"aging" bricks - any solution to strange problem?

[surreysteve]

Hi Guys

I am in the midst of renovating an old fireplace which has involved removing some broken/crumbling tudor bricks (16c) from one of the pillars. After some searching I found some wonderful old orange 2" tudors which match the existing brickwork pretty well.

Unfortunately, the fireplace pillar I am renovating had bricks with rounded profiles which meant I had to round off some of the bricks I had bought. This was not a problem in itself but has left the "cut" area of the brick exposed looking very new (orange) which doesn't match the rest of the brick faces (which are pitted and dirty.)

Does anyone know how to artificially "age" the cut face of a soft old orange brick.....someone has mentioned live yoghurt but aside from that all I can think is to cut some grooves and rub some dirt in?

Any clever ideas?

Steve

 

[Gareth Hughes]

painting with sooty water might help

 

[MatthewC]

painting with sooty water might help

Mary had a little lamb,
his fleece was black as soot
and everywhere that Mary went,
his sooty foot 'e put!

Sorry - feeling bored

 

[xanthe]

I'm thinking of trying a mix of very diluted limewash with a handful of soot and a handful of local soil and doing it in thin layers till it looks right. I do want mine a bit lighter in colour though and they are outside.

I'd suggest whacking it very gentle with one of those kitchen things for steak that have lots of little points in rather than cutting grooves that might look less natural, and then rubbing in soot and dust mixed with something like a bit of yoghurt to help it stick a bit. Might be worth making up a jar of it, painting it on, leaving it a few days then washing it with a scouring pad and reapplying until you get it looking truly old. Just rubbing on one layer might not make it look right.

I've got a fireplace where the faces of a lot of the bricks have been knocked off and I'm planning to patch them up and blend them with the ones that aren't, so I'd be interested to see how you get on. Can you do some before and after pics?

 

[LadyArowana]

A good rub over with some artists charcoal followed by a light scrub with a weak solution of dish soap?