When thinking about plating small metal parts that need quality work,
it may be worthwhile seeking out a location where cutlery, jewelry,
and the like are done as opposed to antique car bumpers.  They know
what they are doing and can offer advice in difficult situations.
Not everything plates onto everything else and they're the guys that
know.  There's a lot more to it than we learned in science class in
high school.  There are also a lot of dangerous chemicals involved.

A number of years ago I had only the bottom half of a singing bird in
cage automaton (base, movement and bird).  The cage was missing except
for the very bottom edge.  I made the decision to build a new cage
from iron wire (I couldn't get brass wire of anything near the right
gauge and length at the time and fence wire was ideal except for its
composition) and used square brass tubing for support.  Then I would
then have it brass plated, or so I thought.  I found out, the way we
often do with such "easy" projects, that building a square bird cage
with a rounded top is not a trivial job.

To get back to the point, I took my newly-made treasure to a well-known
local shop with the dubious name "Acme Plating" to get it brass plated.
(Google Acme Plating Vancouver -- If you Google just Acme Plating you
get a place in Colorado which could be just as good.)  The lady at the
front counter took a look at it, pulled some faces and then disappeared
into the very industrial-looking back shop.  In a couple of minutes
a fellow came out and said they couldn't do it because of the mixture
of metals I had used to make it.  He gave the "we could try, but..."
response to my whimpering and gave a price.  Then he said, "Would gold
be all right?"

Well, of course, by this time the only answer had to be yes, but what
was it going to cost?  He then quoted a price only about ten dollars
more.  Naturally he had a customer, and they did a fine job indeed.

It would have to be part of a batch job so he didn't know how long it
would take but I got a call a couple of months later that it was ready.
I was indeed very pleased with the result, particularly since they had
placed it on one of their display shelves in a prominent position along
with some very fancy silverware.  It never looked better.  Now I have
a cage that never needs polishing and looks great, even if not totally
authentic.  The cost?  About ten years ago, something like $120
Canadian.

The point is that if you search you can probably find a place to do the
job and it will be done by experts who know what they are doing and can
make suggestions if you've done something stupid.  If you have patience
to wait, they can probably fit your work in with other batches and save
you a lot of money.  (I guess you have to trust them a bit here to keep
the pieces sorted out.)  I have a photo of the finished item for those
interested.

Best regards,
Jim Heyworth,
Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada