Caring For Brass

We love brass. If you haven’t scrolled through the tabletop collection on our site recently, please give it a look and ogle the brass beauties.

But we often get a lot of confused and saddened emails lamenting bright and shiny brass pieces that start looking splotchy and awkward upon use. Your brass will patina. It's supposed to. Once it goes through an awkward teenage phase of being splotchy in some places and shiny in others, it'll all even out to a muted, worn brown-gold that I think it just gorgeous. 

If you want to buff it up now and again, though, here's how:

First, the most important thing to note is that brass should never go into the dishwasher. Ever. It'll start pitting, which means getting little holes all over the surface. No good!

You can buff your brass shiny in one of two ways:

• Option 1: create a paste with baking soda and lemon juice. Use a soft cloth and run the past in circles on your brass until it's all shined up.
• Option 2: same thing, but with Bar Keepers Friend Soft Cleanser or other brass polish found at your hardware store.