Tag Archives: How to silver leaf

Gold Leaf End Table

I think you all know by now that I love metallic finishes. So when I wanted to restore this antique style end table I chose to gild it. 

In a previous post, I showed the details of how to silver leaf a dresser.  It is a little bit time-consuming but the end result is well worth it.  This time I used gold leaf papers, I chose pale tone gold, I don’t like the very brassy gold color. As for pulls, I was so excited when I found these black white and gold pulls. They matched perfectly my courtly check Mackenzie Childs pieces. 

Here are the pictures:

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– Silver Leaf Floor Lamp

I just love Bling Bling. Like every little  black dress needs a  jewelry to shine , our  home needs some bling bling to glam it 🙂

One of the accessories that im liking are those shiny , silvery floor lamp shades.
Below is my inspiration from Modani.com

Modani.com

And here is my “wanna be” Modani lamp shade before the transformation with the size on=glue on.

 


It had a bronzey outdated color so i didnt paint it because it will look good for an antique style silver lamp shade( remember with silver leafing the base color will peek through some of the areas)

I bought the silver leafing, the size and the sealing coat through ebay.


 

Silver leafing is easy but you should have a little bit of patience and a vaccum cleaner :)yes yes you heard me a vaccum cleaner because  it will get messy, like really messy,and dont try to apply it outdoor ( like some blogs suggested) because it is so delicate that your own breath can make a big mess so what about the wind , so i found the best place to apply it is in my workshop garage.

1-I applied the oil base size with my dollar store cheap brush, waited for about 45 minutes until the size will get tacky , The proper tack is when the size does not stick to the knuckle and you hear a slight “tick” when the knuckle is pulled away.( you will know what i’m talking about when you try it).


2-Then you apply the silver leaf by holding it with the wax paper ( the silver leafs come in between of 2 sheets of wax paper so use those papers to hold the silver leaf)so dont use your  own hands because the silver leaf will stick to your hands and not to the lamp.



3- Place the next sheet slightly on top of the previous one, when you overlap the sheets you will get less gaps and cracks in between when you burnish them at the end.

4- When you finish applying all the sheets on the lamp ,use a soft brush to burnish all the silver leaf , and make sure to be gentle on the seams or you will get lots of cracks.

5- Seal it, some blogs says you do not need to seal it but based on my mom experience the color will change after a while if you dont seal it ( she lives on the beach so it might be weather thing i’m not sure) but i didnt want to risk it so i sealed it with a transparent sealer ( some sealers has a yellow or red color).

6-Thx to centsational girl i knew this tip, you can fill in the cracks with Rub’Buff silver color it works like magic but of course this should happens before you aplly the sealer.

7- Dont ever think you will get a perfect smooth surface , no matter how hard you try you will have a textured surface or a little bit of cracks so you better like the mirrored antique style.The perfect silver leaf style is not to be perfect 😉



I would love to hear you comments or your questions if you have any , i also applied silver leaf on a big dresser check it out here


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