Enhancing Pressed Pennies for Scrapbooking

[MickeyChick]

So I have 100 or so pressed pennies (and quarters) from my recent trip to the World and I want to use them in my scrapbooking but some of the more detailed images aren't very clear. Can I rub ink on them or do anything to enhance the visibility of the image?

[Ariel_Fan]

I don't know the answer, but I'm dying to see how you use them in your pages. I'm going to scrapbook all day tomorrow and try to knock out some of my earlier trips (I'm still working on my '05 trip) :secret: If you fee so inclined, I'd love to see what you're pages look like.

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I've never tried this, but here's some info from the web...

Antiquing Copper .
An appearance of antiquity can be obtained on copper or bronze objects, such as casts, door furniture, etc., in various ways. The metal should be clean and free from grease and then immersed in the following solution:
Copper nitrate. . . . . . . 8 oz.
Calcium chloride . . . . . .8oz
Ammonium chloride . . . . . 8oz
Water . . . . . . . . 1 gal.
Alternatively, use the following:
Nitrate of iron . . . . . 4 oz.
Hyposulphate of soda . . . . . 4 oz
Water . . . . . . . 1 quart.
Apply until the required tone is obtained and then rinse with clear water.

I would think that if you darkened the whole penny to black, then used a metal cleaner on a q-tip to remove the black from the raised parts, you'd be able to see the details.

[Flower]

I don't know the answer, but I'm dying to see how you use them in your pages. I'm going to scrapbook all day tomorrow and try to knock out some of my earlier trips (I'm still working on my '05 trip) :secret: If you fee so inclined, I'd love to see what you're pages look like.

Ariel-Fan, did you notice this thread???!!

http://http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=125127


I still have to do my pressed pennies LO too, I tried to enhance the shine of the pennies and several online sites suggested soaking the pennies in Taco Bell or Hot Sauce, the salt & vinegar in the sauce reacts and shines the pennies supposedly. I just used Salt & vinegar and they turned out okay.

[MickeyChick]

My pennies are all clean because I did the hot sauce thing before we left. I tucked a ziplock bag of shiny pennies and a bag of shiny quarters into my stroller and had them ready every time I saw a machine.

I think the suggestion to blacken the pennies and then clean off the raised areas will work and I'm going to try it with one that somehow I got a double. Why did I need 2 giraffes?

[Altair]

I know what you mean,the complex designs do not look very good when pressed. My advice now is for folks to stick with the simple designs, which look great.:mickey: