Aging Ivory beads...A progress report..
 

After a couple days in a mix ..(from Dean R.) of black tea.(Earl Grey) and Iodine, there seems to be some success..I put 3 beads from various suppliers in the mix. I'm sure one was mammoth ivory. That one has darkened to a grey color that about matches my middle bead. Even the other 2 took on some color that toned down the white. I am not sure if they are ivory ?. I also put in a mid bead that has a metal sleeve..(I think it was a Marbles product)..but it stayed white as snow. My friend is dropping off some amber shellac..(per Jeff K.)..so i'll do an experiment with it too....I'm going to use the darkened one on the PH 20..I'll report about the amber shellac...

The iodine in the mix should have yielded a more amber hue. Perhaps not enough iodine in the solution?





.

I made a half/half mix. I'll add more right now..

Added more iodine to original batch. Found another bead..and it's in 100% iodine..Will check tomorrow to see how it comes out..

I have antiqued revolver grips, real and the kind made of ground bone, in very strong coffee and turmeric.

I have a LeFever F that was missing the front bead but the original aged midbead was intact. I bought the NECG mammoth bead. Chucked it in a dremel and sanded it down to reasonable size. New, they are mammoth, like a marble on the end of your barrel. I swabbed it with a Qtip with Gale Locke American walnut stain until it was close to the midbead shade. If you go too far, you can swab it with denatured alcohol to lighten. Then buffed it with carnuba wax. That’s one way to do it.
Attachment 70529

Attachment 70530

Anyone with a good method for aging them when already on the gun? I've got a couple I wouldn't mind toning down a bit but am afraid to do something stupid. I've thought of masking it off and then wrapping the bead with cotton to hold the coloring agent?

Coffee, tea, tobacco and black walnut hulls are all well known fabric dyes. Not sure how they would work on ivory. I have a wooden spoon that has taken on a yellow color after using it to stir my home made chicken noodle soup that contains a hefty amount of Turmeric. Nothing has stained that spoon in the 40+ yrs that I have used it until this. The color doesn't want to wipe off either.

.....I am doing the trials with the NEGC beads. The one in 100% iodine has turned about right . I have one more of them that I'm going to use the amber shellac on. PS..My 20 had the bead installed too...I used nail polish remover and a Q tip..after about 5 minutes of soaking..the bead came out easily..

Has anyone tried this:

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/...+STAIN+2+FL+OZ