Cups and Balls

Cups and Balls Magic

If You Can’t Form a Patina… Paint it On

An Article By Bruce Smith

The Back Story…

Over the past months I have been encouraging a patina to form on a set of Ickle Pickle Mini Cups. By forming I mean that I had to remove the protective lacquer coating from the Cups and handle them quite often. To make a long story short I am very pleased with the results that I see on the Ickle Pickle Cups patina wise and thought I could repeat the result with an old Chop Cup that I have… boy was I wrong!

Long, long ago I purchased a “Tannen’s Copper Hammered Finish Chop Cup,” the story of this purchase can be found at CupsCon.com if you dig deep enough. They weren’t kidding when it was described as “Copper Hammered Finish.”

Picture in your mind’s eye a Cup with textured small hammer indentations and a black antiquing solution rubbed into its surface protected with lacquer to give it an aged look. At the time I thought it was a pretty good looking Cup, different from all the aluminum wonders I have seen back then. I will admit that I even thought it was spun in copper and later found out that this Cup was made for Tannen’s by Morrissey… the Canadian company that has made the Cups we all pretty much started out with.

Through the years of use the Chop Cup became a little filthy with finger prints and stuff; I thought to polish it during my last Magic rebirth when I caught Cup Fever. This was a bad idea, I managed to rub off the first layer of lacquer and the antiquing solution, but just the same the Cup looked pretty good. PHOTO 1 displays the Cup after I first removed its original finish (I do not have a photo of the Cup as it first was.)

cups and balls magic photo 1

As I wrote above, I was pleased with a set of Ickle Pickle Cups that I worked on and hoped to repeat the process on the “Tannen’s Copper Hammered Finish Chop Cup.” So late one Sunday evening I set up my trusty work area (a cinder block in the garage) and sprayed Rust-Oleum brand Aircraft Remover (a paint and finish remover) on the Chop Cup and to my horror, all the finish ran off the Cup leaving behind an ugly aluminum mess… the Cup that I thought was made of copper turned out to be spun off aluminum!

I was dumbfounded by my stupidity and what I did to the Chop Cup… I already ruined it once now I sent it to an early grave… I should have known that it was made of aluminum due to its weight but in the back of my mind I was thinking that it was just a cheap thinly spun copper Morrissey Cup… oh my.

Painting On a Patina

Once I was over the shock of ruining an old friend, I was left with what to do… what to do? Like a bolt of lightning I thought of a posting that our Cup buddy Tom G posted over at CupsCon… paint the Cup! What a great idea, what do I have to lose? So the next weekend I removed the remaining lacquer from the Chop Cup inside and out and gave it a good cleaning with paint thinner. Photo 2 shows the cleaned Cup.

cups and balls magic photo 2

I searched the local hobby shop and lucked out finding a spray paint that would work, Rust-Oleum Copper Hammered Spray Paint. This worked out well as the color was right for a base coat and it had a light texture to it when dried. The paint can read that it was not necessary to use primmer so after 4 very light coats of paint the Chop Cup looked like it had some promise to it and best of all it seemed that the paint was not going to rub or flake off the Cup. Photo 3 shows the Cup with the base coat of paint.

cups and balls magic photo 3

The next process was to age the Cup, but I did not want to make it look like its original state… I wanted it to look like an old patina covered Cup… more realistic. After 2 days of making sure the base paint was dry I used a combination of brown and black Delta brand acrylic paints to achieve the effect that I wanted. I used techniques I learned as a kid from painting tank models to look all beat up and weathered… I lightly stippled and rubbed paint onto the Cup with a combination of Q-Tips, wide brushes and paper towels until it looked good to me. Photo 4 & 5 shows the antiqued Cup, the finish is very subtle and does not photograph that well.

cups and balls magic phot o4

cups and balls magic photo 5

I wanted to protect the artful paint job I applied to the Chop Cup, so I applied several thin layers of satin finish lacquer from Rust-Oleum to the Cup. The lacquer gave the cup just the right amount of shine and in my humble opinion it looks pretty close to an actual Chop Cup with patina. Photo 6, 7 & 8 shows the Cup with the lacquer applied.

cups and balls magic photo 6

cups and balls magic photo 7

cups and balls magic photo 8

To finish off my project, after the lacquer had dried for 2 days I lightly rubbed on several coatings of Renaissance Wax. The wax coating gave the Cup’s finish a bit of depth and left the Cup feeling very smooth to the touch. Photo 9 shows the finished Cup.

cups and balls magic photo 9

All in all I am very pleased with how the Chop Cup turned out… true it does not look anything like it was in the 1970’s, a cartoonish version of an old Cup. It now appears to be an old treasured curiosity setting on my shelf. Only upon close inspection does it look like a prop from a movie set. I am happy that I brought back an old friend from the dead. Photo 10 shows the Cup on a shelf; my photos do not do the Cup justice as to how it looks in person.

cups and balls magic photo 10

Thanks Bruce!

