Saturday
Washes and glazes
The previous frame is seen here going through various colouring. It was distressed with 0000 wire wool, this way of distressing gilding can look a little severe but that was OK for this frame and the desired finish.
The images show the effect of different washes or glazes over the gilding. The top photo is after the distressing with wire wool, the frame is shown with a sample which indicates what the final look will be like. The second photo shows a warm glaze, it looks more like gold leaf than white (silver) leaf. The next photo shows the warm glaze is covered with a dark colour which is wiped off to leave a distinct 'blued' look to the frame. The last photo shows the frame after the glazes are built up, and the finish is getting close to the required colour, but some more work still needs to be done...
White gold leaf
The top photo shows me just starting to gild this frame in 12ct white gold. The second photo shows the frame after it has been gilded, you can see a few (not many!) breaks or faults in the finish where the gold did not stick or broke as it was laid, these will be patched with little bits of leaf, this process is known as faulting.