Darkening leads

There are several ways to darken the leads in leaded panels. Three are to:

use patina on the leads,

brush with on stove blackening with a soft brush, and

simply brush after cementing.

A certain number of people use black patina to darken the leads after cementing and cleaning the panel.  This certainly gives a black result, but it introduces an acid to the panel. I do not do this, nor do I recommend it.

Another method of darkening is to apply stove blackening or black oil paint to the panel to make the leads dark.  I recommend that you put very small amounts on a soft brush and then brush over the leads.  It might have to have a little more colour added for a large panel, but that is better than having to clean up large areas of smudged black over the glass, especially with painted glass.

credit: PicClick UK

But...

You can darken lead came without patina or black colour.  You finish the panel with the scrubbing brush to push whiting against the fillet of lead light cement against the leads as normal.  This has the effect of cleaning the glass as well as stiffening the cement at the edge of the cames. Remove the excess whiting as normal.

But, before picking out all the excess cement once the scrubbing brush process is finished, use a soft brush, such as a shoe brush, over the whole panel.  This can be mechanised by using a soft bristled mop in a drill motor on a slow to medium speed.  This will pick up colour from the cement and spread it evenly over the lead and solder joints. It will give a dark grey appearance to the whole of the leading and solder joints as well as polish up the glass. 

The degree of shine will be dependent on the amount of time you wish to spend, but can be a polished to a very dark grey to black colour.  This will last longer than simple black colour brushed onto the leads, as it is bound by the linseed oil in the cement to the surface of the leads. Also, it quickly dries so that not so much black is transferred to your hands as you handle it.

Making lead cames black during the finishing of a leaded panel is as simple as brushing over the cames before picking out all the excess lead light cement.