Christmas houses are not just for Christmas
anymore.
How many times have you wondered how to finish those
Village Houses in way that is just a bit different? Here is one option. Finish
it in Composition Gold Leaf. Gold leaf has been used for thousands of years.
Uses have varied from honoring the pharaohs in ancient Egypt and covering the
Arc of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments to accenting It’s a Small
World at Disneyland.
Here is your chance to bring the history and warmth of gold
into your home.
- Clean
up the house with a cleaning tool or sharp knife to remove any excess
plaster and smooth any rough spots.
- Apply
the red basecoat over the entire piece to seal and provide a complementary
background to show through the cracks in the leaf.
- Apply
the adhesive in sections. This
will allow you to handle the house more easily while applying the gold.
Brush it on as thin as possible, it doesn’t have to be thick to hold the
leaf.
- A
pair of cotton gloves will help you to handle the leaf without it sticking
to your hands. Also your fingerprints won’t cause any early tarnishing of
the metal before it is sealed. Fold back the first page of the book of
composition gold leaf to expose part of the first sheet. Tear off a
small portion of leaf (about the size of a 50 cent piece) and lay it on the
first section which has the adhesive. Smooth it out with a soft artists
nylon brush, but try to avoid touching the adhesive with the brush. Continue
to apply pieces of leaf overlapping slightly until the first section is
covered.
- Continue
with steps 3 and 4 until the entire piece is covered. Try to avoid handling
the areas already covered with leaf. Holding the house from the hollow
bottom is perfect for this.
- Use
a fairly stiff brush, such as a duster, brush away the overlapping gold and
smooth the gold. Having some open parts of basecoat in the crevices is not a
problem. The antiquing will cover most of them. The red basecoat is part of
the attraction and uniqueness of gold leaf.
- Seal
with a Satin Sealer or other solvent based clear such as varnish or
polyurethane to protect it from tarnishing.
- Apply
the antiquing to suit your taste. Brush on and wipe off leaving as much or
as little as you like.
- After
the antique is dry, one more coat of sealer and you are finished.
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