Tags
aluminum leaf, decorative finish, gilded doors, gilded surfaces, gilding, gold leaf, interior design, metal leaf, silver leaf
The term “gilding” usually refers to applying gold leaf to a surface. To make life easier, I use the term to describe any metal leafing, whether it’s gold, copper, silver or aluminum.
These are the entry doors to a loft in Tribeca in lower Manhattan. As you can see, the original surfaces are carved wood. I don’t know where these doors came from; they’re beautifully designed and detailed. I love the original finish, but the owners of the loft are musicians who entertain often; they wanted a front door with major bling. The designer asked me to create a distressed silver leaf finish.
Here’s a close up of one door. Lots of intricate detail to take into account when figuring out the work schedule.
These are the finished doors.
It’s unusual to gild directly on top of wood in this way; normally, two coats of paint are applied to create a sealed, smooth surface. In this case, though, we wanted the leaf to be broken and patchy, so applying the leaf straight to the wood helped achieve this goal, since the size (the glue used to adhere metal leaf to surfaces) absorbs into lightly sealed wood unevenly.
You can see the final finish better in this close up photo. The doors are varnished for protection.
I used aluminum leaf instead of silver leaf because silver leaf tarnishes like crazy, sometimes even after being sealed. Aluminum leaf doesn’t tarnish. (Gold leaf of 22-karat or higher won’t, either.) Tarnished silver slowly turns amber, then black. Hmm, want to lie awake at night with worry? Me neither, aluminum it was.
Metal leaf is incredibly thin, the thinnest sheet of metal you can get. It’s so light it flutters in the air and can fly away in the breeze. It’s so thin it’s almost transparent; gold leaf will melt between your fingers. Of course, it’s also reflective. In the two photos above, the lights over the door are on and bounce off of the creamy stone floor, creating an amber glow.
Here’s what aluminum leaf looks like. I have loose leaf in my hand. In the background is a roll of aluminum leaf, which sticks to its white backing paper with static cling. You’d actually never hold leaf in your hand this way because the oil from your fingers might leave a mark, so the leaf is manipulated with brushes or through the backing paper.
This project took about five days, thanks to the many nooks and crannies. A couple of other gilding projects:
Below is a powder room whose walls have been aluminum leafed. The right side of the photo is a mirror, reflecting the opposite wall. When you leaf large surfaces, the 6-inch wide leaves create a grid pattern, since each leaf overlaps the next one by 1/8 inch. This means you have to be mindful of gilding in straight lines both vertically and horizontally, since any drift will be obvious, and mistakes can’t be fixed without redoing the whole wall.
Here’s my all-time favorite gilding job, gold leafing an ornament on the exterior of a church in Chelsea with 24-karat gold. Ever tried gilding six stories up, outside in the wind? Wow. I won’t even tell you how much gold went flying away! This took three days, standing on scaffolding over the stone arch of the window. Lucky I’m not scared of heights! It was such fun.
Gilding is sublime; it’s quiet and meditative, with spectacular results. There’s no rushing or sense of urgency, since I break the surfaces into sections and can gild only when the size has dried to a certain tackiness. A most satisfying way to spend a day.
Ria said:
Beautiful work, those doors are stunning. Thanks for sharing 🙂
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
Thanks for the compliment, and thanks for stopping by!
ladyfi said:
What gorgeous and unusual doors.
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
Thank you! It was a fun project.
marina di paola said:
great work ! amazing!! love it !
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
Thanks! and thanks for following me, Marina!
melissa said:
these are so beautiful!!! amazing!!! keep the photos coming!
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
Thanks and you bet!
christian harkness said:
This is so great! Metal leaf is fantastic stuff, and for the last few days I have been futzing around with getting my supplies in order so that I could start printing some more of my photos on metal leaf. Thanks for reminding me that I absolutely have to get going!
http://chrislh.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/inkjet-on-gold-leaf-printing-two-scan/
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
I’d love to see the results!
christian harkness said:
Hey Monica – just click on the link in my above post. As you can imagine, they are just about impossible to properly represent on a computer screen. If I scan them, they really come out looking strange, and if I photograph them all the reflections still present problems.
christian harkness said:
ps. While I can see how the doors you did can be done, it totally blows my mind to think of the skill and patience required to ’tile’ a room!!!! I can’t even properly align two pieces of leaf on a sheet of watercolor paper.
Do you have to stop breathing the whole time you do that???? You certainly can’t have any heat or air-conditioning blowing, or any air movement, even just moving your arms, it seems to me, would mess things up. I am in TOTAL awe!
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
Hi, thanks for the link, not sure how I missed it the first time. Are you saying you adhere leaf to paper and run in through your printer?!!
As for gilding walls, yes, totally nerve-wracking. There are many tricks to stay level and to avoid screwing it all up, but one big mistake and it’s all over. Last year I did a curved ceiling in a lobby that was 18 feet wide and 40 feet long in copper leaf. Hopefully never again, it was so difficult.
christian harkness said:
Yes – I put down a coat of acrylic paint the size of the image, then adhere the leaf to it, coat it with InkAid and when it is dry, run it through the printer.
I absolutely can’t get my head around your ability to do a curved ceiling – I only hope you were paid properly!!!
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
Not to worry, a ceiling like that is an expensive proposition! I’m going to have to try your technique of running the leaf through the printer, sounds fun!
Yolanda D said:
Simply amazing! I would have been afraid of heights but what a great job to get to do.
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
Thanks! The scaffolding was really secure, so that helped! Thanks for stopping by my blog.
kelly4123 said:
What sort of varnish did you use on these doors? I’m interested in using metal leafing in my oil paintings, but am always a little of mixing materials with oils because the results can be disastrous. I’m curious what materials you would recommend?
ThisHandcraftedLife said:
I use a varnish made by Rolco. It’s an acrylic varnish that’s soluble in mineral spirits. I get it at Sepp Leaf in NYC. Also I always gild using an oil-based slow set size, so everything is oil based. Hope that helps!