To gild the Lily

Hello my friends, 

My last post of this year is about gilding. To gild the lily means “to add unnecessary ornamentation to something beautiful in its own right.” This little frame may not need goldeaf applied to it, but I decided to do so none the less. :-) just some harmless unnecessary ornamentation... In the picture below you can see the frame in its original state. 

There are more blogs where this process is shown and on Youtube Josje has a series of 3 short video's where she explains the process in English very clearly. (the link brings you to the first of the three video's.) So I will only tell about the gilding process itself in broad strokes.  please watch these or other tutorial (video's) if you want to try applying goldleaf yourself. With a little practice it really is not that difficult!

The portrait above is of 'Lilly' Liliane Zonneschut. An imaginary ancestor of Sir Carel Polyander Zonneschut. I can't find where I got the picture of the portrait from, so I can not say who really made the portrait of this young woman in a blue dress posing as Artemis, Greek Goddes of the hunt. You have seen this portrait before on my blog. Last year to showcase the silvery frame and last week she  peeked around the corner in my short Christmas post. 

The frame surrounding Liliane is a little silver plated frame that mimics the sometimes heavily carved 17th century baroque frames. But to really mimic it, it had to be a gilded frame. 

Up to now I used gold paint to add some luster to a miniature. Gold paint works well on several occasions, but sometimes goldleaf is just better/prettier. My partner gave me a starterset for gilding for my birthday this year and I really wanted to try it before the year was over. 

After cleaning and degreassing the surfaces to gilt, I added the red coloured goldsise. the colour mimics that of Bole clay that was originaly used. the deep red shines (very delicately) through the slightly translucent gold leaf and enriches the colour of the endresult. I have read that the hue of the gold is different when you use a white, or green or other undercoat. Red is said to give the most satisfying result, and I believe them. because this is not real gold leaf but gold coloured leaf metal (I will buy the real stuff once I am trough the leaves that come with the starter kit) I had to apply a coat of fixative which works like a varnish to protect the leafmetal from corroding over time. 

Next it was Liliane her turn to get a little makeover. Unfortunately I do not recall where I found this picture, but I love this young girl in her pale blue satin dress, posing as the goddess of the hunt. She looks no older than 14 or 15 years but her expression shows a great self awarenss. The real lady was probably not a push over, and rightly so! To fit in the frame, however, I had to cut away the greyhound on the right, which is a shame, but oh well, it is what it is. 

To give this print more the resemblance of an oilpainting I tried two different methods I have read about online and in dollshouse magazine articles. First method was using Modge Podge or woodglue. Apply a thin layer on the print and use a brush to dabb and swirl to create the illusion of brushstrokes. The sheen of the translucent dried glue would give the appearance of old varnish. 

I do not have Modge Podge so I resorted to using woodglue. The result above was not satisfying. The transparency workes well but the bubbles and the blodges look appalling. I may have used too much glue. I will try again with less glue to see how that goes.

But first I tried using gloss varnish. First I added a thin and even layer on the print. When that had dried I added a second and thicker layer and used the brush to dabb and push it around over the portrait. This dried up in the way you can see in the picture above. I really like the result. Unless the second try with woodglue wins me over, this will be my method for working over prints of paintings.

I am very happy with the result. I already have more projects in mind to gild. The gold paint on the putti candlestands or gueridons I have made would look better when properly gilded. Don't you think? But that is a project for 2022.

I wish you all a good Newyear my friends. May 2022 bring health and good fortune to you all!

Huibrecht