Adding Gold to your paintings
Hello everyone!
Welcome to my enchanted studio in Amsterdam! I would like to talk to you about how to paint with oils on top of gold leaf or any other metal leaf. I will share with you three different examples and techniques.
How to paint with oils on top of metal leaf.
Let's take as for instance, my Valkyrie painting.
Step 1: The first step is surface preparation.
I applied a thin layer of acrylic paint as my base colour on the Ampersand gesso board. I chose a gold and red in colour.
A vibrant earthy red colour is a classic choice for the base; it helps you quickly identify the gaps between your lists. Yellow ochre and gold as a base will give you a more comprehensive look.
You can experiment with colour, but take into account it will affect your final result. As will a texture of your base layer. I've chosen not to have a smooth surface, but if you want the mirror-like look then be careful not to leave brush marks. You can carefully sand it with the fine sandpaper.
Please, take protective measures not to inhale the dust from the paint as it may be toxic.
Even it is acrylic paint, I give at minimum a day it to completely dry, 3 days is more preferable option.
Step 2: Application.
I apply a special adhesive - size. I use a traditional oil-based size (LE FRANC 3 HOUR OIL-BASED GOLD SIZE) which you can work outdoors or with professional ventilation. You can find other options for size in the links below.
It reaches tack in approximately 45-60 minutes that mean you can start to apply gold leaf. I work with gold leaf imitation, which is much more durable than real gold and give you a stunning effect of real gold.
My size will remain open for approximately 2-3 hours. That should give me enough time to cover the entire board and fix all small gaps if I want to.
Always use gloves when you touch gold leaf imitation to prevent metal from tarnish. Use a very soft brush when you are cleaning the excess gold leaf — ideally special brush for gilding or clean, soft fabric.
Gold Foil gilding demo by Artist Pam Hawkes:
Step 3: Protection layer.
You will need to seal gold leaf, meaning add protection layer between gold leaf and paint, to avoid solvents, and other chemicals react with gold leaf. I prepare a mix of blanc shellac diluted in alcohol.
You will need shellac, alcohol 96% and a glass jar with a lid. Put 1 part shellac to 3 parts of alcohol in the pot. It may dissolve in 2 weeks or quicker, depends on the amount and size of flakes. You can mill them if you're in a hurry and shake the bottle from time to time as I do in the video. In this case, it took just one day to dissolve shellac flakes completely.
Demonstration How to mix shellac quickly:
In one of “Icon gliding” courses, they prepared a mix of already diluted shellac varnish with alcohol in 20/80 proportion.
Shellac is swift drying, so you need to apply it quickly with a big soft brush. Be aware that it is risky to apply shellac at high humidity levels; water will be trapped under shellac, creating not transparent "milky" colour. So it is better to test it before applying on painting. On top of a few coats of shellac, I can start painting with oils.
Step 4: Underpainting.
I use Titanium White (Old Holland) and Burnt Umber (Rembrandt Oils) for underpainting. Hairs, in this case, was an exception as I used Red Oxide (Old Holland) for it. I do not add any medium and use paint straight from the tube.
In areas where I want to leave marks and scratches, I apply the cold wax by Gamblin first and then paint on top. You can also use the method demonstrated by Pam Hawkes and her Underpainting method.
You can find a video demonstration here:
TOOLS TO SCRATCH SURFACE:
I used old manicure set, Ami Colour Shaper
SUPPORT: Ampersand gesso board
SIZE: LE FRANC 3 HOUR OIL-BASED GOLD SIZE
https://www.goldleafsupplies.co.uk/le-franc-3-hour-oil-based-gold-size-3224/
https://www.naturalpigments.com/mixtion-oil-size.html;
SEALING:
What I use:
Clear Shellac - https://www.vanbeekart.nl/p/blanke-schellak-500g/77332/
Alcohol - https://www.verfmolendekat.com/en/37650785.html
OTHER USEFULL LINKS:
About Shellac:
https://www.naturalpigments.com/artist-materials/shellac-use-art/
https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-terms/shellac-paint-varnish/
An alternative method of sealing gold leaf and gilding:
https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2011/01/11/painting-acrylic-on-gold-leaf/
GILDING Materials and SIZE INSTRUCTIONS:
Other useful tips for gilding:
http://www.gildedplanet.com/howtoimitationgoldleafwithwatersize.html
Gilding & Acrylics:
https://nancyreyner.com/2017/06/22/prepare-gold-leaf-oil-painting/
Water Based Size - Gold Leaf
Cancer painting • Gilding Materials & Process
When to use:
I use this approach when I start with underdrawing or acrylic painting. Also, it is more suitable for gilding small areas when I am not planning to paint on top of it.
Materials:
-
Support - Ampersand Smooth Artist Board
-
Any fountain pen - I like Molotov & Pentel
-
Gilding Size - Kölner Miniatum INK is water-based gilding size (adhesive).
Here is what manufacturer say:
The average application has dried after about half an hour. The open time of gilding (gold or silver leaf, not composition leaf) is till 3 hours after the application has dried.
In my opinion, drying time is the most significant advantage if you need to gild small areas as well as that you can use it on paper.
After I applied Miniatum and Gold leaf, I wait for a couple of days and paint the rest of the painting with oils. Sometimes I paint over areas with Gold leaf.
Miniatum VS Miniatum Ink
You can easily achieve a smooth mirror-like surface with this size too. But for bigger areas of gilding, I would recommend Miniatum (not ink). It is thicker and drying time much longer.
As it primary advertised to be used on the flexible surface like paper, I wrote to Kolner to ask if my approach is correct.
Here is their response:
“Unfortunately, it is difficult with the adhesion of the miniatum on oil paint. You did everything right. Alternatively, you could only use oil mixture as a glue.”
I also wanted to experiment with texture to create an illusion of real 3d cloth. So I made my application following folds of fabric unevenly spreading adhesive. I also have to repeat the process on areas where small gaps left after the first application and to add even more texture.
Transfer Gold leaf
To get Gilding suppplies in Europe I can advise these two sites:
1. https://www.goldleafsupplies.co.uk/
2. https://gerstendoerfer-blattgold.de/ - I'm using Google translate in Chrome, as they have a shop only on their deutch version of the website.
Burnishing cloth
Using this gilding size it is not advised to use agate stone to burnish gold. An extra soft and lint-free cloth to press and polish the gold leaf. I'm using Kölner Instacoll Tissue.
Fixative (optional) - HC10 from Sennelier
Lately, I tend to use a Fixative spray to add an additional protective layer to gold. I make it after gold is burnished. It makes it easier to wipe off paint from gilding area in case of a mistake.
Example of this technique combined with acrylic underpainting:
Gilding on top of oil paint.
Oil Underpainting.
I would not recommend applying gold on top of oil paint. The only case it is possible is when the paint is completely dried. Recently I started to experiment by using LE FRANC 3 HOUR OIL-BASED GOLD SIZE on top of the very thin underpainting. That way, you have your painting properly planned and can introduce tiny gold nuances whenever you want. I use a very thin layer of size, and frankly speaking, it is ready for gilding in a few minutes.
Let me know if you have any further questions!