WHICH PROTECTIVE COATING IS BEST FOR MY BRONZE? 

We usually recommend a wax coating for sculptural items. The wax acts as a barrier layer and slows the rate at which the surface will degrade. Sculpture that lives outdoors will need the wax coating replacing more often than those located internally. Wax is a traditional finish on sculpture giving a mellow, satiny finish appreciated by artists because it brings out the hues in the bronze to their maximum advantage. We use both micro-crystalline and beeswax blends to maintain sculpture depending on the specific environment and situation.

In some circumstances, sculpture may require a lacquer coating. In these cases, we often use Incralac which contains a corrosion inhibitor and is relatively easy to remove, if required. It is a more robust coating than wax but visually it is not as pleasing. It does scratch easily, if handled by the public, and is not a very suitable coating to apply in situ as the environment is so hard to control and this can result in a compromised finish.