Now you can join the thousands of people in the USA that are bronzing baby shoes and similar objects, as a hobby or as a business, with our new Baby Shoe Bronzing Kit. We offer one kit, a complete starter kit, which includes everything required to begin to bronze parts and assumes you already have such items as a DC power supply, etc. This kit include 4.5 litres of Copper plating electrolyte and 5 x 6 litre tanks, large enough to plate 2 shoes at a time. The kit can be used to bronze almost anything that is non-conductive, including baby shoes, plastic parts, leather items, fabric, flowers, plants, butterflies etc.

The kit includes enough copper anodes to plate approx 40 sq ft of parts (100 pairs of shoes), and enough bronze solution to plate approx 200 sq ft (500 pairs of shoes). Additional copper anodes can be purchased from us. When the bronze is depleted, you will need to purchase more bronze solution.

The steps to plate baby shoes are as follows:

1. Wash the shoe and laces separately in detergent and allow to dry completely.

2. Tie the laces, and glue them into their final position. Cut off any loose stitching, etc.

3. Affix a length of bare copper wire (not included) to the shoe.

4. Dip the shoe in the sealer solution for 30 minutes. Allow to dry. Dip again briefly and allow to dry.

5. Spray the shoe with Silvaspray Conductive Paint, using an airbrush, and allow to dry.

6. Hang the shoe into .the bright acid copper plating solution, attach the power supply, and plate for approx 1 hour. Remove and sand down any rough spots. Continue plating for 3-5 hours, removing periodically and sanding down the rough spots. Remove and rinse the part.

Suspend the shoe from the tank bar, which should already be wired to the power unit, and immerse in the copper plating tank. The shoes should immediately start plating. The average baby shoes will measure approximately 25-30 square inches, so should be plated at the rate of (1amp per 20 sq “ or 0.05 amps per sq ins) 2-3 amps.  Plate for approx 1 hour. Remove and inspect. Sand/emery any rough spots. Continue plating for about 3-5 hours, checking periodically for any rough spots, which should be sanded smooth. Should there be any parts which have not taken the plate, you may apply more conductive paint to these areas with a fine paint brush and re-plate. The shoe in the example pictures is made of suede, so the texture will be somewhat rough. Smooth cloths and leather will have different appearances.

7. At this stage, you have several options:

                         1. Buff the shoe to a shine, degrease and then hang the shoe into the included Bronze Plating System and plate for approx 10 minutes to give the part a real bronze finish. Dip in the sealer to protect the part.

                         2. Immerse the copper plated part in the included bronzing solution, which antiques the copper and gives a bronze look. Then buff the high spots to give an aged appearance. Dip in the sealer to protect the part. 

                         3. using one of our other plating kits, you could also nickel, gold or chrome plate the shoe

Contents:

5 x 6 litre tanks

2 x Stainless Steel Anodes

2 x Copper Anode

Copper Crystal Mixture

Copper Brighteners

5.5 litres Bronze Plating Solution

2 x SD-416 Cleaner Degreaser 12 litres

2 x 55 watt heaters with thermostat

2 x Air Pump agitator, pipe and bubbler

1 x 8oz SD-Metal Colouring Bronzing Solution

2 x 32oz cans Caswell Sealer Concentrate

1 x 8oz SilvaSpray Conductive medium

1 x 1/2 HP Bench Buffing and Grinding System

2 x 6" Sisal Wheels

2 x 6" Stitched Cotton Wheels

2 x 6" Loose Cotton Wheels

2 x 6" Grinding Wheels (Course & Medium)

1 x Black Compound

1 x Brown Compound

1 x White Compound

1 x Wheel Rake

1 x Booklet on Buffing and Polishing

1 x Air Brush Kit

1 x The Complete Plating Manual Version 9

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