Richard Hughes studied industrial design at the Royal College of Art, London, and philosophy at the University of Surrey. He has worked as a designer and as a lecturer at Brunel University and a number of colleges of art and design, and first became involved in fine metalworking as a visiting lecturer at Camberwell College of Arts, where he worked jointly with Michael Rowe. He was most recently Director of Postgraduate Studies in industrial design at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London Institute, until his appointment in 1990 as Dean of Art History and Conservation at Camberwell College of Arts. Michael Rowe is an artist and designer. He studied silversmithing and design at High Wycombe College of Art and at the Royal College of Art, London. He has been using colouring and patinating techniques for a number of years and his work has been exhibited internationally and is represented in public and museum collections in Britain, Europe and Australia. He was a visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art, Camberwell College of Arts and Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education until 1984 when he was appointed Course Leader in Metalwork and Jewellery at the Royal College of Art in London.

The techniques of metal colouring, bronzing and patination are assuming a new importance in contemporary fine metalwork and design. Richard Hughes and Michael Rowe have assembled and tested the recipes included in this book, which is the most comprehensive work on the subject currently available, an essential reference and sourcebook for practitioners and all those involved in sculpture, architecture, design and the decorative arts. It brings together hundreds of recipes and treatments previously scattered in a variety of old books and technical papers, and provides the artist-craftsman with a very wide range of coloured finishes.

Each of the recipes included has been tested and evaluated by the authors, and the practical procedures involved are clearly explained. In addition, they have devised techniques that considerably broaden the range of surface finishes that can be obtained.

The metals covered are bronze and yellow brass in cast form; copper, gilding metal, yellow brass and silver in sheet form; and silver-plate and copper-plate. The book is easy to use; all the recipes are classified according to the colour and surface finish they produce on each metal. Colour illustrations show over 200 examples of finishes as test pieces of metal, or as cast or spun bowls. Notes accompanying each recipe draw attention to potentially dangerous processes or chemicals, and to the correct safety precautions. Safety procedures in general are covered thoroughly in a separate section.

Detailed information on practical workshop methods and how to avoid any problems that may be encountered is given in sections on the various techniques. A glossary of archaic chemical terms and their modem equivalents is included. An historical introduction outlines the various metalworking traditions with which the use of colouring techniques is associated. An extensive bibliography gives over 400 references of historical, practical and theoretical interest.