Sunday, January 4, 2015

Big Flashy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! What will 2015 bring? Well, one things for sure....this project! Now...for the flashy part. I'm talking about GOLD!


Since my last post, I had finished the pipes and they are now ready for the gilding phase. This is a first for me. I've never done any gold-leafing before. So, I bought some gold sheets and appropriate materials and had a go at it.

First came the task of taping around the mouth, only leaving the area I want gilded. After this, I bought a can of size, or special adhesive, to spray in the area where the gold is to be placed.



Things were looking good. One by one, I sprayed the size and placed a sheet of gold on the mouth.


There's still a good amount of gold on the sheet after I covered the area. So as not to waste the gold, I used two half-sheets of gold for the second pipe. This did not go well. From the start, you could see that there are two sheet as there was a clear line no matter how I tried to overlap it. Being me, I went into panic mode but decided just to start again. I sprayed size over the gold, let it sit and then applied a new full sheet over the mouth. So far....crisis averted...

"Crisis Pipe"  Second from Left
When it came time to remove the tape, most of the lines were crisp. However, some are a little flaky. This is most noticeable with the one I screwed up on. Looking back, I think I should have left it to dry a little longer. However, I'm going to buy some liquid size, as compared to the spray, try to carefully re-guild those areas that are torn or otherwise need a touchup.



Certainly a step forward, an exciting one at that. But, a few corrections need to be made. Afterward, I will paint the inside mouth black, then shellac the entire pipe thus bringing it together, then insert the restored ears. I have already sanded down the next five pipes. Those pipes will need a little more TLC than these five as there are a more nicks and gashes that need to be taken care off. Most of those marks were filled in with these five. However, a few are still noticeable. I'm fine with this....makes me remember how old they actually are!