A few months back I saw some fellow designers using a vintage brass bar chain that I fell in love with. After some research I was able to find an online vendor for something very similar, Earthly Adornments. I purchased 15' of chain because it was super inexpensive. When it arrived in the mail last week I was a bit shocked to see that it was in the raw brass state and was not aged as I had hoped. Guess I missed that little caveat in the item description, lol. So, I got online and did some more research as to how to oxidize brass chain with things you can find in your kitchen cabinet. I didn't want to go out and buy any chemicals for the process. I quickly found this blog that outlined an at home method for aging brass chain. It's as simple as clear ammonia, a glass bowl, and knee high panty hose.Off to the store I headed to pick up a bottle of ammonia and some panty hose. Quite a combination huh? Sounds like I'm planning some sort of science experiment or worse! When I got home I grabbed a glass bowl with a tight lid, filled it about 1/3 full of ammonia, stretched the knee high over the top and placed my chain, in 12" lengths on the top, then secured the lid. I checked the first batch after 15 minutes and it wasn't as dark as I would have liked. I decided to check it in 5 minute increments after that. 21 minutes seemed to be the perfect amount of time for the color I was looking for. Before placing the chain in the bowl to fume, don't forget to wash it thoroughly with warm water and soap because the chain comes with an oily coating from the factory. This will most definitely deter the ammonia from oxidizing the brass. Once all the chain was aged I rubbed it with some Renaissance Wax to seal the patina. You can readily purchase this wax on Etsy.
I have now added another successful technique to my jewelry making arsenal. It was very fulfilling to see my chain turn out as well as it did. When it first arrived and I saw it was raw brass, I thought to myself, "What have you done?". I was certain that I had just wasted $30 on chain I wouldn't be able to use.
Try this out for yourself if you have any raw brass items such as chain, charms or connectors. It's super simple, inexpensive and gives great aged results.
9 comments:
You can also wipe them with mineral oil and flame with a butane torch or bake in the oven - you get that nice dark bronze! :D.....yeah doesn't the panty hose and ammonia make you feel like a serial killer? LOL
Hey this is a great post Cristi. Thank you for sharing what you did and all! The chain is lovely too.
I know you said you didn't want to use chemicals, but a small container of liquid liver of sulfur is under $10 and so quick and easy! (way better than the dry chunks.) I don't know how I lived without it. Works incredibly well on RED brass, but I still have to use ammonia fumes for yellow brass.
Too cool! Thanks for the tutorial. I'm going to show Cole how to do this. He's been working iwth a lot of metal lately and likes it to be aged. I was turned off my all the chemicals but this is something I could let him do!
Very nice, low tech, low cost results. Thanks so much for sharing your results.
pretty cool!
Thanks for this, Cristi! I was given some brass chain and now I know what to do with it to make it look yummy!!!
the patina makes it look SO much better! good job and thanks for the tip on household ingredients!
Thanks for the lip service. Looks like your chain came out perfectly!
Post a Comment