Metal-work

I have been thinking a lot about using metal in my costume designs- something with a golden hue- like copper, or bronze. I think I'm am drawn to it so much because it is a timeless fabric. When the court of Tetrarch Herod Antipas is described by Salome in the play, everything is conveyed as a ridiculous status-induced indulgence in opulent frivolity. The mention of the white peacocks, with the gilded beaks and the descriptions of all the banqueters decked-out in ludicrous amounts of finery and jewels and gold. It seems to me that the design of the play should reflect this sense of self-satisfied indulgence in showing-off finery, but only as a facade, the design of the play should make it all too clear that beneath the surface of gold is a corrupt and bloodthirsty high-society, a man who is hinted to have killed his brother to marry his sister-in-law, a man who has stolen a sacred veil, a man who has an unhealthy infatuation with his own niece, a man who keeps 'the man touched by god' prisoner as he is scared of his power, a man who is ruler and leader of this land.
I thought that one interesting way of conveying this disjointed undercurrent of the world of the play, would be to experiment with aging metals- the green oxidization growing on the gold of the metal like a spreading disease, much like the corruption within the high-society.
Interestingly, in Oscar Wilde's original stage notes, his suggestion for the set is to have the cistern  'surrounded by a wall of green bronze'. Although I have no evidence to back-up my assumption, I wonder if Wilde's decision  to specify the use of this aging metal was meant as an extended metaphor for the whole situation of the play; with King Herod's richness, status, and empire being embodied in the bronze, a substance whose validity and appeal has been corrupted by something so beautiful as the turquoise oxidization of stunning Salome, an irreversible effect that will leave Herod's golden reputation ever tarnished, if not in the eyes of society, then in the eyes of God.
Previously struggling with a starting point, I felt my next step should perhaps be to experiment with the visual qualities of aging some metals, and as I result I have just ordered 3 small squares of metal online: 1 brass, 1 copper, 1 bronze. I am currently trawling the web for various ways of speeding up the aging process for each. I thought that something a basic as vinegar might do the trick, but apparently not. Every website suggests that I need complicated chemicals, that I think I would have a really tough time getting my hands on. But I will keep on looking.