Cups and Balls

Reviews

◦	Cups & Chop Cups
◦	Metal Cups
◦	Copper Plated Cups
◦	Ken Brooke - Harry Stanley Cups
◦	Zenneth Kok Paul Fox Type Cups and Kicker Solid Cup
◦	Copper Cups
◦	Brian Watson Anytime Anywhere Cups
◦	RNT2 Foxy 3 Combo Cups
◦	RNT2 Sisti Working Professionals
◦	Paul Fox Danny Dew Type 2 Copper Cups
◦	Cellini Cups
◦	Rare RNT2 Paul Fox Number 1 of 2 Sets
◦	Original Sisti Professional Cups
◦	RNT2 Paul Fox Copper Cups
◦	Supreme Dumpy Cups
◦	James P Riser Copper Mini's
◦	Don Alan Chop Cup
◦	Mendoza Satin Combos
◦	Ken Brooke Heavy Copper Cups
◦	Foxy 2.5's
◦	Gary Animal Love Cups
◦	Brass Cups
◦	Sherwood Smooth Brass
◦	Vintage Ickle Pickle Mini Brass Cups
◦	Keith Bennett
◦	Aluminium Cups
◦	RNT Julep Chop Cup
◦	Tim Star Bell Shaped Chop Cup
◦	International High Ball Chop Cup
◦	Stainless Steel Cups
◦	Mason Dokkum Nesting Cups
◦	Nickel Cups
◦	Brett Sherwood Nickel Combo Cups & Balls
◦	Tin Cups
◦	19th Century StyleTin Cups
◦	Comparisons
◦	Monti Comparison
◦	Supreme Dumpy Foxy 2.5 & Harry Stanley Comparison
◦	Wooden Cups
◦	Hidden Wren Cocobolo Chop Cup
◦	Competition
◦	Joe Porper Cocobolo Cups
◦	Eric Hansen Chop Cups
◦	Eric Hansen Chechen Goblet
◦	Birch Burl with Black Walnut lip
◦	Chechen with Black Walnut base
◦	Eric Hansen Segmented Chop Cup
◦	Shamans Cups
◦	Fantasma Buddha Chop Cup
◦	Other Cups
◦	Delrin
◦	White Beauties
◦	Plastic
◦	The Tennis Chop Cup
◦	Papier Mache
◦	Other
◦	Jiggernaut
◦	3 Shell Game
◦	Metal Sets
◦	School for Scoundrels Antique Copper Shells
◦	Deluxe Pewter 3 Shell Game
◦	Walnut Shells
◦	Balls
◦	Working Balls
◦	Crochet
◦	RNT2 1 3/8 Inch Parakeet Chopped Set
◦	Monkey Fist
◦	The Ambitious Card (Regular)
◦	Other Loads
◦	Fab Fruit
◦	Wands
◦	Wooden Wands
◦	Wooden One Piece Wands
◦	Eric Hansen Cocobolo & Zebra Wood Wand
◦	Tabman Walnut Street Wand
◦	Eric Hansen Holly & Ziricote Glitter Wood Wand
◦	WoodenTwo Piece Wands
◦	Andy Hurst 2 Part Wooden Magnetic Wand
◦	Gareth Gwatkin 2 Piece Wand
◦	Metal Wands
◦	Metal One Piece Wands
◦	Mercury Wand
◦	Wood and Metal
◦	Wood and Metal One Piece
◦	Wood and Metal 2 Piece
◦	Moonlight Magic Mun Ebony Convertible Wand
◦	Other Wands
◦	RNT2 Delrin Wand
◦	Books & Routines
◦	Fun Shop Cups and Balls
◦	Anytime Anywhere Cups & Balls Book
◦	DVD's
◦	Anytime Anywhere Cups & Balls DVD
◦	E-Books
◦	Fun Shop Cups and Balls e-book
◦	Working Surfaces
◦	Tables
◦	Wooden Tables
◦	Close Up Mats
◦	Pattrick Przysiecki Custom Close Up Mat
◦	Portable Working Surfaces
◦	Hopper - Five of Hearts
◦	Miscellaneous
◦	Fab Fruit Common Cup Comparison
◦	Su Jayne Devine Cups & BallsTypeography Picture Gift
◦	Mechanical Devices
◦	Vernet Invisible Hand

Articles

◦	Instant Patina Part 1
◦	Instant Patina Part 2
◦	Cups and Balls Housekeeping
◦	Paint it On

