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!
