52 Weeks of Art: Week 31

Week 31: Gold Leaf

Welcome to week 31 of 52 weeks of art! What are we doing this week?

    

     This week we have gold leafing. What is gold leaf? It's gold - REAL gold - that's been hammered  paper thin. It comes in small sheets that are layered between paper. Otherwise they'd just stick together. How to use the gold leaf:

     Step one: apply some adhesive to whatever you're planning on gold leafing. They have gold leaf glue. I didn't get any, we just used mod podge.
 
     Step two: wait for the glue/mod podge/whatever you use to dry until it's slightly tacky. Carefully lift the gold leaf off the protective paper. You can use your fingers, but it's probably going to stick to them. I know, it stuck to my fingers. I suggest maybe some tweezers. At this point, you're going to want to not breathe. Any slight breeze will blow away your gold leaf.

    Step three: gently lay the gold leaf on top of the glue. Wait for it to dry some more. Then get a paintbrush and brush away the extra gold.

     Step four: repeat until you are satisfied with the gold coverage.


     So, those are the basic instructions on how to gold leaf. Um... that's not really how I did it. Rebecca did her gold leafing first, I still had to paint something to gold leaf. She came prepared. She followed the instructions and we found it very difficult. When my painting was tacky (I used acrylics) I decided to put the gold leaf on, hoping it would just stick to the paint. It did! Also, instead of trying to lay the whole sheet of gold leaf down, I just ripped tiny pieces off at a time. I'm sure that this is not the actual technique for apply gold leaf, but it worked for me. Also, gold leaf is not cheap and I didn't want to waste any of it!

     I tried to be better at taking photos, but I didn't get any before photos. Sorry again!

Here's the paints I used - minus the yellows.

Here's the gold leaf I bought.

Here's my painting. I love the blue color of the water.

Here's a sheet of gold leaf. Yeah, that's a nickel next to it. These sheets are TINY. 

Here's my painting from an angle. I think you can see the gold better here.

And here it is. My gold leafed masterpiece. 

     I think it turned out good for not knowing what I was doing. In case you can't tell, it's supposed to me the moon in a starry sky. It wasn't easy trying to get a decent photo of the gold. The lighting doesn't do it justice. 

     Also, in case you were wondering. The back of the package says that it is 100% edible. So, yeah, I tried it. I can honestly say that I am not a fan of eating gold. It tastes very metallic. Obviously, I suppose. I only ate it because it was stuck to my fingers. Each tiny sheet cost me like $1.00. It's so delicate I was constantly worried I was going to sneeze and blow $20 worth of gold around the house.

On to rating gold leaf...

     Just a reminder on the criteria for rating each medium.

Ease of use: How easy was this medium to use.

Affordability: How affordable supplies are for each medium.

Accessibility: How easily accessible supplies are for each medium. Example, are specific tools required that are hard to find?

Fun to Use: How much enjoyment I got out of using this medium

     So, for gold leaf, my rating is: 11

Ease of use: 3

 I'm going to say that gold leafing is not easy to do. The gold leaf itself is super delicate and likes to do it's own thing.

Affordability: 1

    This is probably the least affordable medium on our list. I spent $20 on 30 sheets that are 1.5" square. If you're planning on gold leafing a large area, it would cost you a small fortune. But, it is actual gold. So, there is that.

Accessibility: 4

     I'll be honest, I'm not really sure where you can get gold leaf in a store. I got it on Amazon. I love Amazon.

Fun to Use: 3

  I think that gold leafing would be more fun if I wasn't so worried about money just blowing away.

     If you would like to go on this epic art adventure with me, next week we will be doing...

     If you choose to follow along, please post your work using #52weekartadventure!