Today I'm sharing one of my recent DIY projects! If you'll remember last month I was looking for an antique mirror to hang above my new dresser, and I found one I instantly fell in love with. I loved the Baroque feel to it and the imperfections on the glass. I have always wanted to try gold leaf, and I thought that it would be perfect for bringing out the details in my old mirror. I found a gold leaf kit on Amazon, and it came with everything I would need for my project.
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| That's me in the stripes!! |
First, I sanded and cleaned off the mirror. Next, since the frame was made out of a porous material (wood), I put a coat of a clear acrylic paint medium I had on hand. This can be purchased at an art supply store. You need to make sure that your material that you are putting the gold leaf on is sealed up if it's porous. After, that dried I put a coat of the gilding sizing that came in my kit on the spots I wanted to be gold. I applied a thin layer and let it sit for about an hour. You want the sizing to feel tacky to your touch. When it reaches this state you're ready to apply your gold leaf. The gold leaf comes in sheets, and I found it was best to do this quickly. I then took the little brush that came with the kit and brushed down the gold leaf and brushed away the excess gold leaf bits. Save your gold leaf bits! They might come in handy later to fill in a spot or two that you've missed! After I covered my surface that I wanted to gold leaf, I took the cotton cloth from my kit and rubbed it over the gold leaf until it was smooth and shiny. I left it to sit over night and the next day I put another coat of my clear acrylic on to protect the gold leaf. The rest of the mirror I painted with some leftover white house paint and also covered with a coat of the clear acrylic for a glossy finish.
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| Before |
This delightful video is great for demonstrating the process. They also give great ideas of things to gold leaf!
You can even buy edible gold leaf for food!
What to gold leaf next???
xoxo,
Julia
