Awhile back I decided to follow the advice of a local Trader Joe's cashier, and put brand name tags on my jewelry. I purchased some Beloved Bijou label charms from The Charm Factory. I chose some cute little heart charms with a nice script engraving. The biggest downside is that they only came in silver and gold color, and I use quite a bit of antiqued brass.
Silver
Gold
Cute!
As a result, I have recently been experimenting with ways to make my label charms match my antiqued brass pieces.
In my first attempt to change the color of my charms I used some Ranger Alcohol Ink. I do love this ink because it sticks to EVERYTHING and dries very fast. It is great for giving pieces of plastic and metal color.
The effect was a bit blotchy but at least I could still read the engraving. Also the Denim color gave the charms a more gunmetal hue so it did work, but not exactly the color I was looking for.
Next I decided to go out on a limb and buy 9 colors of the Vintaj Patina from Amazon.
I just couldn't resist them!
I could foresee myself using the purple (amethyst), pink (quartz), and turquoise (marine) for my kawaii jewelry. Plus the verdigris, clay, moss, jade, rust, and cinnabar matches with all my vintagey pieces.
I chose the clay first because I thought that it looked most like the antiqued brass color.
I used a sponge brush to blot the color onto the charm.
In the instructions it says to use a heat tool to help the patina set.
I did that but I realized that the wax paper was going to melt onto my table...
So I put the charm on a piece of cardboard and that solved that problem.
NOTE: The charm will be HOT. Be careful!
When I was done the patina was so thick that I couldn't read the engraving so I got out my nail buffers to try to buff it down a bit. These have a very fine grit, and can be purchased from Mary Kay or Sally Beauty Supply
This is what the charm looked like after it was buffed. Not bad...but still not exactly what I was looking for.
Too much of the gold was showing which makes it look like polished brass...not antiqued.
Next I decided to try the moss color to match one of my antiqued brass, green ribbon, green charm, and laboradorite necklaces.
I dropped 1 drop of the patina onto the front of the charm and blotted with a sponge brush. Again, the result wasn't quite what I was looking for...
So I decided to add some verdigris on top of the moss.
This was the end result after a bit of buffing. I did use it for my necklace because the green coordinated quite well, although the engraving was only somewhat legible.
Next I tried the amethyst to coordinate with an antiqued brass and purple necklace.
This time I put 1 drop of patina on the back of the charm and blotted, then treated with the heat tool.
This is what it looked like when it was done. Pretty!
When it was dry and cool to the touch I flipped it over and used the patina that was remaining on the sponge to blot the edges of the front of the charm. I used the head of a pin to keep the charm still while I blotted.
This turned out quite well! The charm was a cool distressed purple and the engraving was still legible. Score!
Last I took the charms that I had blotted with the denim Ranger alcohol ink and followed the same steps as I did with the amethyst patina:
1. Put 1 drop of patina on the back side of the charm
2. Blot with a sponge brush
3. Transfer to cardboard and treat with a heat tool
4. Let cool
5. Flip over and blot the edges of the front of the charm with the remaining patina on the sponge brush
5. Treat with heat tool and let cool
This was the end result. I actually really like it! It ended up looking like rusty steel <3
And the engraving was still legible too!
All in all I look forward to using the Vintaj Patina on more of my metal pieces. I can't wait to use it to add dimension and color to otherwise meh components.
Have a great day!
Love,
Myria
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