There are several materials with which to add gold accents to an item. The most expensive is gold leaf, which is pure gold pressed into very fine sheets (and it is very pricey). Alternatively, you can use composite gold leaf, gold foil (which is aluminum foil tinted gold), or gold paint. Dee Keegan, the founder of the Renaissance Trade School, gilds a wooden picture frame, showing the many steps involved in restoration-quality gold leafing. Restoration-quality gold leafing is a labor-intensive, time-consuming process. The extremely fine finish of restoration-quality gold leafing is attained by layering many coats of gesso and clay, which form a cushion for sheets of 24-karat gold, the purest and most expensive gold available. The process of gold leafing a wooden picture frame begins with a coat of shellac to seal the wood. Then many coats of gesso, usually about 12, are applied with a soft bristle brush (figure A). Each coat must be allowed to dry overnight and must be smoothed with fine sandpaper before the next coat is applied.
After all the coats of gesso have been applied, several coats of pigmented clays, called boles, are applied to the surface. The layers of clay provide additional cushioning for the gold leaf, and the pigment adds luster to the finished piece. Boles come in different colors, including black, yellow and red. The luster provided by a black bole base is popular in the United States, whereas yellow topped by red is more common in Europe. Rabbit-skin glue is added to the dry clay pigment to create a solution that is brushed on the piece in layers. The piece receives five or six coats of bole, and each must be allowed to dry overnight. After the last coat of bole has dried, the piece is smoothed to a silky finish with 0000 steel wool (figure B). A gilding liqueur of denatured alcohol and distilled water is brushed on the frame, and a sheet of 24-karat gold leaf is carefully set on the piece. The gold leaf is gently dabbed in place with a soft-bristle brush (figure C) and allowed to dry. After drying overnight, the gold leaf surface is reduced with an agate-tip burnisher (figure D).
RESOURCES :
Gold-leafing kits from AMACO
American Art Clay Co. Inc. (AMACO)
Indianapolis, IN 46222
Phone: 317-244-6871
Fax: 317-248-9300
Email: catalog@amaco.com
Website: www.amaco.com
Gold-leafing kits from Old World Art
Old World Art
Ontario, CA 91761
Phone: 909-947-4928
Fax: 909-923-1185
Email: info@caldexcrafts.com
Website: www.caldexcrafts.com
Gold leaf and metallic powders
Classes in furniture restoration and gold leafing by Dee Keegan
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