I learned about 5 years ago from Noel Weber how to lay roll gold for pinstripes, so I was going to apply that knowledge to this job. Problem was that it was a lot of gold. I initially used a roll I bought from WB about 1/2" - it worked ok but the edges didn't release perfectly. After laying 67 linear feet of gold, I took out my second roll of old Hastings Roll gold in the same size. The old Hastings roll gold actually worked better and released perfectly, BUT it was noticeably more dull. Well, I went through another 67 linear feet of that roll, and did a third gild. At this point I realize perfection is an ideal us gilders hold up, yet at this moment I was going to have to settle for a little less and managed to cover most holidays and seems.
After the gold was laid and burnished, it was time to use my magic striping jig. The jig is just two clothes pins glued together for scoring a perfect pinstripe in the mirrored gold. One clothes pin offsets it from the window and acts as a guide when run along the frame, the second clothes pin makes a perfect stripe.
After I made the border, I varnished the gold with Quick Rubbing Varnish. After which I went home and drank a few beers. The next day I removed all the excess with cotton and water. After that it looked pretty ... good. Any other holidays were patched with a quick rubbing varnish and surface gilded. I threw on another coat of Epifanes Marine Spar for good measure and then got the sign off from the client and interior designer whom I've worked for on numerous occasion.
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads