Mrs. Rick is making a ren faire costume. It has brass eyelets in it. Of ocurse the eyelets available at the fabric store are shinny, and she wants a weathered look.
Yesterday she tried soaking one of the eyelets in Ammonia, and then bleach. (NO not at the same time 
) Results NADA.
Today I scrubbed the surface with steel wool, thinking that there was probably a clear finish, and plopped it into vinegar.
so far still no result.
Suggestions?
A long time ago I worked in a bronze foundry that specialized in art casting. I believe the correct term for the “weathered look” is patina (search also patination). They would heat the metal with a torch to estimate a desired temp range and then apply a mixture of chemicals and water to the metal with a spray bottle. The resulting color on the metal depended on which chemicals were used. Here is one site I found offering a little more info. I am no expert in the process but if it sounds like what you’re looking for I can provide a few mote details.
Brass reacts with sulfur to form a brown or black patina. Some art supply stores sell solutions of potassium sulfide, also called liver of sulfur, for this very purpose. You can also get sodium thiosulphate at photography stores, as part of a “farmers reducer” package. A solution of thiosulfate works to detect lead in paint by turning it black, so it’ll probably do the same trick with brass. If you can’t get, or aren’t comfortable with these chemicals, you could try smearing the rings with cooked egg yolk and sealing them in a baggy overnight. I’ve never tried this with brass, but it works on silver.
Check your local sporting goods store, Birchwood Casey Brass BLack, also I’ve used ordinary cold process gun blue. You can then use Brasso lightly for the high lights.
How do you age brass? I won’t say cut it in half and count the rings, 'cause that is stupid.
Try hanging the brass objects over a HCl solution, such as muriatic acid from a hardware store. This should give you some nice patina.
You could also try acetic acid ~ 30%(conc. stronger than vineger) for a verdigis patina or nitric acid (difficult to obtain).
Just found this link. From same site cited earlier. Uses glacial acetic acid. CAUTION: be careful of getting a good wiff of glacial acetic fumes, it can cause pnumonia.
Thanks for the help everyone. I’m passing these on to the wife. When she reads the links, she may start to like shinny.