GILDING!!!

Part of the reason it’s taken me so long to do this particular project is that I was terrified.  Gilding is scary.

First, the cost of supplies is scary.  I bought a few things at Michaels, but, like most specialty crafts at Michaels, they only have the bare bones and don’t carry all the stuff you might need.  So I went straight to Martha’s resource, Gilded Planet, and proceeded to drop $123.89.  ONE HUNDRED TWENTY THREE EIGHTY NINE!  Good grief.

All the supplies required

The first gilding project is making a mirror.  It’s not supposed to be a good mirror, it’s supposed to look all Marie Antoinette, like you just happened to find an eighteenth-century mirror at the local Goodwill.  In fact, as Martha tells you, “the project is a form of eglomise, the classic French technique of painting or applying metal foil to the back of glass.”  FANCY.

Gilding takes patience and precision and requires a lot of tools.  In fact, it takes such precision that you are supposed to wear a face mask so that your breath doesn’t disturb the metal leaf.  And honestly, having done this craft, I can kind of see why.  The metal leaf is ridiculously thin.  Have you ever peeled your skin after a sunburn?  Not a bad sunburn, just a mild one?  And the skin peels off in sheets so thin that you can only get a quarter inch or so before it tears?  That is what the metal leaf is like.  So, delicate.

I bought a cheap frame at the local Goodwill to use for my mirror.  Although the project called for a rather large one, I got a little one, figuring I needed to start small.  My mirror is 13″ x 13″ square.

I took that lovely picture out.

You clean the glass and apply gelatin, and then you slide the gild off onto the glass.  It sticks immediately, so there’s really no moving it once it’s fallen.  Any movement will pretty invariably end in a tear.

I was super nervous to start, but once you get past that and don’t worry too much about it being perfect, it isn’t too bad.

here's my first sheet

My glass only required four sheets, which I think was a good start.  To compare, Martha’s mirror looks like it took at least 36 sheets.

After I’d laid all four, it looked like this:

You can see there are quite a few holes and tears.  The good part is that you can easily fill in holes with patches of metal leaf.

Once I finished and put everything back into the frame, here’s what I got:

You know, it wasn’t half bad.  I hung it a few places in the house to get a sense of what it would look like if you actually used it as decor.

I was pleasantly surprised with the result.  You can actually see some reflection in the mirror.

TIME INVESTED

Active time: About 1 1/2 hours.

If I had made the large size mirror that Martha had, it probably would’ve taken about 9 hours.

Inactive time: About 4 hours; better to let it dry overnight.

Total time: About 5 1/2 hours (for small mirror)

DIFFICULTY

Moderate to Hard

TOTAL COST

• frame, $4.99
• Aluminum Basic Gilding Kit, $29.95 (from Gilded Planet)
• gilder’s tip brush, $25.50
• gelatin, $2.99

Total cost = $63.43

WAS IT WORTH IT?

No.  This is a pretty expensive craft.  Once you’ve got the main supplies, you still have to buy the leaf, which gets used up.  And the leaf is expensive.  I bought imitation leaf, but if you want genuine gold leaf, you are looking at between $50 and $100 for one booklet.  Imitation gold leaf is much more affordable at around $10 a booklet, but it’s still an expensive undertaking.  The tools are quite specialized and not really good for other crafts.

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