Patina this! How to Rust Steel.

Ok - you can say it's stainless steel - but trust me - stainless is just a suggestion. I learned that stainless steel could rust the day the drain broke free from the sink in the kitchen. I would never have called the Titantic unsinkable, and Ha! I laugh at your so-called "stainless" steel.

This week's update contained some new stampings - very attractive light-gunmetal coloured steel.

So - what could be done with them?

First, I thought - maybe a bit of colour? How about a quick swipe of nail polish? It went on beautifully, and the transparent colour added a beautiful, luminous colour.

Nice, eh?
 
(BTW - I used OPI Love Game, and I get my nail polish from NailPolishCanada.com - because I got tired of buying crappy polish from the local drugstores that won't apply easily and are still tacky an hour later. Seriously - it makes a huge difference.)

However, maybe they need something more? Maybe, a little steampunk style rust?

How about this?

Okay - so how did I get this fabulous old-looking patina?

I was going to use a recipe that called for pouring enough Hydrogen Peroxide into a plastic container to cover the pieces, adding splash of vinegar, and a sprinkle of salt. But - I discovered that I was out of Hydrogen Peroxide (probably used it the last time the dog got skunked - the magic formula for that is - for a large dog, two 500 ml bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide, about a cup of baking soda, a couple of squirts of dish detergent, combine in a large bucket - it will foam up. Wash the dog with it, working it well into the fur, and then wash it out with baby shampoo. No smell. Guaranteed. I've gone from reeking to "can't tell" in an hour with this. Anyway, I digress.)

So what I did was pour enough vinegar into a plastic container to cover the items, put them in, and added a teaspoon of salt, and then added about a tablespoon of Oxiclean. (Oxiclean contains
Sodium Percarbonate - which turns into hydrogen peroxide.)  This will foam up like crazy  so do it near the sink. You won't be able to see your items, because of the foam, but don't wait too long to pour it off and rinse with water. The reaction is very fast - under a minute. Rinse well and wash with detergent to stop the reaction. Wearing gloves is a good idea - this stuff dried my hands out like crazy.  Vinegar + Oxiclean is usually used for cleaning grease off of things.

You can see that one of the patina'd items is the one I applied the nail polish to. The contrast of colours and textures works rather well, I thought.

So there you have it. What will you do with it?