T.C.;
You don't have to buy the whole lamp building kit as you article suggests. There are some really cool lamp parts suppliers on the net. You can buy a whole sack of the parts you need, rather than winding up with a lot of stuff you don't need. Also many of the cheap lamp kits aren't brass, they're plated junk. The lamp parts suppliers will tell you if they are brass, or plated pot metal.
I often cruise the brass department in the import stores, with an eye for just what you are doing with the hose sprayer. I found some little candlesticks I was able to cut up, and use the bases, for powder flask tops, and some larger ones for the top of a horn inkwell.
Don't overlook those old brass handled fire sets everybody had hanging by the fireplace when we were kids. The brass handles unscrew, often in sections. I've used a bunch of those for spouts for Russian fur trade round wooden powder flasks.
Hungry Horse