It is SO much fun to patina raw brass stampings at home! So many ways to go! Here are some of my favorite experiments, let me share them with you....I hope it takes you on a whole new journey in your jewelry making.
Here is the basic recipe for home patina that I use ALOT: make a solution of dark vinegar and salt, about five parts vinegar to one of the salt. Use a large shallow glass baking pan. Degrease your brass by washing in hot soapy water and drying THOROUGHLY. Then place in the solution, being careful not to overlap or let anything touch together. Soak for at least an hour. Take out of the bath and put on a metal baking sheet and bake 450 degree oven for an hour or til you like how they look. Take them out, swish in the solution and bake again for another thirty minutes. Remove from the oven, swish in the solution while hot with a tongs, don't touch them! Metal is hot! and then let them dry on two-three layers of wax paper. This will achieve the beautiful blue-green patina. If you don't want the verdigris, don't swish them in the solution again after the final bake. After they cool or achieve the verdigris (sometimes you have to let them set overnight) then you can take them and buff them out, enhance with inks, acrylics, Gilder's Paste, whatever you like. You do really need to seal this sort of finish. I prefer Renaissance Wax but for lack of that, you can use Turtle Wax from the hardware store---it, too, is a form of microcrystalline wax and the seal is very muted, matte, almost appears not to exist.....but is VERY durable, whether you use Renwax or Turtle. For sure, however, Renwax is the more professional finish.
This way of placing patina on brass is something I've successfully done for a long time now and so happy to share with you! I'm not done in my journey, yet. I have MANY more experiments to make. Continue to tune in to this gallery and watch it grow as I try out new ideas and make jewelry from the stampings I have patina'd and colorized. The stampings used are available from us at reasonable prices at http://www.bsueboutiques.com; be sure to check the Raw Brass Stampings and Raw Brass Filigree sections of our website as they will be growing constantly, too!
Date(s): September 12, 2009. Album by Brenda Sue Lansdowne. Photos by the B'sue crew. 1 - 24 of 25 Total. 14097 Visits.
🙋🏻 Hi Brenda Sue, I've been following you for quite some time and so appreciate that you continually share your creative journey and knowledge! I'm just learning techniques in wire wrapping and fascinated with the unlimited potential of that and polymer clay! Yesterday I got excited about patina, planning to do this on my evolving "Phoenix Family Rising" Necklace design. - Beverly Borwick | www.beverlyborwickdesigns.com, Fri, 19 May 2017 8:49AM
So excited to find your site and looking forward to reading your information. THANKS - frances ayers, Fri, 26 Dec 2014 10:35AM
I'm interested in buying products & selling my lampworked beads - Vicky Thomas, Wed, 25 Aug 2010 4:11AM
Brenda Sue, I received your instructions and the brass "testers" yesterday! I can hardly wait for tomorrow to come, so I can be off work and go play in the studio.
Your generosity is so appreciated. You are so kind to send this kit to people you don't even know. I thank you so much, and I look forward to meeting you next year at the Art & Soul Retreat in Hampton, Virginia.
Right now I am trying to find 1-2 people to share a room with so I can bear the expense of the room, but so far no one from my area is interested in going -- especially when the classes aren't posted yet. Maybe I will have better luck after the middle of August when they post the classes.
God bless & see you soon! Connie Bennett Fayetteville, NC - connie bennett, Fri, 23 Jul 2010 5:09AM
Thank you for your generosity in sharing your techniques...this is awesome. Interested in more detail about how you apply Ranger alcohol inks in your techniques. Do you apply with paint brush?
Thanks so much, Connie Springfield OR - Connie, Mon, 8 Mar 2010 3:14PM
I found you from the Belle Amoire Jewelry mag - thanks for sharing your expertise and ideas and I look forward to ordering products from you. - Niki VanEch | ANALTEREDAFFAIR.ETSY.COM, Mon, 1 Feb 2010 6:33PM
Hi! I've bought from you on eBay, but had no idea you had all this information available. I was looking for information on "cagework" and you came up! Thanks so much. I'll be checking your website now that I know about it.
Love, Love, Love the site. Great information and products. I will be ordering soon. Thank you soooo much. - Nancy Jackson, Wed, 30 Sep 2009 5:32PM
1 Here is a large heart pendant like the one you see in photo four, but with manipulated filigree around the back instead of being faced (mirrored, glued) with another similar stamping. I've applied a swan stamping that 'just fit' to the top with E6000. A pretty cool pendant, I think.
2 This is actually a brooch I made with a porthole bezel. I put a vintage photo of a pretty kitty under mica, behind the porthole. Then I bound it with manipulated filigree and glued it to a large flower brooch finding. It went together so easily, and what fun.
3 Here is the elegant Art Nouveau lady I show a little farther down, glued carefully to the top of a vintage style Arts and Crafts design plaque. I got the patina to match fairly well. You might note the top two shoulders are hole-punched....one day soon I will make a necklace from this. YES YES YES....when I get to it, I will be sure to show you!
4 Here is a fancy Victorian heart pendant that I patina'd then verdigris'd. I manipulated an iris stamping through the hanging hole and drilled the leaves so that it could still be hung. The back is faced, or mirrored, with another stamping to make it two-sided. Everything was sealed with Renaissance Wax. "The colors you get with your recipe ..." View Comments...
