A NEW 4 - 5 AM PAST TIME

    Have you ever lain awake in the wee hours of the morning not knowing what to do?  Shall I get up?  Shall I lie here a bit longer and hope sleep comes again?  This was the conversation in my head this morning, and then the answer came to me......

GET UP AND CLEAN THE OLD PAINT OFF THE BRASS HARDWARE !

    To those of you who think I might be crazy, surely this will confirm your suspicions.  To those of you who have a passion for creating (model airplane building, knitting, painting, song writing, design, etc.), getting up at 4AM to pursue your passion is not an uncommon occurrence.

    SO I GOT UP (as did the dog and the kitten).  

I retrieved a bag of old brass hardware that I'd removed from doors and windows at Hawthorne Avenue. 

     I gathered the tools I understood necessary to perform the job:

1. an old pot not used in food preparation (mine has been used to felt and dye wool) 

2. fine steel wool (Thanks to my mother-in-law, I have a plethora of steel wool)

3. heavy duty rubber gloves

4. tongs 

5. water and the stove

Boil the water and place the painted brass in the water

After about 2 minutes in the pot, I removed one piece at a time with tongs, and, working quickly while the metal was still hot.....

rub the brass with the steel wool

Some pieces needed to go back in the pot to reheat to completely remove all the paint but after a second dunking......

Voila !  I have beautiful paint free brass ready to return to the newly glazed doors.

To date, this was one of my most productive sleepless nights.