Cannon Barrel Verdergris Paint Technique

Are you struggling to capture that "weathered" look with your Guns of History cannon kit? Can't seem to get the right color? Read on for a quick Verdergris Paint Technique reference as to how to achieve this - authored by Ken Goldman, the designer of our Guns of History kits!

Painting verdigris on bronze gun barrels is pretty easy, but practice helps. If the end result doesn't look quite right to you, it is easy enough to strip the paint with Windex and water and try again. 

1/ Prepare the barrel by puttying any flaws as needed; finely sand over all to remove all scratches and mold seams.

2/ Make a handle by cutting a piece of scrap wood to fit snugly inside the muzzle. This is important as the barrel must be constantly turned with one hand while applying paint and blending with the other, so the brush strokes go around the barrel NOT lengthwise.

3/ Paint the barrel with a primer (black is recommended)

4/ The verdigris color is made from white, medium blue and green acrylics. Brushes are 1/4" and 1/2" sable flats and a watercolor fan blender. Using plenty of water, but not so much that the paint runs off the barrel onto the floor, mix up a greenish turquoise color and apply it with the 1/2" flat brush. Use the fan blender, while turning the barrel, to even out the coverage and to create wrap-around brushstrokes. Continue with light strokes of the fan blender. Streaking is a good thing. As the paint dries, the color will get stronger. Stop blending before the paint is too dry or you will start getting black spots. During the blending, more paint, mixed as well as straight color, can be added to suit your taste. Let this dry, then repeat the process with thinner color and a little more white.

5/ Using the 1/4" flat sable brush, get a tiny bit of gold paint on it then wipe it almost dry. With a light touch, apply gold highlights to the muzzle and rear areas and at random spots along the barrel in the same direction as you did the original painting. Be sparing with this. You only want enough of these highlights to suggest the gun's original bronze color showing through. I recommend doing this in sunlight to best see the results and avoid over doing it. Use slightly more dry-brushed gold on areas that would get the most rubbing during use, such as the trunions and cascabel and the muzzle itself.

6/ Pull out the handle, and paint the inside of the barrel black.

By Ken Goldman