adventures in gilding

Last week, I went to the mall to return some stuff. As I was leaving, I passed by Kirkland's, which I generally despise. I could see this from outside the store: My mind immediately went to this post about silver leaf I had read over at Little Green Notebook. Aha! I would silver leaf my bargain basement find! I took a photo and sent it to my mom, who was confused about what I was doing but who said that I should go for it. As I was on the phone, this rogue man wandered up and started opening the drawers in front of me. Luckily a salesperson let him know he couldn't buy it because I was going to.

When I got home, I looked online for gilding supplies and ordered the tools and goods I'd need from GildedPlanet.com. I chose to get aluminum leaf because of the price. In 5ish days, my order arrived. Pretty! Here's the brush. To get the piece ready, I covered the stenciled areas with two coats of charcoal eggshell paint. I didn't worry too much about covering the stencils too well because I knew that the silver leaf would go on top. You can see another project back there. I'm painting my grandma's old curio cabinet. It's like Santa's workshop - only with less of a work ethic. And a fondness for Coors Light. After the paint dried overnight, I covered the whole thing with the sizing and waited an hour for it to cure. Or dry. Or whatever it does.

Then I started to gild. And it was a damn mess. I definitely don't recommend doing this indoors. Between the fumes from the sizing and the metallic flakes flying everywhere, it's not a neat project. You can't do it outside either - those thin sheets of aluminum would fly everywhere. This is what it looked like when I got done and cleaned it up a bit. I left the finish kind of rough, mostly because of my inexperience. But if anyone asks, I meant for it to be that way. I left the piece alone overnight and then painted it with a layer of poly. I need the durability. I took off the old knobs and replaced them with old glass knobs I found in my grandma's basement a few years ago. I like them, but I think something dark might go better. But I'll probably keep them as they're sentimental. And here's the finished product.

I'll be honest - I'm not loving it where it is. Right now, it's underneath the wall-mounted TV in our bedroom, but it can't be centered because of the bathroom door that swings to the left. The TV is already mounted to the wall, so it's certainly not moving! I think it'll get moved somewhere else. But I do like it and it was an interesting project! And I have 2/3 of my book of aluminum leaf left, so I will have to find other things to fancy up. Another table? A photo frame? The husband's Mac Book Pro? Hmmm......