5 A gorgeous glow of dark brass and coppery red brass baked twice and then buffed out hard with a soft rag. This brought up some pretty golden highlights. There is just a tad bit of blue in the piece but I didn't add any ink, this is the natural brass patina. I sealed the piece with Renaissance Wax.
6 This piece was not patina'd in the oven at all. It was clean, yellow brass and I added some rust and stone mountain blue alcohol inks, and then wiped off and sealed with Diamond Glaze, it is very glossy and has a little dimension.
7 This is a huge Victorian style stamping that I first did the vinegar-salt patina on, then let set, dipped in patina again and baked another 30 minutes. It got alot of deep crud and verdigris when I let it air dry the second time. Then I enhanced it with rust and black Ranger alcohol inks. This one was sprayed with matte spray lacquer. "I am totally new to this (and love i..." View Comments...
8 These are twice oven baked and dipped in the vinegar salt solution and let to dry overnight, which produced this lovely verdigris. I buffed them out by hand and then applied Future Wax to see what would happen.....a nice subtle matte glow.
9 Double baked and then dipped in the vinegar-salt solution to bring up a little verdigris. Then I buffed them out by hand, HARD. It brought up such a warm lovely glow. Then I sealed them with Renaissance Wax and buffed them out hard, again.
10 Here is a double baked piece that I dipped when hot so verdigris would come up, then buffed out by hand, hard, and applied Future Floor Finish Wax. Not bad! I just have to wonder how durable it would be, I know Renaissance Wax is best but I wanted to try it.
11 These two sunflower stampings were double-baked and then enhanced: one with rust and blue and black alcohol inks (left) and one with gold Rub and Buff. I then buffed them out a bit by hand and applied Renaissance Wax.
12 Double baked vinegar-salt solution, then I added a good bit of stone mountain blue alcohol ink, I love this look. Very rich!
13 These two stampings were not patina'd at all. Instead, I degreased the stampings and then applied layers of alcohol inks and a final touch up with Rub and Buff. The one on top I used rust, gold and and olive green Rub and Buff; on the bottom I used Rust, Black, and Silver Ranger alcohol inks and then a little gold Rub and Buff. I sealed them with matte spray lacquer from the hardware store. remember, if you seal the brass, you must do it FRONT and BACK.
14 This piece had only one baking after an hour soak in the vinegar and salt solution. I then enhanced it with black alchohol inks and sealed it front and back with a deep rub of Renaissance Wax. "Absolutely lovely. Patina's warm and..." "Absolutely lovely. Patina's warm and..." "I love this look! I have never worke..." View Comments...
15 The filigree and bezel had a two hour soak in vinegar and salt solution, and two half-hour bakes. The second dip was just that, a dip in the solution. After the second bake, I did another dip, then air dry, which produced this marvelous patina. I glued the bezel to the top of the filigree. I think I might make a ring from it, or maybe a necklace centerpiece. It was sealed with Renaissance Wax.
16 Here are two pieces from the same batch, if similarity of patina is very important to you, it's a great idea to do pieces you will use together in a design in the same batch, or solution 'lot'. These are double-dipped, double baked, with a final swish in the solution right as I took them out of the 450 degree oven, then air dry. This is what formed the verdigris. I buffed these out with Turtle wax. I might do them again as the veridigris is uneven, if it's going to stick in the filigree I prefer that it happen more evenly. This can take some playing around to achieve and you must seal it. You might also prefer to seal with matte spray lacquer for more strength if you want to preserve verdigris in filigree.
17 Funky key style filigree that I double baked in the solution, dipped and let air dry. I also used just a tad bit of Olive-Gold Rub and Buff, then I waxed them with Turtle Wax. "SUPER nice!! The filigree AND the f..." View Comments...
18 A lovely heart....baked twice in my home solution, then enhanced with rust and stone mountain blue Ranger alcohol inks, then buffed out with Renaissance wax.
19 Two butterflies from two different batches, but the same solution recipe. Sometimes there is more copper in one batch of brass than another, depending on what sort of sheet the tooler used (and you may never know til you start trying to patina it---sometimes it's obvious but USUALLY it's not.) One has the blue verdigis, the bottom did not have it. I enhanced the bottom one with Rust alcohol ink, and they were sealed with Renaissance Wax.
20 Same mount, same solution bath, same baking....but one is sealed with Renaissance Wax and the other is sealed with spray lacquer. Can you tell which?
21 Here is a bee I did in a single soak/baking on a filigree I did in two bakings and then enhanced with black and stone mountain blue alcohol inks. They are sealed with Renaissance Wax, which I did before I glued them together.
22 OOOOOH I love this bezel. I did two bakes, dips and a final dip (bake was in 450 degree oven for half hour each time.) This is heavy brass and was very light mellow yellow when it arrived from the tooler. Baking got it a deep gingerbready glow which I enhanced with Rust alcohol ink, buffed out, then a little black, then sealed with Renaissance Wax.
23 Here are two examples of the same tag....one on the left I did last week and used black and stone mountain blue alcohol ink over two-dip/bake oven patina. The other I did a couple months ago with one bake. I left it alone to see how it would hold, and it did, nicely, but it was alot lighter than the one on the left. I enhanced with rust and blue alcohol inks and some olive green-gold Rub and Buff. One on the left is Renaissance Waxed, one on the right is spray lacquered with the matte spray lacquer from the hardware store.
24 Here is a double-baked and dipped oven patina piece enhanced with rust alcohol ink, allowing alot of the verdigris that came up on cooling from the oven, to remain. It was Renaissance Waxed to seal.
