distressing gold leaf.........

[vance galliher]

I'm doing a project for a local cabinet maker who is building several large wooden pieces of furniture that will be finished with a matte black. All the beading detail on moulding and drawers will have 23k gold leaf...over 100' of 1/2" bead gilding,.......... . I would use transfer tape to mask the coves, cut edge lines with blade, remove tape from area to be gilded, spray slow size, and use roll gold to gild. Howerver, the architect wants ihe gold to be patinaed/antiqued/distressed.........Would wiping thinned asphaltum and blotting it off be a way...or spritzing with muriatic acid , or ??. All the pieces will be clear coated by cabinet maker when finished. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

[Roderick Treece]

Vance,
Sounds like at fun job.It depends on how distrested you want it. You need to think about what you want to see below the gold.If you rub it back below the black on the sharp hard edges you will go below the black very fast.Traditional frame guilding would be white gesso base,bole color over that,venetian red,yellow orcher or black,gold on top.
That way when you rub it back you have all those levels of color showing through.
Wait as long as you can to guild to get as brillant a guild as possible,then burnish with very very fine steel wool or a soft piece of cotton cloth.
Take a look at the frame on my antique mirror room screen.It was guilded and rubbed back in this style.

http://www.customglasssigns.com/custom_ ... mples.html

Good luck

Roderick

[Mike Jackson]

Vance,
I agree with Roderick. The architect if probably visualizing the "antiqued" picture frame effect. You can probably do a few searches and find sites telling you how to do that technique and where to get the supplies. There are several books on the subject, too. Rick used to sell Agate burnishers in a variety of shapes and sizes used to burnish the gold into all the clay base crevices.

If you just want to surface gild it, you might be able to prime the wood gilded areas with terra cotta colored paint, followed by the gold size, and finally the gold leaf. When sanded (scotch pad), you'd start seeing underlying paint colors. You can also rub in some burnt umber mixed with turps as an antiquing stain. I doubt I'd take on a large project like this without doing a sample or two for the architect's approval prior to attempting the whole deal.

I find it odd that they would want to varnish everthing AFTER it has been distressed, gilded and antiqued.

Good luck,
Mike Jackson

[Roderick Treece]

Vance,
Unless you are prepared to charge alot and take on a alot of time consuming work DO NOT WATER GUILD this project.The agate burnishers Mike is talking about are only used for water guilding.
If you base it in white primer,finish sand very smooth,add another coat of oil primer(Gesso),burnish with burlap to smooth it down,apply your undercolor in black japan(bole),burnish again with burlap and then 12 hour oil size,wait as long as you can 18 to 22 hours to guild,you will have a very bright finish.
Always do a test area 2-4 hours ahead of the rest of the work.When the test area is starting to loosing it's tack your main area is ready.
When your ready to burnish it use the softest thing first,like cotton or velvet.Remmeber you can alway age it more ,but if you go to fast to quick you can't bring it back.
When your done burnishing you should have very nice patina on the gold with all the colors showing through.
If you want to TONE the gold with anything after that go ahead,that will be enough of a sealer for the gold.

I would deffinatly due a sample and have it aproved before starting.

Roderick

[Doug Bernhardt]

Yuppers...better get the sample okayed....I have a couple of old books on the water gild, gesso technique and I just gotta give it a try some day...till then I wouldn't take on a big job either. I think Rod has hit the nail on the head here.

[Pete witney]

Hello chaps, my first post , don't know why I've only just found this site, I see a few familiar names from the UK on here!! Anyway I agree with Roderick about water gilding and must try his technique for oil gilding..I offered my services to a local the cabinet maker, wow what a learning curve, I completely underestimated the time, especially the water gilding. It does sound odd that they would want to clear coat afterwards, as it's going to be a matte finish, surely this would kill any brightness or patina you achieve. I always get them to lacquer the work first when oil gilding as this gives a good base to size on. Good luck. Pete Witney