News

◦	Gary Animal Love Cups Reviewed
◦	Su Jayne Devine Cups & Balls Typeography Gift Picture Reviewed
◦	Keith Bennett Cups
◦	19th Century StyleTin Cups Review
◦	Instant Patina Article Courtesy of Bruce Smith
◦	Instant Patina Article Part 2 Courtesy of Bruce Smith
◦	International Magic High Ball Chop Cup
◦	Ken Brooke Harry Stanley
◦	Five of Hearts Hopper
◦	The Invisible Hand
◦	Custom Mat
◦	Sherwood nickel combo set
◦	Hidden Wren Chop Cup
◦	Hidden Wren 2 Piece Wand
◦	Foxy 3 Combo Cups by RNT2
◦	Added RNT Julep Chop Cup Guest Review
◦	Added Michael Ammar Fab Fruit Common Cup Comparison
◦	Eric Hansen Chechen Goblet reviewed
◦	Porper Cocobolo Cups and Wand Set
◦	Johnson Brass Wand Review
◦	Copy of Johnson Brass Wand Review
◦	Joe Porper Cocobolo Cups and Wand
◦	Joe Porper Cocobolo Cups & Wand
◦	Guest Review and profile Doug James
◦	RNT2 Parakeet Chop Cup Balls Reviewed
◦	Bespoke Leather Buskers Pouch 1 Only!
◦	Fantasma Buddha Chop Cup Review
◦	Pewter Deluxe 3 Shell Game Reviewed
◦	Mun Ebony Convertable Wand
◦	Mason Dokkum Nesting Cups Review
◦	Zenneth Kok eBay Copper Paul Fox PF Cups Reviewed
◦	jiggernaut reviewed
◦	Guest Review Paul Fox Danny Dew Type 2 Copper Cups
◦	Your Cups Collection - Brian Watson
◦	Guest Review Cellini Copper Cups
◦	Rare RNT2 Paul Fox Mirror Polished and Clear Coated
◦	Sisti Professional Cups
◦	Another Eric Hansen Wand Review Added
◦	Guest Review RNT2 Paul Fox Copper Cups
◦	Shaman Cups Review Added
◦	New Guest Reviewer - Tom Fenton
◦	Stephane Bourgoin Tennis Ball Chop Cup
◦	Supreme Dumpy Cups Reviewed
◦	Ickle Pickle Vintage Mini Brass
◦	Tabman Walnut Street Wand Reviewed
◦	Cups and Balls Evening Birmingham UK
◦	Bruce Smith Monti Comparison
◦	Pascaline Danis Final Load Balls Reviewed
◦	New Guest Reviewer
◦	Your Cups Collection - Jeremy Bessette
◦	Removing Patina From Copper Cups
◦	James P Riser Mini Copper Cups
◦	Another Guest Review!
◦	Eric Hansen 6 Piece Segmented Chop Cup Review Added...
◦	Andre Limantara Your Cups Page
◦	Tim Star Chop Cup Review
◦	Eric Hansen Custom Wand Reviewed
◦	Fun Shop Cups and Balls Review
◦	Guest Review!
◦	New Collection Added - Bruce Smith
◦	New Collection Added - Tom Fenton
◦	New Collection Added - David VanVranken
◦	Your Cup Collections!
◦	Ken Brooke Cups Review Added
◦	Amazing package deal...
◦	Eric Hansen Chop Cup Reviews
◦	Cellini

Your Cups

◦	Andrew Zuber
◦	Doug James
◦	Brian Watson
◦	Jeremy Bessette
◦	Andre Limantara
◦	David VanVranken
◦	Tom Fenton
◦	Bruce Smith

Videos

◦	Review Videos
◦	Cup Care
◦	Product Videos
◦	Brian Watson Workers Cups Routine
◦	Brian Watson Cybershells Routine
◦	Suzanne at The Magic Castle
◦	Marty Ashby and Paul Gertner
◦	Mark Jenest Jiggernaut
◦	Rene Lavand
◦	John Carney Fruit Cup
◦	Tim Ellis
◦	Antonio Romero
◦	Fred Kaps
◦	Dai Vernon
◦	Ricky Jay
◦	Michael Ammar
◦	Tommy Wonder
◦	Jason Latimer
◦	David Williamson
◦	Pen and Teller
◦	Michael Vincent
◦	Larry Jennings
◦	Gazzo
◦	Charlie Frye
◦	Kate Medvedeva
◦	Rafael Benatar
◦	Paul Gertner
◦	Indian Style
◦	Bill Malone
◦	Lance Burton
◦	Kent Gunn
◦	Synchonized
◦	Jason Michaels
◦	C&B It Aint!
◦	Lawrens Godon
◦	Lawrens Godon Contact Juggling
◦	Charlie Caper
◦	Bill Wilson
◦	Al Schneider

Submission Info

Site Map

STORE

Copyright (c) 2009 All Right Reserved - http://www.cupsandballsmagic.com