what's gilding?

[Craig Zettle]

Dave Marks is coming to Pittsburgh Friday, and he will be demonstrating gilding and chemical patination. Huh? What is this and would a hacker benefit from learning this, or is this an advanced technique I may never use? (cost: 50 bucks!)

[Mark Singer]

It is the application of leaf....gold silver or other metals to a surface..
David has explored many finishes and employs them in his vessels and other work. I have seen him lecture and he is very good..very versitile and will broaden your ideas about woodworking as he did mine

[Tom Ruflin]

I attended David Marks workshop 2 weeks ago through my local woodworkers club and really enjoyed it. He uses gilding with gold, silver, copper, and brass leaf which is not rocket science and then uses varoius acids to create very interesting colors on the different metals and then applies laquer over it for a gloss finish. He also has a 90 minute video on gilding and patination available on his web site. I thought it was very interesting and will try it in the near future.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Craig, Jamie Buxton did a sweet set of dressers with metal leaf. Pics and comments are at http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=25199. Looks like it could be fun stuff, even for us novices.

- Vaughn

[Keith Christopher]

Gilding is a process where different metals are applied to a surface with something called sizing. There are several brushes and specialty tools needed for this but they can be had fairly cheap. Most common is gold leaf and silver leaf. This is a pure metal which is rolled until it is tissue thin. Actually real tissues are much thicker. The patina is created with chemicals like pottasium dichromate and potash bi-sulfurate. These are oxidizers and basically put years of oxidation on metal surfaces, in hours in lieu of weeks months or years. Most commonly on gilded materials it is applied and puts a patina on quickly. A quick google search on gilding will give alot of hits on the subject.



Keith

[Jim Dalton]

I went to the Marks workshop on patination in Knoxville. It was very interesting and valuable. I drove 6 hours from Southern Pines, NC to do it, this was as close as David has been in some years. I intend to go out to CA in the summer and take the advanced course.

jim:)

[John Timberlake]

I also took the class with David Marks about three weeks ago. This is real jump for me since I usually stick to 18th century furniture, but I just liked the looks of it. David went through using gold, silver, aluminum, copper, and Dutch leaf (fake gold). Then he went over various chemical treatment to add color to all but the gold and aluminum. Really interesting patterns and patina treatments. Materials are on order so I can use it to make presents for my kids for Christmas. Let you know how it turns out.

[Mac McAtee]

And all this time I thought it was a male horse that sings soprano in the choir.:D

[Jamie Buxton]

I also took the class with David Marks about three weeks ago. This is real jump for me since I usually stick to 18th century furniture, but I just liked the looks of it. David went through using gold, silver, aluminum, copper, and Dutch leaf (fake gold). Then he went over various chemical treatment to add color to all but the gold and aluminum. Really interesting patterns and patina treatments. Materials are on order so I can use it to make presents for my kids for Christmas. Let you know how it turns out.

John --
What chemicals is David using for patina-ing copper?

[Keith Christopher]

John --
What chemicals is David using for patina-ing copper?


mostly potassium dichromate or potash bisulfurated. Both VERY toxic chemicals so be sure and get all the proper gear.

[joe daley]

Ive been trying in vain to apply gilding wax to a laser engraved wooden case -- saw this post and am hoping someone can offer some words of wisdom-
weve tried squeeging the wax into the engraved area but the only way to remove the residue on the outside of the case also removes part of the was in the engraved area- I am hoping theres an easier way other then painting this engraved area with a brush

anyone work with this stuff and have any ideas?
( sorry- didnt mean to threadjack this post)
Joe