Gilt Finish to plain wood

[Judders]

I wish to apply a gilt finish to a plain wood moulding. Would the Liberion Gilt Cream (Compiegne colour wax) be best/easisest method. I understand a base coat needs to be applied first, so it is a two stage process. Just wonder if there is another finishing paint such as the Liquid Metal paints which would be better suited? Any suggestions, or tips welcome please.

[markw]

It depends on what finish you want - you could use a coloured acrylic paint through to a clear sealer. The waxes give a reasonable finish - you can distress them with coloured waxes on top - allow drying time between coats - different applicators will give different results - rags - stippling brushes etc.
The expert of this sort of finish sadly no longer posts on the forum - but if you can get to see Pete Bingham demonstrate his hand finishing its very impressive.

[prospero]

If you put Gilt Cream straight on plain wood it won't look like a gilded finish. It will just have a vague metallic look.

I wouldn't use Gilt Cream. It's for touching up. Filling gaps, etc. It's just wax mixed with bronze powder and don't have the grip to build up a good gold finish. Look instead for Gilt Varnish. Uses the same colours as the cream. I find Trianon the most useful. It's nice stuff to use as it uses White Spirit as a solvent. Unlike water-based stuff you can strip it when dry with White Spirit, without disturbing the coloured basecoat.
Once water-based stuff has dried it's bullet-proof.

Ideally you should build up multiple coats of gesso to produce a smooth base. Bit of a faff and not always necessary. I fill the grain with fine surface Polyfilla - sand back and then use 2-3 coats of Smooth Ripple paint (from Wickes). It only comes in white, but you can tint it or mix in powder paint. By 3 coats it should be smooth enough for gilding. Basically, you can keep adding coats until no grain is showing, but after 3 coats the improvement for every coat gets less and less. As a base for the gold, a couple of coats of good quality artist's acrylic paint. Red Oxide provides the classic basecoat colour. But you can use any colour depending on the effect you want. Yellow Ochre stippled with Raw Umber is nice.

When these basecoats are thoroughly dry, use a wad of fine wirewool to polish them to a shine. Apply the varnish sparingly. This needs a bit of experimentation and practice. Generally, a soft bristle brush is the best. Doesn't have to be good quality, in fact I find the cheapo ones you can find in pound shops or eeeebay ideal. Get natural bristles. Synthetic ones are too stiff. I tend to use a stippling action and sort-of work the gold around until it looks right. Don't put too much on at once - lightly load the brush. Once the gold is dry - which is quite quickly, you can add washes of diluted paint on top to tone it down. Can't do that with Gilt Cream.

This technique will not produce the same 'bling' as a leafed finish. It's a softer effect.


* A note on Gilt Varnish.

Liberon do two sizes. 30ml pots and 250ml tins. The pots are fine, but they work out very expensive if you are doing big areas. the tins are much more economic, but alas most colours are only available today in pots. I think Trianon is still gettable in tins..... You could even get the base varnish in 2lr tins at one time.
I started mixing my own a while back and it took a lot of searching to find a good clear varnish with the right properties. The gold powders are readily available. 2.5 Gold is equivalent to Trianon.
If anyone is interested I can provide a link to the place to get the varnish. There are UK stockists, but they seem to be constantly out of stock. I get it from place in Germany where it's made.

[Judders]

Hi Prospero, many thanks for that detailed explanation you have provided, I shall have a look at getting the materials and give it a go. The plain wood moulding is a 40mm deep rebate from Centrado so there is quite a large area to cover, so cost of materials to do this is important.
Thanks

[Judders]

Hi Prospero,

One more thing the Wickes Ripple paint is £18.99 for a 5 ltr can. Just wonder if Polycell's Hairline Crack Polyfilla brush on at £5.99 for 500 ml would be suitable?
Thanks

[prospero]

Haven't tried it, but I suspect it's a bit crumbly when dry. Fine for filling grain.
Ripple Paint is tough as old boots and forms a good base for top coats. It also can be sanded to a very smooth surface.

[Not your average framer]

If you compare the cost of the ripple paint for the same volume of other paints and primers, you will find that ripple paint is a very good deal indeed. With practice, you can get a very smooth finish very quicly with very little effort. The secret is to water it down a little and apply it in thin layers, so that any brush marks disappear as the paint self levels.

