Gilding

Gilding is the laying of fine metals, precious and semi-precious, to surfaces to give the object the appearance of being made of the metal used. Gilding had been a very secretive profession until rather recently with the advent of the society of gilders. Stories abound of gilders of the past actually giving bad recipes for making the various sizes needed to make the gold leaf adhere to surfaces even to the point of pretending they didn't notice someone spying in to see what the proper mixes were and mixing it wrong! Today it is much easier to get the gilding recipes correct, with some training and lots of practice the ancient art form is at your fingertips and able to be applied to your Bucks County, Montgomery County or Delaware County, PA home.

The two primary methods of gilding-water gilding and oil gilding-that we can provide to commercial and residential property in the Montgomery County, Delaware County and Bucks County, PA area are described below.

What is Water Gilding?

Water gilding is only used for interior applications and is most frequently used on frames, furniture and objects. Preparation of the surface for water gilding is as follows- Glue size is applied to the wood. Numerous coats (6 to 10) of gesso are applied, sanded and polished. Several coats (usually 3) of gilder's clay (bole) are applied and polished. Gold leaf is then applied using gilder's liquor which activates the glue present in the bole and gesso. At this point, the gold leaf may be left as is, providing a matte appearance, or may be burnished with the polished agate. In order to further accentuate the burnished surfaces some areas of the gilding are left matte. Of the two types of gilding, water gilding is the only method of applying gold leaf that allows the surface to be burnished which provides the highly reflectivity.

What is Oil Gilding?

Oil gilding or Mordant gilding requires that the surface be completely sealed and then a size is applied. After a period of time the size comes to tack. At this point the gold leaf is laid on the tacky surface This technique does not allow the gold leaf to be burnished, and thus does not provide the brilliant finish of water gilding. Oil gilding allows gilding on a wider variety of surfaces than water gilding, and is the technique used for exterior gilding projects such as signs, architectural gilding, ceilings and walls. The gilding process requires a very specialized set of tools, brushes and materials. One the most interesting brushes being the gilders tip. This is a badger hair brush with approximately five hairs deep running three or four inches wide. It is used to pick up the fine leaf which is about 10,000 of an inch thick with the help of static electricity and the oils from your skin. The semi-precious leaves are able to be manipulated with the use of chemicals to create a natural patina. These consist of copper, Dutch metal aka composition leaf. On the precious leaf, silver is the only one which will react with the chemicals. Gold leaf and platinum (or white gold) do not react and are burnished for a beautiful finish. Aluminum leaf also does not react easily and so must be glazed to create a patina.

For more information on the gilding and gold leaf services our team at Colkett Painting can provide to residential and commercial property in the Delaware County, Bucks County or Montgomery County, Pennsylvania areas, please contact us today. Also please take a moment to view our gold leaf and gilding portfolio to see the services we have provided to homes in the Bucks County, Montgomery County and Delaware County, PA area.