special turning tool covered with velvet is used. Lightly press it into the gold leaf and give the tool a 1/4-turn. Position the tool for the subsequent turn so that the outside edge of the tool slightly overlaps the outside edge of preceding turn. Razor scraper. Older windows often have very tiny paint specks that you will not see until you apply the gold leaf. Scraping the surface with a razor scraper will remove these paint specks and other stubborn particles. Make sure that the razor blade does not have any burrs or you will scratch the glass. Fine metal sieve. Filtering the water size through a fine metal sieve will catch any undissolved globs of gelatin that could blemish your gild.
An excellent answer to the question, “What’s New?”
Gilder’s supplies
Introducing InteriorArts HPL design laminates, new from Chemetal and Treefrog. 74 designs. Lots of texture and gloss and ideal for interior signage. GreenGuard-certified. 4’ x 8’ sheets. Available now. 800 807-7341 | ialaminates.com ™
hpl design laminates
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Loose gold leaf. Gold is generally sold in booklets of twenty-five pieces. Other metals are added to the real gold to alter its physical properties (such as coloration and hardness). The addition of copper, for example, can impart a warmer, reddish hue to the gold, while silver makes it more pale. Hospital cotton. After the leaf is positioned in place, some gilders will use a cotton ball to gently press the leaf into the size and then brush away any of the excess gold. Caution: Although the cotton feels soft, the cotton fibers are coarse enough to scratch the soft gold. Hospital cotton is much less abrasive and so less likely to scratch the gold leaf. Gelatin diamonds or capsules. Dissolved in distilled water, gelatin adheres the gold leaf to the glass. It is available in capsules or on sheets cut into diamondshaped pieces. Distilled water. If you have high contents of sulfur in your tap water, the contamination could cloud the size. RTape ProGrade™ Paint Mask. When cutting a higher grade of paint mask (for making a stencil for painting an outline on a window or for surface gilding), very light pressure on the blade is all that is needed. Oil size. When you absolutely, positively must get a gold leaf job done the same day as you start, use either 1-Shot Fast Dry Gold Size #4008 or Rolco “Artisan” Clear Oil Gilding Size. Generally fast size sets up in about an hour and has an open time of one to two hours. Although both water-based and oil-based
Sign Builder Illustrated // october 2012
size is available on the market, oil-based products are typically used for sign applications. Back-up paint. Black Japan paint and Nazdar 59000 Series Black Enamel Plus Gloss Screen Ink are used to back-up gold leaf work and to paint outlines and drop shadows. Window spar varnish. After backing up your work, protect it from abrasion or cleaning chemicals with a coating of varnish. Overlap the gilding by 1/4-inch. Liquid Joy® or Ivory® and an eye dropper. A drop or two of dishwashing liquid in a pint of water sized via an eye dropper will help the water wet out the surface of the glass. Gilder’s soap. To clean any glass before water gilding, moisten the cake with a damp cotton rag or damp sponge and rub the surface to produce a lather. Apply a thin coat of this soap to the glass surface and wait to dry. Using a dry cotton rag or pad of cotton wadding, buff off the dried residue until the surface is squeaky clean. DuPont™ Prep-Sol® 3919S™ Cleaning Solvent. Some contaminants are watersoluble and will wash off of the surface of the substrate with detergent and water; some are greasy and oily and can only be removed by cleaning with a solvent, such as DuPont Prepsol. Isopropyl alcohol (IPA). Seventy percent isopropyl alcohol is recommended for final cleaning of glass to remove any residue from any other cleaners. After saturating the surface with any solvent cleaner, dry it with a clean cotton cloth or paper towel before the solvent evaporates. Shadow Kaolin. To prevent gold leaf from sticking to parts of the sign where you don’t want it to, employ Shadow Kaolin (a powdered Welch clay) as a resist by lightly dusting the surface with it using a cosmetic brush. Be sure to visit Jim Hingst’s blog at www.hingstssignpost.blogspot.com.
To view pinstripe artist Steve Kafka’s technique of creating an engine turn pattern in gold leaf, visit
http://bit.ly/Nc4gJN. signshop.com