Gilding doesn't have to be scary!

If you're like me, you might be a little bit afraid of laying gold to paper.  Gold leaf is intimidating, there's no doubt about it, and there's so many questions - "what's gesso? How do I use it? I've spent xx pounds, dollars or groats on all this gold, but I'm frightened of wasting it....."  I know how you feel.  Up til now, I was relying on artist grade inks and paints to get that golden shine, but it was never very...well, illuminating.

Well, fellow newbies, I have a solution.  I was very kindly gifted with enough gold and silver powder to last me a lifetime, so I have felt I am able to experiment with it. Here is the first experimentation: a basic side-by-side comparison on piece of scrap paper.... I used a modern gesso by pebeo, which is in effect a PVA glue.  Leave to dry for 15 mins, then simply dip the very tip of your brush into the powder and lightly spread over the surface.  You only need a TINY amount - I learnt that lesson quickly! (First time I used it, I treated it like glitter - tip a bit onto the gesso then tap excess back off into bottle.  Needless to say, I only did that once!!)

The first square shows the gilding powder I have been practicing with so far.  I have NO idea what make this is, or where it comes from - it was given to me in two of the old-style pill bottles (the ones with the god-awful childproof lids.)  The second square shows the next tub I was given - gold pearl lustre pigment from cornelissen. This is a HUGE tub, and whilst not being a true gilding powder (obviously!), it still gives a beautiful shine.  It is still available from their website and is probably one of the cheapest options out there.  Sticking with Cornelissen, the next square shows their gold powder - less bronzey than the unknown make,  but I can't see this anywhere on their website now.  The next square shows (again, available from Cornelissen) the Roberson Bright Silver burnish.  The last three squares show what I had been using previously - Windsor and Newton, Daler-Rowney and an acrylic paint.  Aside from making the paper buckle, the three inks/paints don't hold a candle to the actual gold powders.  They are duller, and much less interesting.

Tip for money-saving - you don;t need an expensive burnisher.  If you do want to bring up the shine of the powders a little bit more, you can use the back of a spoon.