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A Gilder Living in France Home
Hello Everyone.
I am very interested in gilding and have tried several gold leaf techniques.
I have gilded my own picture frames using imitation gold leaf and I like the results I am now getting. The frames were originally bare wood.
I applied a base coat of Armenian bole, this is a deep red coloured clay which you mix with water and apply with a brush, it seals the wood and imparts a very authentic background colour.
I used an oil based size as an adhesive, you have to wait perhaps several hours until the size has become tacky, and then you apply the metal leaf.
A different gold leaf technique was needed when I decided to gild the turrets of a castle I made for our infant daughter, you can see the results below.
The castle was made from off cuts of cardboard about 3mm thick. Not only the turrets but also all the pathways down the castle were gilded as well. A fun project.
But as I say a different gold leaf technique was needed for this.
I mixed up imitation gold leaf and copper powder and added it to a varnish, I suppose this isn't true gilding but the effect was very nice.
The gold was in fact painted on with a brush, but I remember something about another form of genuine gold that was mixed with gum arabic to form what I think was called "shell gold".
One of my favourite gold leaf techniques is that of gilding onto paper, I do use genuine gold leaf for this, as I enjoy calligraphy and I think my work is good enough to use genuine gold leaf, even though it is so costly.
My method is a traditional one, I use gum ammoniac which comes in the from of crystals.
You place a few crystals in a small plastic or glass container with a tight fitting lid. Barely cover the crystals with water, allow the crystals to soak for 24 hours, shaking occasionally until the liquid is milky, strain through a piece of nylon stocking.
Then you simply paint on the size and allow it to dry overnight.
I use mostly loose gold as I am accustomed to using it, but I guess patent gold might be easier to use, patent gold by the way is gold mounted on a paper backing tissue, it makes it a whole lot easier to handle.
When you come back to the piece of work, you simply breath warm air onto the surface of the adhesive, this makes it just a little sticky, and then you apply the metal leaf, after which you brush away the remnants of the leaf.
Well these are the gold leaf techniques that I use, I am not an expert gilder, but I really enjoy using metal leaf, be it genuine gold or imitation gold.
Tell me what you do with imitation gold leaf.
Regards
Edward
P.S. There is a very good site that is all about gilding for newbies, the person who runs the site is very friendly and helpful, there are free manuals on how to apply antique finishes to imitation gold leaf and he shows you some different gold leaf techniques.
I am very interested in gilding and have tried several gold leaf techniques.
I have gilded my own picture frames using imitation gold leaf and I like the results I am now getting. The frames were originally bare wood.
I applied a base coat of Armenian bole, this is a deep red coloured clay which you mix with water and apply with a brush, it seals the wood and imparts a very authentic background colour.
I used an oil based size as an adhesive, you have to wait perhaps several hours until the size has become tacky, and then you apply the metal leaf.
A different gold leaf technique was needed when I decided to gild the turrets of a castle I made for our infant daughter, you can see the results below.
The castle was made from off cuts of cardboard about 3mm thick. Not only the turrets but also all the pathways down the castle were gilded as well. A fun project.
But as I say a different gold leaf technique was needed for this.
I mixed up imitation gold leaf and copper powder and added it to a varnish, I suppose this isn't true gilding but the effect was very nice.
The gold was in fact painted on with a brush, but I remember something about another form of genuine gold that was mixed with gum arabic to form what I think was called "shell gold".
One of my favourite gold leaf techniques is that of gilding onto paper, I do use genuine gold leaf for this, as I enjoy calligraphy and I think my work is good enough to use genuine gold leaf, even though it is so costly.
My method is a traditional one, I use gum ammoniac which comes in the from of crystals.
You place a few crystals in a small plastic or glass container with a tight fitting lid. Barely cover the crystals with water, allow the crystals to soak for 24 hours, shaking occasionally until the liquid is milky, strain through a piece of nylon stocking.
Then you simply paint on the size and allow it to dry overnight.
I use mostly loose gold as I am accustomed to using it, but I guess patent gold might be easier to use, patent gold by the way is gold mounted on a paper backing tissue, it makes it a whole lot easier to handle.
When you come back to the piece of work, you simply breath warm air onto the surface of the adhesive, this makes it just a little sticky, and then you apply the metal leaf, after which you brush away the remnants of the leaf.
Well these are the gold leaf techniques that I use, I am not an expert gilder, but I really enjoy using metal leaf, be it genuine gold or imitation gold.
Tell me what you do with imitation gold leaf.
Regards
Edward
P.S. There is a very good site that is all about gilding for newbies, the person who runs the site is very friendly and helpful, there are free manuals on how to apply antique finishes to imitation gold leaf and he shows you some different gold leaf techniques.
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, Jul 7 2008, 12:16 PM EDT
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Keyword tags:
framing
gilding
gold leaf
golden leaf
matting
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