Why "age" newly made items?

[gus13]

if discussing horns and coloration, we also have to keep in mind that period horn makers also dyed their horns as well. so its not a new phenomina. onion skins have been used for the yellowed color as well as just exposure to smoke. Green horns were popular in certain Pennsylvania horns (I'm not home right now, and I can't recall the specific school!)- I was told by Art DeCamp that the green was some kind of bug deterrant(?) there are also records of horns being dyed red. So with this in mind, we need to remember that some coloration is not necessarily "Aging" but merely a representation of what "was".
Course that said I like the aged look on some of my work, since to me it feels like it has more of a story to it. :grin: :grin: :grin:

 

[jeffdrown]

My Bone "short" trip BP holder is not aged..but it looks older I made it with 100 year old locust fence post wood ...cow leg bone.... whitetail antler.... rosewood plug.

 

[roundball]

I was just looking at some powder horns and was debating with myself if I liked the yellowing that seems to have become so popular recently. I must admit that I like the look, but is it an accurate patina? I have a white horn that's almost 20 years old and it's still white. no yellowing that I can see.

I've got a couple powder horns I've had for about 50 years, and my Grandparents had them gosh knows how long before that...one is mostly white and its still as white today as it was when I got it.
So if one doesn't start out yellow, my guess is that coloring might be picked up by handling, and/or, there might be some change in color influenced by powder being inside them for a long time...dunno.

 

[omarick1948]

Some examples of color aging. __ What do you like for an item that is representative of the period we all like to portray?

Undyed?

Dyed and color aged?

Heavily color aged?

Like I said, It's all in one's personal taste for their equipment!

 

[bnail]

I definately prefer the dyed look. more character. :thumbsup:
nice work :hatsoff: