Last month I made a few stitch marker sets using these filigree bead caps on the larger beads. I have a large supply of the Dragonfly Drone charms and the fancy little hearts which are both gunmetal in color, but after making all of these I was down to one pair of the matching bead caps. I also started running out of the gunmetal clasps. The bead caps were purchased from a bargain bin some time ago and I wasn't able to find more in the usual places.
Stitch marker quality lobster claw clasps are also hard to find. You have to buy some, test them and then make sure you can buy them in large quantities for as long as you need them. After giving up on the search for the bead caps, I moved on to the search for the perfect clasps in gunmetal finish. I ended up finding some gunmetal and antique brass clasps that I approved of and to my amazement, this shop also had the bead caps that I needed plated in bright silver!
Though I had never used it, I had a small amount of Liver of Sulfur. So late one night, when I probably should have been heading to bed, I decided to darken some of my bright and shiny filigree bead caps.
Far Left: the pair of bead caps I had left next to two bright ones Right: DIY antique silver bead caps
I was very pleased with the results! I applied this to some silver plated jump rings and it turned them copper to grayish blue, so I'll need to experiment more with that. It's a fun albeit smelly process and though I'm thrilled about my new supply of gunmetal filigree bead caps, I'll be waiting until I run out of something else "gunmetal" before I do this again.
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