Before knowing how to clean and care for your brass items, it is best to know more about this jewelry component first. What is brass? Brass is an alloy.This means that it comes from two metals which were melted and blended together to make a unique and new property.In the case of brass, it is an alloy made from copper and zinc.On its own, copper will turn dark in color or blue or green and will tarnish rapidly.Zinc also has the tendency to turn very dark.Blended together though, they are much more resistant to tarnish, oxidation, and give off very valuable properties.
What is the difference between brass and bronze? Although there are some people who refer to brass as “bronze”, the two are very different from each other. This is even if some alloys or textures of brass resemble bronze closely. However, unlike brass, bronze is principally an alloy that came from copper and tin.
Why is brass important? Brass has a number of valuable properties.One of these is that it can be cast with the lost wax process.This is how brass jewelry is made.It can be also be ground, sawn, cut, and polished.It has a golden appearance that many people find pleasing in decorative items.Brass is also very strong and hard making it a viable material for hinges and locks as well.Since it has copper, it is known to be a conductor for electricity, making brass parts very common among many appliances.When struck, brass also generates tones so music boxes and bells are also made out of this alloy.Musical instruments are made of brass because this material is known to resist rain and other types of weather and vibrates wonderfully to make beautiful music.
Sustaining Brass Patina
We do not recommend cleaning brass.If discoloration or something happens to the aesthetics of your brass item, then you must consult your antique dealer, the artist or a preservation consultant about it. Gentle dusting of your items will help in keeping them free from dust. Our Blitz 7808 will assist you in this. So, if you have a brass item that is a work of art and you want to maintain its patina, DO NOT CLEAN it.Should discoloration of the patina occur, approach the right persons for the consultation.
Brass Tarnish Despite the resistance of brass to tarnish, we live in a world that has a lot of air pollution.Because of this, it has the tendency to turn dark.Periodic polishing will help in dealing with this.
Lacquered (Coated) Brass Many manufacturers have eliminated the possible occurrence of tarnish in brass by adding a coating of some type to keep air from getting to the brass.Usually when no air comes in contact with brass, then there would no tarnish. Some manufacturers use a lacquer or other polymer coating to keep the brass from tarnishing.Some add a plastic coating.If you have a piece of brass and it's coated, but you still see tarnish, then that is a big issue. It means that the coating has worn off or worn through somehow and air is leaking into the brass. There are only two things that can happen at this point. The entire coating has to be stripped, the item cleaned, and then another coating has to be reapplied.Otherwise, once the coating has been removed, cleaning has to be done periodically.However, even a coated item gets dirty so it should also be dusted regularly.Blitz has cleaning items that will help you with this.
Gold Plated Brass Often, a piece of brass jewelry or decorative item will be coated with gold.Although this coating is usually 24K or pure gold, this is not always the case.You need to be very careful in cleaning these items.The gold is layered very thinly, with some even thinner than the others.Once the gold coating flakes off or rubs off or is removed, only the brass remains.The usual cause of this is that the gold plating might be so thin or has micro-fractures, so when the items are cleaned with water or jewelry cleaner, the gold flakes off.It is impossible to predict when this will happen, but you need to have your jeweler clean and re-plate your gold-plated item if you begin to see it turn dark or see bubbles form under the surface.
