DIY Gilding with Gold and Metallics
I have become a fan of using gold for decorating. Whether its painting picture frames, branches, pots, and planters like this project does, gold really gives a finished and expensive look to so many things.
Jessica from Dear Emmeline shared over on Craftaholics Anonymous how she decided to try her hand at gilding some duck and goose ceramic planters she was given. The results are truly beautiful and what’s great is that she used 3 different methods, so she ended up with 3 totally different looks.
1. Rose Gold Gilding
This look was achieved with a product called Rub’nBuff.
1. Clean planter with soap and water. Dry thoroughly.
2. Wearing a latex glove, squeeze a dab of Rub’nBuff onto index finger. Rub onto planter surface. Rub’nBuff adhere’s to most surfaces. Allow to sit a few minutes and add an additional coat if necessary.
**There were a few places on my planter that were being finicky so I decided to dab the finish on instead of rubbing it in those areas. That worked perfectly. Another option would be to prime the surface before applying the Rub’nBuff.
2. Antique Brass Gilding
1. Clean planter with soap and water. Dry thoroughly.
2. Prime with a quality multi-surface spray primer. Allow primer to dry.
3. Following product instructions, coat planter with Rust-oleum’s Antique Brass spray paint. Add additional coats if necessary.
3. Gold Leaf Gilding
There does seem to be a learning curve to gold leafing but the steps are easy to follow and the results are very forgiving.
1. Apply Adhesive Size to entire surface. Allow to set for 30 mins.
2. Lay sheet of gold leaf on tacky surface and smooth out with finger.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to cover the areas that were missed.
Applying gold leaf usually results with some areas where the original finish will show. If you think you can’t live with that then you could spray paint the planter with a matching color first so the spots won’t be so obvious.
Complete project with instructions and pictures from Jessica can be seen on Craftaholics Anonymous.
