a wing and a prayer

today i took two new pieces out of the kiln.  at present i am working in bronze metal clay.  i've discovered that i can fire dicroic glass cabochons right in the bronze clay and when they come out of the kiln, i can file off the charcoal that imbeds in the glass during firing and then remelt the top to restore the beauty of the glass.  while i was doing that, one day i found that when the pieces cooled, they were left with a brilliant patina.  so i began to practice this patina-by torch, and experiment with how to control the colors i could get.   i played with the patina of these two for along time, until i got what i wanted.  today's discovery....if i polish the piece before treating it with the torch, the color becomes shiney and very irridescent.  if i leave the finish as it comes out of the kiln, the colors remain mat, and look completely different.  holding the soldered joints together through the heating and re-heating  process came with a long learning curve!  duh?