The vintage Christmas look is very popular right now.
When decorating with a vintage style, decor should look like it has been used and slightly abused and/or distressed for many decades.
If you want to use Christmas bells in your vintage decor, consider giving them a patina to make them look older than they really are.
Here are the steps to add patina to metal Christmas jingle bells.
Bells
You can use whatever size jingle bells that you want, but they must be metal (no plastic).
Larger bells make more dramatic decorations.
Salt and Vinegar
Get a plastic container that your bells will fit inside.
You can do one bell at a time, a few at a time, or all of them at a time.
Fill the container with vinegar (white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or whatever other kind you have).
Add a few teaspoons of salt to the vinegar (once again, use whatever type of salt you have - table salt, sea salt, ice cream salt, etc).
Put your bell or bells inside the salt and vinegar mixture and let them sit for at least an hour or even overnight.
When the bells are in the salt and vinegar mixture, you may not notice your bells changing at all.
Patina Appears
After the time has passed with your bells sitting in the salt and vinegar, gather an old towel or newspapers and an old set of kitchen tongs.
Use the kitchen tongs to remove your bell or bells from the mixture and put them on the newspaper or old towel to dry.
Rinse off your kitchen tongs immediately so they don't patina also.
You should notice the patina appearing on the bells in as little as 1 minute.
Let the bells continue to sit for about an hour, then rinse them with clean water and dry them.
Experiment with using different amounts of time in the vinegar and salt mixture, and experiment with different amounts of time drying before rinsing to get different results.
*Note - all bells and all metals are different, so you may get different results with your bells. Always use all safety precautions when doing DIY projects*
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