How to oxidize your brass AND MORE part 2

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial yesterday on oxidizing raw brass with ONLY AN OVEN!


I’d also like to share with a couple of wonderful sites that sell raw brass for a very good price and a few tips for working with brass! The sites below give you a better price the more you order but none of them are wholesale only....which is good because most of the time we don't need 1000 of something!

Some of them use the original antique machines so it’s very difficult to tell the antique pieces from the new pieces, especially after you’ve given them that lovely vintage patina!

Along the way I will also be showing you some of the pieces I've created using these fab antiqued brass pieces! ALL of the photos today combine new brass pieces that I antiqued and antique or vintage pieces! Don't they look wonderful together?








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www.fancifulsinc.com

I used to order all my raw brass from Fancifuls but I noticed the last time I ordered from them they had gotten pretty expensive. Compare prices and see which works best for you. There are a lot of suppliers that sell raw brass on ETSY in smaller amounts and believe it or not they may be the least expensive route to go.

Fancifuls always get back to you right away and are very easy to work with about shipping etc.

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www.guyotbrothers.com

If I recall correctly you have to order quite a bit from them for a good price AND they don't have an online catalog (last time I checked) but they will send you a catalog if you are interested and they have just about every design you can imagine. This company has been in business for YEARS and a good portion of the designs are created from the antique machines.

They are a fairly large company and take a while to get back to you but they are very nice and will work with you also.

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A few more TIPS!!

1) If you find a piece you’d love to use as a charm but it doesn’t have a ring you can just drill a tiny hole in it and attach it with a jump ring. The brass is fairly soft and drilling it with an electric drill and tiny drill bit is easy. It might need just a tiny bit of filing if there are rough edges.

2) If you have a piece that DOES have a ring and you don't want it....just clip it off with jewelry clippers and file down the rough edges. You can also bend it off by holding onto the ring with a small pair of jewelry pliers, hold the other part of the piece with another pair of pliers and bend back and forth till it breaks off. You might still need to file it a bit. (Michaels has a set of jewelry tools for about 10.00. They might not be the best quality ever but they are fine for the hobbyist. If you don't have any files an emery board will work ok too. I get mine in a big bunch at the dollar tree)

3) I know others will disagree with me but the best glue to use if you are going to attach brass to brass is E6000. It is very strong after it dries overnight but very flexible so that if you knock your piece against something it won't "snap" off like with epoxy or super glues. I like it too because if you get some, somewhere on your piece that you didn't plan on (HAPPENS TO ME EVERY TIME because it is quite goopy....use a toothpick to apply it!) then you can just wait about 15 minutes and it peels right off! When it dries overnight though..it takes a lot of muscle to pry it off.






GOOD LUCK and please feel free to ask questions or make comments! I would love to hear what you think and I would also LOVE to put you on my mailing list for future offers, tutorials, ideas and give-aways.

Just leave a comment for me here and don't forget to leave me your email address. (I will NEVER share it with anyone!)

Faithfully yours,
Violette Noble

Noble Studios Ltd.

www.noblestudiosltd.etsy.com

www.noblestudiosltd.blogspot.com