Dark/aged bolster options?

[Jason Fry]

I have a customer that wants a darker toned or aged look on some bolsters, to match some cream/brown crackle mammoth. What are my options? I've thought of a few:
Blued mild steel
Engraved stainless
Heat colored mild steel
Brass w/ dark patina
Copper w/ dark patina

What else fits the description? Still haven't decided what to do with the blade finish either. Could do matte, mirror, or etched w/ transition line or hamon.

I'm having a hard time bumping my designs up to this level. Any ideas about which would look the best?

 

[Ryan Minchew]

I used casey's plum brown and got completely different results depending on type of steel, final polish, and steel wool or not steel wooled.
You find some mammoth you liked?
THese bolsters are plain steel from the hardware store, I steel wooled them and this was the result

This is the same steel as above but not steel wooled, has a rough finish to it.

This set is 1095 and took a nice satin brown color.