I use good quality fine wet and dry paper to very lightly rub down between coats and after the final coat is good and dry I lightly rub it down with a well wetted really fine grade wet and dry paper. Keep the paper nice and wet so that it does not drag and avoid using any significant pressure. Try to think of this as polishing, rather than rubbing down.

The choice of the wood from which the moulding is made of can determine the degree of preparation that will be required to get a really good smooth gilded finish.

[Judders]

Hi Mark, Prospero,
Thanks for your very valuable tips. Much appreciated. I am convinced the ripple paint would be worth using to do the base coat on the plain wood frame. Not sure about the final gilt finish. I'm thinking to simplify the process and settle for a satin white finish, as I think this would work better with the pictures I have to frame, which are Disney prints on canvas. Client wants them glazed but I am recommending not glazed and to frame as a floater style frame. But either way using a satin white. What would you suggest for an acceptable finish after two -three coats of Ripple white pain?

[prospero]

One finish that I find a slight PITA are whites. Especially when people want dead flat and smooth. Very hard to get a frame that is perfect. There's always little flaws. What I call 'niggly bits'. On gilded or mottled finishes the niggly bits tend to blend in. On pale flat colours they stick out like a sore thumb.

One thing you can do with ripple paint is to introduce a texture into the finish. Random criss-cross brushmarks very effective. Or you can poke it about with a stick, back of a spoon, comb, fingers..... Not only does it look more interesting, you don't have niggly bits to contend with. You can even mix powder paint colours into the ripple paint to give it more body and therefore a thicker texture.
When the ripple paint is dry, top coat it with artist's acylic colours. These are tougher than ripple paint and give the finish a good protective skin. You can buff these up with a soft duster or even wax them if you want a deeper shine.

btw. If you are doing blacks, use acrylic gesso rather than ripple paint for the undercoats. Then the top coat of black covers better and you don't use so much or have to use so many coats.

[Not your average framer]

Classy white finishes can be more difficult. What wood type and moulding profile do you have in mind? Depending upon the type and standard of finish you require, I would be tempted to suggest either a beech, or a limewood moulding.

If you want to get a stunning white finish, I think that you need to pay a lot of attention to the type of paint that you decide to use. I am thinking maybe Plaka, or the Rose & Holis earth pigment paints and then finish off with liming wax and perhaps a good quality sealer on top.

A flawless finish in white is quite a task for anyone new to handfinishing, but it can be done if you don't mind practicing and perfecting your technique. Really well finished white frames can look totally stunning if you get it right!

[XaspsX]

Hi prospero,

I would love to know what varnish is good for mixing gold powder into. The liberon gilt varnish seems to have been discontinued now (granted its now 11 years after this thread was created!)

[prospero]

Well.... I've used Klarlack clear varnish for years but that's not a lot of good to you as you can't get it anymore.
I have about ten 500ml tins and that will last me awhile.....

I did some experiments with Damar crystals dissolved in pure Turpentine and the results were encouraging.

The properties you are looking for are toughness and quick-dryingness. And Damar varnish is soluble
with White Spirit once dry, which is desirable as it gives you control. If you go wrong you can easily wipe it off
without disturbing the paint layers underneath. I apply it over and acrylic paint base.

Water-based varnishes should be avoided as you can't remove them once hardened.

I mix the varnish with 2.5 cut Bronze Powder which is good for 99% of gold finishes.

You need to add the powder to the varnish gradually until you have a good consistency: To much powder and it will
not 'stick' as well. Applying it takes a bit of practice. Don't think of it as paint. You can stipple it and drag it according
to the finish you desire. If you apply a thin coat the underpaint 'ghosts' through which can look very nice. Also, a very thin
coat of white emulsion paint on top of the gold and wiped back knocks back the gold a tad and looks very classy.

I apply the gold with those cheapo disposable brushes you can get. They are natural hair and quite rough but in this instance
they work very well. Never clean them after use. I keep them permanently immersed in White Spirit. If they do dry up then
soaking in WS will soften them up very quickly.