia fuming of today. A raw bronze is not a pretty thing. There is no contrast, no richness of the surface. No Renaissance sculptor would have thought of exhibiting one. Unless coated with lacquer, all patinas are "living" surfaces. They will continue to react and the color change with time: sometimes looking better with age, sometimes not; with the original metal gradually being eroded/penetrated by the alloy. Hence many outdoor bronzes in Italy (where acid rain and air pollition in general is a problem), have been removed indoors to controlled conditions, and copies placed outdoors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horses_of_Saint_Mark