Crystallisation

The reason for me getting around to torching that brass stamping in the previous post was that my sis -- finally! -- got around to clearing up her mess in our shared workroom. That mess almost made it hard to find my workspace... On the other hand, as a beader I often work in a bed or sofa, using the bead room mostly for metalwork, painting etc -- something I haven't done much of lately. Anyway, today I therefore sat down at my table for the first time in ages and that is when I say that thing above. Can you tell what it is?

I was very surprised to find this because last time -- a few months ago -- when I used the pressed-glass ashtray it was filled with vinegar. Vinegar I'd used to etch mother-of-pearl (the mauve tint is dye from the MOP beads -- and there's probably some acrylic paint in there too) and then, together with some salt, used to add a fumed patina to some brass and bronze tags. After that I forgot about the vinegar-filled ashtray under the plastic jar. And then today I looked at it for the first time in ages and found the salt laden liquid had crystallised (or crystallized depending on how you want to spell it -- I keep mixing British and American spelling).

It reminds me of when we made salt crystals -- coloured with food colouring -- on string as kids. That was fun!