Gilding
Marbled
and Gilded Mantel
There are basically two types of gilding. Water gilding and oil gilding. The former is used primarily for picture frames the later for just about every other application. What follows is just a brief description of technique.
Water gilding is the process of applying metal leaf (see note 1) to a clay bole and burnishing it with various shapes of agate burnishers.
Oil gilding is the application of metal leaf to a surface which has been coated with gold size or gilders oil. (see note 2)
1.Metal leaf is a very thin foil made from such materials as gold, silver, imitation gold, copper, aluminum, and other materials
2. Gold size is a very slow drying oil which is allowed to dry to until it has slight tack. Leaf is then applied.
The example to the left is oil gilding over a hand carved wood mantle. The rest of wood mantle is a painted marbled finish.