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Gold leaf
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Message
Posted
Hi - I have only applied it on some frames I made. The leaf was not real gold or silver but substitute and they came in on separate sheets where you applied a metal leaf adhesive to the areas you wished to cover, waited ten minutes for it to go off (tacky) and then pressed the sheet to it whereby the metal leaf attaches itself to the adhesive. You can get metal leaf loose but it is a little messy and you have to pick it up with your brush to attach it to the adhesive. Have you tried looking it up on a video on You Tube?
Posted
Yes, I think - is it called glair?
You can buy a non-authentic gold leaf, or even get a gold paint in acrylic and in oil; it won't look the same, though, and I imagine would tarnish, which gold shouldn't. I've never used it, but understand it can curl up and fly away if you so much as breathe on it. It would tax my patience (never a hard thing to do).
Posted
Well my little impatient friend, real silver leaf does tarnish and that is why you either have to varnish it or go for the artificial one. It is also best not to use the loose leaf but to size the paper and press the sheet of leaf to it. Much less mess! However even using that method, bits can and do flake off. Real gold leaf is for the rich and the artificial gold leaf is just as good to my mind.
Posted
You are right David and the "real gold" comment was a bit 'tongue-in-cheek' because you do get a lot for your money and a little goes a long way - perhaps a bit further than I would like to chase after if I breathed on it!! But definitely real silver does tarnish. As to the glue (size), I would definitely buy the real thing.