There's been any amount of commentary by some---even trained metal artists!--that it's difficult or impossible to get patina on raw brass using Liver of Sulfur.
YOU CAN DO IT. I do it all the time. I sorta-kinda prefer my vinegar/salt thing because it has a deepness and rich old gingerbread look that you don't get with Liver of Sulfur. But! You can get that cool toasty eco-friendly sorta natural-type look on your brass using this material. The method takes longer than copper or silver which you just dip-dunk-and done! but, it's EASY. There are just a few tips you need to know to have success on brass using this method.
Liver of Sulfur is the least-noxious, chemical way to get patina on a piece of brass. The down side is it takes a little longer to respond to the solution, and Liver of Sulfur smells like rotten eggs, ugh. So long as you don’t hang over the bowl and breath deep, or have severe allergies, you will be fine using it, if you want to give it a try.
Heat water to almost hot and then place it in a glass dish on a candle warmer to keep the heat up. Then put in a couple little chunks of dry liver of sulfur. If you need some, we sell both it and the gel type on our website at http://www.bsueboutiques.com My guess is you may even have some in your workshop already!
Also, take the clean, degreased brass pieces and heat the brass piece or stamping gently, holding with pliers or a sturdy pair tweezers into the heat of an EMBOSSING GUN, just like you use with UTEE or ink for mixed media and scrapbooking art.
Then throw it in the solution. You should also have a glass bowl full of clear cool water ready to dunk/neutralize the pieces you take out of the solution.
Check it in a few minutes, then dip in the cool water. If you like it, you are done. If not, put it back in the solution and go back and forth til it pleases you.
If you want to add more grunge to it, you can actually take it and hold it in the flame of a torch after that and get some deepening to it. This method works super on copper, too. We did it in Linda and Opie O'Brien's class at Art and Soul. (BTW you can get more patina recipes in their book Metal Craft Discovery Workshop, published by Northern Light Books in 2005. It's on my top-ten all time favorite books for jewelry craft....you may have to search for it, though, as it's out of print now. Contact me if you want one, I don't have any to sell but I can put you in touch with them. THAT BOOK, if you don't have it, IS SOMETHING YOU WANT, believe me.)
LISSEN UP: when liver of sulfur solution loses its strength, it gets real, real murky and cloudy. Throw it out and start a new batch. It is safe to put down the drain, as opposed to other chemical dips that require special containers and disposal.
Dry the piece, buff it out if you want to add in a few highlights, then seal with Renaissance Wax (that's the best choice---we have it at bsueboutiques.com) or Turtle Wax from the dollar store, or matte spray varnish. If you have really torched the piece hard, you may not have to seal it all! but you will need to experiment with that and see where you end up. You can also go ahead and ‘pop’ it with alcohol ink.
For more visuals and examples, check my website at http://www.bsueboutiques.com or my gallery at http://imageevent.com/bsue/galleryofpatinadesignsandideas