It's rainy out there, isn't it? Therefore, I thought I'd do a post about a happy, bright and easy project.
I love the look of a gilded frame; it feels rich, makes what it frames more beautiful and gives the room it's in some grandeur. Depending on the value of the gild, the frame can be dark and moody or bright and metallic. It can accent a Victorian, French Country or eclectic Nautical Cottage aesthetic.
We received a very wonderful painting for our wedding. I love it, it's beautifully done, very much our style and has great meaning. Its wood frame was/is lovely and I waited almost a whole year to gild it because I just didn't want to ruin a good thing. Well I finally committed and it turned out well. Look see:
To gild the frame I bought liquid Gold Leaf Finish in "Rich," which is on the bright side of the gold scale. I used a fifty cent disposable foam brush for the project, wore gloves and painted outside, which I recommend because the fumes are very strong and there's a chemical in the finish that can be harmful if it's in contact with skin for too long. (This all sounds very scary, it's not.... really.)
The real stickler about gold leaf is that you can only paint one coat. If you try to go over a spot you've painted, you'll ruin the finish. And you must paint fast, it dries quickly.
I plan to gild more and am on the hunt for mix-matched frames. I've also started to incorporate more gold into the house with new brass cafe curtain rods; it's a real surprise to me, I never thought I liked the look of yellow gold and certainly didn't think it would be a decorating theme for our house.
Note: M doesn't like the gild frame, he likes wood. I get the feeling most men do. Do you find this to be true? Like, if they had it their way, we'd be living in hunting lodges? Wood floors, wood walls, wood ceilings and wood frames?
I suppose the opposite complaint could be made for women like me. I like paint. Painted walls, painted trim, painted furniture. Why cover up perfectly good wood? Because a lot of times it just looks good, that's why!
LOL! So true! Sometimes I think male decorators are just trying to make their places look as much like a beaver den as possible!
ReplyDeleteWood is ok, but it gets boooring. Gold is exciting! Xanadu!
Do you think gilding is a project kids could do? My nieces use superglue *literally* all the time, so if the gilding paint isn't any worse than that, I think they'd be ok. But is it something they might (bless them) mess up?
Depends on age... I bet there is kid safe paint that has a similar metallic finish they could use. The gold leaf products are pretty intense and you'd have to trust the kiddos to keep their gloves on and not smell the fumes (too much)!
ReplyDeleteWell, the nieces got a little gilded themselves, but they did a great job! Nothing a little nail polish remover couldn't take care of! lol
ReplyDeleteSuper fun project! Now I just have to stop the girls from gilding everything in the house! So far I have half a dozen gilded frames, a gilded rotary phone, a bunch of gilded pencils, and a gilded banana (for practice)! Looks like I've got a couple of little artists on my hands!