Potato Chip Patina on Brass and Copper (Tutorial)
by Rena Klingenberg. © 2003-Present Rena Klingenberg. All Rights Reserved

Potato Chip Patina on Brass and Copper – Tutorial by Rena Klingenberg
Now we’re going to put an easy potato chip patina finish on the Rustic Autumn Leaf Pendants we made in Part 1 of this tutorial – “Rustic Autumn Leaf Pendants”.

Brass leaf pendant with potato chip patina by Rena Klingenberg
You may wind up with a sort of camouflage pattern on your metal, like this one:

Copper leaf pendant with potato chip patina by Rena Klingenberg
Like most homemade patina recipes, your results with this method may be a surprise.
Although it’s likely to yield green, blue, teal, or turquoise colors, you may also end up with brown, rust, gold – or some other color.
All sorts of factors can affect how the patina interacts with your metal, and you may get different results every time you use the same recipe.
So watching the color development is always fun!
Caution:
Patinas made with ordinary household products may be harmful if ingested, inhaled, or worn against the skin. Use in well ventilated area, preferably outdoors.Before starting this project, see Homemade Patina Precautions for safety guidelines.
Supplies:
- The brass or copper pendant you made in my Rustic Autumn Leaf Pendant Tutorial:
(Or you can use any other copper or brass item that has NOT been varnished. Many commercially-available jewelry and hardware metals have been varnished).
- Liquid dish soap (such as Dawn or whatever brand).
- Small amount of baking soda.
- #0000 steel wool – one or two small pieces.
- Empty plastic grocery container such as the kind used for sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. The lid should fit pretty tightly.
This should be a container you will NOT use for food again. - Wear appropriate protection – gloves, goggles, and breathing protection.
- A bag of “Salt and Vinegar” potato chips.
- A few teaspoons of regular household white vinegar.
- Sealant – I use a clear, matte-finish, spray-on sealant called “Tree House Studio” Clear Acrylic Matte Coating, from Hobby Lobby.
Krylon also has a product that’s pretty much the same thing, and about the same price.
First, Clean Your Metal:
IMPORTANT: Start with clean metal.
We need to clean your metal to remove all traces of skin oils and anything else that may resist the patina.
So before beginning the patina process, wash both sides of your metal pendant (or other item) thoroughly with a generous amount of liquid dish soap.
After washing off all of the dish soap, sprinkle a small amount of baking soda onto both sides of your pendant and scrub it well with your steel wool.
Scrub in the same direction as the grain of your metal.
Wash off all traces of baking soda – and then without letting your skin touch the newly cleaned metal, dry the metal thoroughly with paper towels.
Safety Note:
Do NOT eat the crushed potato chips you use in the patina process.
Throw them away when you’re completely finished with the patina.
There should still be plenty of fresh chips in the bag for munching! 🙂

Side view of Rustic Autumn Leaf with Potato Chip Patina – tutorial by Rena Klingenberg
How to Create
a Potato Chip Patina:
In the bottom of your plastic grocery container, place a layer of crushed “Salt & Vinegar” potato chips, about an inch deep.
Place your clean, dry metal pieces on top of the crushed chips:
Then completely cover the metal pieces with another layer of the crushed chips:
Now sprinkle about 1/4 cup (59mL) of white household vinegar over the top layer of chips.
And finally, spray a little water over the top of the chip layer – enough so that the chips are moist and likely to cling damply to your metal pieces.
Now put the lid on your container, and set it where it’s safe from children, pets, and hungry people:
You can check on your patina every 30 to 60 minutes – depending on how fast you see the color developing.
It may take anywhere from half an hour to 2 days to develop to the degree you wish.
After four hours, my metal leaves were developing a few nice deep blue splotches everywhere the potato chips were NOT touching them.
So I used tweezers to gently pick off most the chip crumbs from the metal, and just set the pendants on top of the layer of crushed chips.
Then I closed the container again.
An hour later, this is how my leaf pendants looked:
So I removed the pendants from the patina mixture.
I gently picked all remaining chip crumbs off of the metal with my tweezers, and set the pendants out to air dry on a paper towel without washing them or disturbing the patina.
The color developed more as the pendants air dried:
Sealing Your Patina Finish:
If you don’t use some sort of sealant, your patina will naturally continue to darken or tarnish – which eventually will change or cover your original patina finish.
And because the finished patina surface itself may be harmful, always seal any items that have undergone a patina procedure.
When the patina is finished and dry, seal the patina using a clear spray lacquer.
Apply at least three light coats of lacquer on every patina surface of the metal, drying each coat thoroughly before applying the next coat.
I use a clear, matte-finish, spray-on sealant called “Tree House Studio” Clear Acrylic Matte Coating, from Hobby Lobby.
Krylon also has a product that’s pretty much the same thing, and about the same price.