This outdoor lantern was one of a pair, made from sheet iron and copper, both in very similar condition: the door hinges, and most of the door frames, had rusted through. This eventually deposited the front glass panels on the ground in pieces. There was a good deal of rust and corrosion overall. They had been fixtures in the yard for so many years that they had been overlooked – and the new owners wanted them still looking like they had been there forever, but in good working order.
The structural challenge was recreating the doors and hinges from scratch – sheet brass and brass tubing, soldered together. We ordered curved panels from a specialty manufacturer – they had a different radius curve on the top and the bottom. Once the new doors had been soldered on, we scrubbed the remaining rust off the lanterns and coated them with a rust preventative sienna undercoat. Then we carefully matched a patina-green with a powdery finish. Then steel wool and alcohol removed the green from the highlights and both lanterns looked brand-spanking old.
