Gilding incised lettering in stone

[Roderick Treece]

Looking for any tips on doing gold leaf work on lettering that has been sandblasted into stone. This is for a job that has already been sandblasted and painted yellow about a year ago. The client doesn't like the yellow and would like to have it gilded.

I did look in my "Leblanc" Gold leaf book for tips and it looks like I need to buy some cuttle bone...

[Bill DeBekker]

I was told to Varnish seal the Lettering first then Gild, But since it's painted that might work as the sealer??

[Roderick Treece]

The lettering has already been painted yellow so I am guessing that will be the sealer coat.

In the leblanc book is says to gild the lettering with 12 hour size , don't worry about being sloppy . Gild then take a cuttle bone to clean up the gold outside the lettering on the surface of the stone. ???

[Bill DeBekker]

The few times I have done it, The stone had a polished face so I just sealed the lettering, Then used a 50/50 mix of Lefranc Slow size(I still have some lead based) Fast size and touch of chrome yellow. At my altitude and no humidity the size "squeaked" in about 2- 3 hours. Then used 23k patent gold so I didn't have to worry about our constant breeze. Then came back the next day with a 3" Razor(Wallpaper razor stripper) that had dulled/rounded edges and just surface scraped my "oops" .

I tried using Potato once..before gilding.. To much of a hassle.

[Bryce Hutchinson]

Roderick, when I guild raw stone I seal with One shot imitation gold with hardener. La Franc 12 hr. If the stone is a polished surface, slop will not be a problem. I purposely slop over the edges, being careful to not make puddles in the depressions, then before guilding with the 23k, razor blade over and to the outside of the incised letter. Raw Porous rock is time consuming, keeping free of puddles and staying under the lip of the letters. A dremel tool can come in handy.

[Kent Smith]

The cuttle bone technique works very well and does not leave a scratch in the polished surface. A blade does not always scratch but it can. Seal with size is preferable as it will soak into the porosity where enamel will bridge.