Composite Leaf?

[John Grenier]

We made an outdoor sign a few years back (5) that I am refinishing. It is carved HDU letters on MDO cut profile of the script lettering. Large, the letters are about 24" tall. We originally used Dutch Gold and clear coated them. We used 1Shot Clear to protect the finish from tarnish and it worked quite well for large letters not viewed closely. The problem was a couple small spots were missed and tarnished. And showed up like a smile with a missing tooth. I climbed up there and put down some quick size and stuck on the "gold" and then cleared with frog juice. Well everywhere I put the frog juice it tarnished.

So the long way to the question. If we use acrylic clear 1Shot (the stinky stuff) or Chromatic Acylic Clear will it protect the gold from tarnish or should I use the 1Shot restoring clear (smells like the enamels)

The best choice is to use real gold but would be beyond the budget.

All responses are always appriciated.

Thanks
John Grenier

[Ron Percell]

Hello John,

1Shot acrylic clear and Chromatic Acylic Clear will work fine.

I also use frog juice straight from the can, but avoid thinning it very much, thinning is the most common problem folks have, resulting in breakdown.

When gilding I prefer to wait until the Gold Size has closed completely. In cases where I have used 12 size, I typically wait until the next day to clear coat the gild first thing in the morning, then follow up with a 2nd coat at the end of the day and then a 3rd and final coat to really add back the depth to the gold, which makes it last long.

In the situation your in, seeing that it's on site, I might brush a coat of some bullseye shellac over any freshly giled areas as a chemical barrier so as not to have the size under the gild alligator when appling the othe mention clears, then finish with 2-3 coats of clear.

You say that "The problem was a couple small spots were missed and tarnished" this tells me that only a single coat was applied orriginally. I suggest that you lightly dust the letters down in the future with Shadow Kaolin then lightly blow off any of the excess powder, this will assist you in making sure that you've fully clear coated all of the surface.

Most likely the tarnishing occured from hand contact or brush oil seaping out from the hilt of the brush.

Good Luck

[John Grenier]

Thanks for the response. We are refinishing the sign in the shop and will put 3 coats of clear over the dutch gold. And thanks for reminding me of the wonders of shellac.
Thanks
John

Rick Glawson wrote a treatice on shellac, I need to reread that.

[Mike Jackson]

bump