How to age brass

Brass is a very popular material for making various decorative products. It is much cheaper bronze. Made of brass which is an alloy of copper and zinc, usually do candle holders, furniture accessories, small sculpture, which looks elegant in the interior. Usually these things are antique. However, externally, the new brass stuff is very very different from really old. They have no oxide layer, giving the product a special elegance and mystique.

You will need

• brass product;
• - gasoline;
• - turpentine;
• - sawdust;
• - soft cotton cloth;
• woolen cloth or felt;
• - carbon-copper;
• - ammonium carbonate;
• - nitrate of iron;
• - ammonia;
• - sodium thiosulfate;
• water;
• - glassware;
• - volumetric beaker;
• laboratory or pharmacy scales with weights.

Instruction

1. Brass product can be tinted to the desired degree of blackening of the surface in the following way. Mix 60 g of copper carbonate with 500 ml of liquid ammonia. Pour the solution into a jar containing 1 l of distilled water. Once again, stir and immerse the pre-skim of gasoline product in the resulting composition. Lower it face up. The process of blackening (oxidation) is necessary to control visually.
2. Upon reaching the desired color, remove the item and rinse it in cold tap water. Dry it in a wood sawdust. If necessary, slightly zapolarie protruding parts of the relief with a piece of stiff fabric. Wipe the finished product with turpentine and dry it again. For durability color can be cover the item with clear varnish.
3. Brass product can be painted in dark brown color. Dissolve 10 g of ferric nitrate in 1 liter of water. As in the previous case, wipe the item with gasoline, dry and dip in a container of solution. Keep it there until it turns the desired color. Then proceed exactly the same as in the first case.
4. If you want to give brass a reddish-brown color, apply this composition. 6 g of iron nitrate and 6 g of sodium thiosulfate dissolved in 100 ml of water. Product degrease, dry in sawdust, soak in a vessel with the solution and wait until it has reached the desired shade. Dry and Zapolarye
5. You can give the product brass and a slightly greenish color, making it look like antique bronze. This is best done with a darker brass alloy with higher copper content. Take, for solution 10 ml of liquid ammonia, 30 grams of ammonium carbonate, 240 g of water. In this solution a subject, you can keep up to 8-10 hours, constantly controlling the degree of staining. After drying the product in air you can repeat the process, this will enhance colour.