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Gold Leaf....................DONE!!!

Gold Leaf.......Help!!! / del Mano gallery

Jeff,

I like those pieces. I couldn't find anything on them in the dal Mano Gallery site. Maybe you could provide a link?

Thanks, Tony
 
Gold Leaf....................Help!!!

Thanks Jeff, You posted the link as I was looking at the del Mano home page.

Ok Stu,

To answer you as best that I can, you are doing almost everything right, except,,,,,

1. You don't want to pat down the leaf with a brush, It dents the leaf and it will be hard to get a nice smooth burnish on it. Instead, as I told you before, use cotton. (I buy the largest STERILE cotton balls I can find. If you can't find large balls of sterile cotton, you can use cotton batten, which are fairly large pillows of cotton. The sterile cotton is more clean, or in other words, has no impurities in it that would scratch the leaf when you don't want scratches.) If the size has dried correctly, and is not too thick, you can press on the leaf to make sure it adheres at all the joints so it won't leave any voids. (called "holidays" in guilders terms) Experience will tell you when you press down, just how hard to do it. Don't be shy.

2. Then, don't wait to brush off the excess leaf. Once you have made sure the leaf is stuck down good, you can go ahead with rubbing it down with the cotton. Now is when you are going to bring up the lustre of the leaf. Remember, gold leaf is metal and is extremely soft. When you rub, be fairly gentle. You will see the shine come up pretty rapidly. When you get where you want it to be, stop. You are done.

Now Stu, if you want to experiment after you get the burnish on your practice piece, try this. Turn the lathe on and while the piece is spinning, take your cotton and beginning in the center of your circle, lightly apply pressure to the cotton on the leaf and holding that pressure moderately move it out toward the outside of the circle. Don't stop along the way and once you reach the outer limit, remove the cotton. You have will now have completed spinning, or "engine turning" of that circle. You will notice how the reflected light changes the look of the surface and it is turned. This is how we get the swirls you see in fire engine lettering and stripes. Of course that is more involved getting it all matched and even.

Have fun my friend. I like your progress.

Aloha, Tony
 
Gold Leaf....................Help!!!

Oh and Stu,

If after you finish patting down and rubbing off the gold you find a joint, don't be afraid to apply another piece of leaf to fill it and press it down, like before. Then just rub it off and you should see the joint almost completely disappear. See, gold leaf is very mallable metal and you would actually be welding it together as you rub it down. Make sense? It does.

Aloha, Tony

P.S. Sure, with women around, there is usually cotton for makeup work. Just be sure that is doesn't have any lumps or foreign stuff in it that would scratch the gold. Ladies faces are not nearly as sensitive to that as gold leaf.
 
Tony Baideme said:
............P.S. Sure, with women around, there is usually cotton for makeup work. Just be sure that is doesn't have any lumps or foreign stuff in it that would scratch the gold. Ladies faces are not nearly as sensitive to that as gold leaf.
Click to expand...

You can tell them that, about their faces, I'll not say a word :rolleyes: :D

Thanks for the info, and it does make sense.

Cheers!
 
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I was busy this AM so I could not sneak down to the Dungeon for more than a few minutes, but when I was their, digging through my shelves of finishing stuff, I found some "Thin Body Putty" in a tube, never opened...? Dunno where I got it from, but it might just be the ticket. You can see the cotton I was able to get in the background.

thin_body_putty2.JPG

I spread it on with my finger, somewhat smoothly :rolleyes: and it dries really fast. This stuff is supposed to dry fast and hard enough to be sanded in a hour (says on the package) so I'll give it about 6 hours :D I'm hoping I can get a nice smooth sanded surface from this, if I can, I'll be just working on the gilding then.

Wish me luck! :wave:
 
Gold Leaf....................Help!!!

Morning Stu, (Oh, well, it's Wednesday evening there, huh?) Yup.

The cotton looks good.

I was going to make that suggestion of using putty or even Bondo. Both can be sanded to a good smooth surface and the size should flow out real well.

Looking good, buddy. Keep it up.

Aloha, Tony
 
Well, I finished this, not 100% happy with it, but it has to be done, the customer is asking about it.

My wife and kids think it is fantastic, if that counts :rolleyes:

gold_done1.JPG gold_done2.JPG gold_done3.JPG

This is the second piece for the commission, I think they will like this one too.

2nd_comission1.JPG 2nd_commision2.JPG 2nd_commision3.JPG

In the end, the biggest problem, I think was the glue, it was never quite right, I do not think they sold me the right stuff, or at least anything like what is used outside of Japan :dunno:

Cheers!
 
Actually Randy, if these people do not act upset and throw the work back in my face, I'll be a happy guy. Sounds odd, but let me explain.

These people are the 4th generation after the man who started with nothing and built up his family business into a VERY large, powerful corporation, one you might even know, if I were to mention the name. They started in warehousing, and shipping moved into insurance, banking and even things like batteries. The first generation, like I said, started with nothing, was a nobody, but built up a very large powerful company, then the WWII came along, and things were bad, but the 2nd generation took over and made even more of a success. The 3rd generation was around, but the company was now so large one man could not run it, they went public to boost funds, and as it turns out the 3rd generations was more interested in living like a big man, an rich man and playing than he was in running the company, so he got the boot from the board and this leaves us with the 4th generation, these people own the original land, large place, and have shares in the company, but they do not "Work" they are "Coupon Clippers" and are so incredibly cheap, it is hard to imagine. They have never earned any money, they have just lived off the work that their earlier generations have done.

What happened is these are the people who had their wonderful old mansion torn down and all the trees cut that I got the wood from. Well, actually, I got the wood from the demolition company, as I know these cheapskates would have never given it to me, without charging me a fee. I paid the demolition company with cases of beer.:D

My Mother-in-law was talking to one of the brothers of the family that owned the property and was bragging about the nice things I have made from the wood that I got from their property (yeah, I too was surprised she even noticed) this brother then demanded that I make him something too, he did not ask, or inquire, but demanded............:rolleyes:

I told my MIL that is was not going to happen, these people are uncouth, and I'd not do something for them for free, they have not earned it, they were more than willing to throw everything away, all the trees, all the wonderful stone fixtures in their old beautiful mansion were sold to the demolition company, so NOW to want something from the wood that they just sold, and to think they deserve is, and that they can DEMAND anything from me, well that just rubs me the wrong way, BIG TIME, so I said "NO" to the MIL.

Well, now that she has started this mess, she thinks I should still make something for them, so I told her that if they want something, they should pay for it, I don't work for free, they are NOT family etc. Well, the MIL says she will pay for the pieces, as she is the one that opened her mouth and started this whole thing.

My plan is to give them the pieces, if they want them fine, if not, I'll keep them. If they want them, then the MIL will have to pay me for them, when she asks me how much, I'll tell her that she can't afford it :D and besides, as she is family, I don't charge family, but, I will, I think, have made a point.

What a mess eh? :doh:

At the very least, I'm crafting some nice pieces, and I really do hope these people appreciate them.

More than you wanted to know, for sure, but there it is........ :wave:
 
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