lol yes bronze! i am working on this kind of weathered look but i’m having trouble finding the right colours. i may have to go into that horrifying place called the node editor to get the right look for her!
Not the NODE EDITOR!
runs screaming into the night
I have to buckle down and learn that thing too. I have a huge animation project that I’m working slowly on (this isn’t for that though) and will need to use it.
I also think after looking at 1/3 of the render that I’ve got too many particles. It’s looking like a wall of black on top of the helmet. I’ll just let it finish rendering, save it, post it and work on it again tomorrow.
I just gave myself a crash course in “Corinthian Bronze”, it appears it was made with copper and gold, or copper and silver, or both silver AND gold. O.o The antiques you see from the 6th century are the typical brownish color we are mostly familiar with, but it varies to almost a clay color. My…brain…hurts…
@Small Troll: it is also known as “Corinthian Brass”, so we were both on the right track 
Well, here’s a few things I was playing with, I like to call this one “Football Trophy Bronze” lol
Here we have “Corinthian-this-is-what-it-probably-looked-like-with-more-gold-than-silver-polished-Bronze”
…and “Corinthian-more-silver-than-gold-polished-Bronze”
I’ve been seeing a lot of the last two in replica helmets, so who knows what they really looked like. 
Here’s a replica here: http://www.propstore.com/img/products/1173/300_Spartan_Helmet_2_5.JPG
This is what I got after nearly 2 hours 10 minutes. Note the solid wall of black. I’m going to reduce the particles, and give the particle object a ramp possibly. Looking at my reference images it was just all black but brown as well. I’ll have to look at more images to make color decisions. I should probably dig out the movie and really stare at it.
edit
Looked at a movie still and there are some brown strands in there. Might have to see what that looks like but tomorrow.
I like the top one the best out of the three. The last 2 are really shiny and probably looked that way when they were brand new and polished.
Still not liking the hair. I turned down the amount of objects it emits and put a brown color on one of the hair objects but it didn’t look natural so I left it black. Taking a break from the helm to work on the shield. That one I’m going to have to make a texture image for. Lots of bumps and gouges to deal with. I also saved off the helmet and took the plumage off for regular infantry. I’m also going to make the spear and the sword.
Here’s the updated helm. The lighting isn’t how it’s going to be since I’m going to put all of the objects into a scene later something like a battlefield after the fight thing (yeah I know completely specific there :p)
Looking good Anita! 
Thanks Vicky. Here’s the shield with Small Troll’s material and an extra texture I made to go with it though I think the gouges probably need to have a white to black gradient to look a little more convincing.
I still think the hair is missing something not sure what that could be though. It looks a little dull compared to the helm.
its like it is not letting any light go through at all? maybe light it on a separate layer using spot lamps. BI hair is notorious for being difficult to get right!
for the gouges on the shield i would use a thin hard edged brush and make a few quick straight lines. its coming on really nice though 
(totally failed on making a node based bronze, sorry!)
I’ve only got one light on it right now on the right side the only light lighting it. Having issues with the tail it refuses to render out in any other color but black eventhough I’ve got a ramp on it. The top comes out with the ramp but the tail doesn’t. Probably just make it all black coz it’s giving me a headache. I’ll take down the particles again and throw another light on the left side and top to see if that’ll stop making it look solid.
I’m going to redo the shield gouges later on tonight and don’t worry about the bronze the helm looks really sturdy with the material you came up with
Right now I’m considering the helmet as done. I took off the particle objects off the top and made it real hair so I could comb things around (objects don’t like to be combed and won’t bend the way the hair in particle mode does regardless of how many edge loops you make). I may tinker with the combing of the tail once I get the rest of the objects done and placed into a scene. I need to fix the shield then I’m going to start on the sword. This has definitely been a learning process.
Changed the gouges in the shield from deformed circles to an art brush I found in Illustrator. Subtle but there.
Modeled the sword. Not overly thrilled with the hilt guards. I’ll have to redo them tomorrow. I’m also not entirely sure about the colors of the guards and the blade. Looking at reference images all night and have seen them colored either silver/silver or bronze/silver I don’t know what’s right or if it really matters. Maybe the blade and the guard colors need to be switched not sure. Maybe the guards need to be darker.
I made one of these and used a leather texture. They look great.
Need to add some gloss too. Leather textures from Flickr.
@Anita: looking awesome!
It doesn’t get any more real than this for the Kopis: http://www.swordhistory.info/wp-content/uploads/greek-kopis-sword.jpg
@Small Troll: You never fail
@Mutantgenepool: Looks great! But here’s the questions again(not for you, but Anita)…are we using this for a museum? Or is it brand new? Brand new is extremely shiny, old is oxidized and ugly, etc. I love your color though, considering Bronze is a mix of copper and something else.
Battle worn is the look I’m after. I did darken the blade last night but I still need to redo the guards they look funky. And the leather needs another texture on it.
We’re supposed to watch the movie tonight hopefully that’ll give me a better look at it at it’s construction. Going to make the spear later on then take a break from it then make the scenes I see in my head next week.
Looking forward to it! 
So am I Vicky 
Got the modeling on the spear done. I’ll play more with the textures next week but for now everything is complete so YAY!
Can you post the node setup for your last 2 suzzane tests?