Contemporary gilded frames can be easily damaged, especially as artists work often has to travel from gallery to gallery. This frame had two big chunks out of the inner gilded section on the top and bottom lengths of the frame. The loose pieces of gesso were removed and the wood sized with rabbit skin glue. As the wood surface was badly dented and uneven it was filled with BEVA gesso filler. Then traditional gesso was applied over the filler, I put on about 5 coats, until it was raised higher than the surrounding areas so I could sand it level.
I used 240, 400, and 800 aluminium oxide paper to sand the gesso, trying to get it as even as possible with the original surface. The masking tape around the repair helps to sand the new gesso without damaging the surrounding surface. I mixed up some bole using three different colours to try and match the existing bole as closely as possible, and applied four coats. I gave the bole a light sand with 1600 paper and burnished it gently with 0000 wire wool.
I then water gilded the repaired area with 23.5ct gold leaf. After a few minutes the leaf was pressed firmly into contact with the bole substrate, to eliminate any air bubbles under the leaf and ensure a good bond.
The last job was to lightly distress the new leaf with 0000 wire wool and blend it in with the original gilding. The picture below shows the finished repair, which is unnoticeable to anyone who does not know it is there, even under close inspection the frame looks original, at a fraction of the cost of a new water gilded frame.
