Tips and Tricks Tuesday #15 - How to Tarnish Silver

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE DETAILS FOR ALL THREE LINKY PARTIES HERE AT THE COTTAGE!

Welcome to the fifteenth Tips & Tricks Tuesday linky party here at the Brambleberry Cottage.

For those of you who are already missing summer fun in the sun...

take a good long look at the beautiful blue water in that swimming pool.

OK...that's long enough!

Now, focus your attention on that fantastic looking director's chair that was given new life by Deanne @ Five Brothers One Sister.

Want to know how to make an inexpensive stencil–like the one Deanne used on this project?  Then hop on over to her place for a great tutorial.

If there's anything this world could use more of, it's gratitude.

Karly @ Jellybean Junkyard created this wonderful board of thanksgiving for her family to remind them how important it is to give thanks.

And now, for another Brambleberry Cottage tip:

Nope, my tip is not a lesson on how to boil eggs to perfection.

Although, it does involve boiled eggs!

Actually, to be more precise, it involves the yolks of boiled eggs.

You see; I happen to really like the wonderful patina that tarnish imparts to older metal objects.

Sometimes the things I collect–like the vintage trophy cup you see above–have just the right amount of that terrific timeworn look I prefer.

Other times, there's just not as much as I would like–as is the case for the dinner bell beside the trophy.

So what's a gal to do?

Why find a way to create tarnish, of course.

It just so happens, sulfur is a great tarnishing agent.  And that also just happens to be an abundant element found in the yolks of eggs.

Since I greatly prefer natural means, over the use of synthetic–and ususally dangerous–chemicals, I decided to give this method a try.

If you enlarge the image above, and compare it to the earlier one, you will notice that the surface of the bell is indeed beginning to darken.

So far, these items have been sealed in that plastic bag for about six hours.  

By the way, any kind of container will do for this project, as long as it's airtight.  And make sure the yolks are warm when you place them in the container. 

Since I want to see if it will tarnish even further, I'm leaving everything, just as you see it, overnight. 

I'll report my findings to you tomorrow.