Handpainted Saints' Medals

These have given me fits over the years trying to photograph them. The photos have often not been very good.

Then when I had a real photographer shoot them a couple of times, they were sometimes *too* good - you could see little hiccups and the marks of errant paintbrush hairs in the photograph, making the paint job look sloppy, when in person you couldn't possibly tell that little tiny fleck was even there, at least not without a magnifying glass.

So I have been painting these for over 15 years now, yet I've never had good photos of all of them. But hopefully this collection of photos, varying as wildly as it does in quality, will still give you a sufficient idea of what these look like painted.

No two are exactly alike as they're all hand painted, and I can try to accomodate any requests you have for color schemes within reason. There are a few medals, though, where the design of the medal itself is such that it doesn't really lend itself to using more than three colors max and two of them have to be in high contrast or your medal will just look like a blob, stuff like that. So feel free to contact me before ordering to discuss what you're wanting, especially if it looks pretty different from examples you see here.

Medal designs may vary from photos depending on my suppliers. Please write first if you want to confirm I have exactly the style pictured of your favorite saint.

I could very well have saints that aren't listed here because I'm really disorganized, so feel free to contact me if you're looking for something you don't see.

HANDLING TIMES: Please allow at least 10 days' handling time. I sometimes have some of these already painted and cured and sealed and ready to go, especially those of the better-known saints and the ones who are most popular (e.g. St. Michael, St. Expedite), but in general, you should assume that I will have to finish up your medal even if I'm not starting it from scratch.

If that handling time might be a problem, just contact me first and find out if I have any done or nearly done before ordering. Much better you do that than order, expect it in five days, not get it in five days 'cause the paint's not dry, and then get all mad, you know?

These are enamel paints and they take longer to dry than you might expect - a good bit longer than acrylics. (Actually, they're curing rather than drying - it's a different chemical process). Each color/layer has to dry before the next one can go on, and then all those have to cure before I can put a final clearcoat on. So these are a good bit more time consuming than they might look, and something like the amount of humidity in the air can have a real impact on drying/curing time, too. So just be aware that I really cannot always rush these. They can be pretty fiddly/fussy.

Once properly dried and cured, though, these specialty enamel paints for metal hold up pretty well. In fact, the clear coat is probably weaker than the enamel. They'll undoubtedly hold up longer if you remove them before swimming or bathing and don't keep them on your keychain where they're constantly being struck by other bits of metal.