Gilding an Angelic Pretty ring
Happy new year to everyone reading this! I hope your year ended a bit better than mine. I intended to make another two or three posts before New Years Eve but due to some awful happenings I never got around to it. Lets hope for new chances in the new year!
About two years back, I bought an AP ring from an online seller, a heavy metal bow. The listing said the gold had worn a little and one of the gems was missing, so they sold it for a reduced price. I figured I could replace the missing gem and wear it as is, so I bought it. Then it arrived...
No, that silver sheen isn't just reflection of something, that's the gold all worn off. I figured I couldn't fix that, so I put it in my jewelry box and left it there for two years. Until last week I decided to give fixing it a try after all. I've done some gilding on paper and I figured gilding a metal piece wouldn't be all that much different!
The materials I used. I used a glue consisting of two components intended for outdoor use, the little booklet under it contains the gold leaf. On the right I had already cut some of it, you can see how brightly yellow it is compared to the cool silvery ring! I already had all of this laying around, but even if you were to buy it new it wouldn't be quite as expensive as you might expect. The glue is actually the most expensive part, not the gold! Leaf metal glue sells for between 10 and 15 euros per bottle, and while my local art shop didn't have this same booklet for comparison they did have a way bigger chunky one that was a little more expensive than the glue, but contained I think 50 sheets of gold that were double the size of mine! The reason it's so cheap isn't because it's cut with a cheaper metal -the one I used was 23,75 carat- but because gold is so incredibly malleable. A piece of gold the size of a grain of rice can be rolled out to cover a whole square meter or over three square feet. The glue looks really brightly coloured here, but it actually went on clear.
The ring completely covered in glue. You can see a bit of a sheen but other than that it's barely visible.
The process of putting on the gold leaf. The professional kind gets sold without paper backing and you use a static brush to put it where you need it, but I use the easy kind that comes with a thin paper back so you can use that to pick it up and simply press it on. Leaf metal like this is crazy light, if you even breathe out near it it'll fly away immediately. I used the fluffy makeup brush (clean of course) in the back to gently brush off the excess but even that was too harsh and I ended up flaking little bits off. So, second coat of gold it is!
After the second coat. I used a slightly denser brush to gently press the metal into the logo, but the gilding did end up making it a little harder to see. It looks patchy here, but I promise that's just the artificial light! (Also, note the flecks of gold on my nails- leaf gold sticks to EVERYTHING.)
After the first coat of varnish. Oo, shiny!
Placing in the new gem. I used a cheap set of multicoloured gems that I got at Xenos for maybe 2 euros. The one I used doesn't match the colour of the original ones 100%, but in natural light it doesn't show as much as it does here. Also, I applied a second coat of varnish- leaf gold is so incredibly thin and fragile, it'd wipe off in days if I didn't coat it with something. I'd rather drown it in varnish than have to reapply all of that metal! Especially cleaning the gems was terrible because the metal sticks to anything remotely sticky, like glass. I had to use two brushes, a toothpick and a good hour to get it all off!
All done! These two turned out a little blurry, but you can see what it looks like in natural sunlight. I think it turned out very nice! It is however incredibly yellowy gold, it's kind of strangely fake looking somehow. I don't mind it though, I'm glad I can finally wear this ring and that I don't have to toss it out. It was also a fun little project! I'd never used leaf metal on anything but paper before. Would I recommend doing this with your worn jewelry? .....maybe? If you have everything laying around already it's definitely worth it, but if you need to buy glue, metal and brushes, you'll just end up spending the same amount as you would on a new ring. Plus working with leaf gold can be incredibly frustrating. Touch it accidentally and it immediately sticks to your fingers and rips off the paper. Pinch it with tweezers and it'll stick to them and rip off. I feel trying to use this stuff with no prior experience would be hellish, and not worth it for one single piece of jewelry. However if you have experience it can be a cool little project with a unique piece of jewelry as a result. The gold ended up not being 100% smooth on mine, it has a sort of crackly texture to it that I really like!
Have you ever customized a lolita piece before, a la Momoko?
About two years back, I bought an AP ring from an online seller, a heavy metal bow. The listing said the gold had worn a little and one of the gems was missing, so they sold it for a reduced price. I figured I could replace the missing gem and wear it as is, so I bought it. Then it arrived...
No, that silver sheen isn't just reflection of something, that's the gold all worn off. I figured I couldn't fix that, so I put it in my jewelry box and left it there for two years. Until last week I decided to give fixing it a try after all. I've done some gilding on paper and I figured gilding a metal piece wouldn't be all that much different!
The materials I used. I used a glue consisting of two components intended for outdoor use, the little booklet under it contains the gold leaf. On the right I had already cut some of it, you can see how brightly yellow it is compared to the cool silvery ring! I already had all of this laying around, but even if you were to buy it new it wouldn't be quite as expensive as you might expect. The glue is actually the most expensive part, not the gold! Leaf metal glue sells for between 10 and 15 euros per bottle, and while my local art shop didn't have this same booklet for comparison they did have a way bigger chunky one that was a little more expensive than the glue, but contained I think 50 sheets of gold that were double the size of mine! The reason it's so cheap isn't because it's cut with a cheaper metal -the one I used was 23,75 carat- but because gold is so incredibly malleable. A piece of gold the size of a grain of rice can be rolled out to cover a whole square meter or over three square feet. The glue looks really brightly coloured here, but it actually went on clear.
The process of putting on the gold leaf. The professional kind gets sold without paper backing and you use a static brush to put it where you need it, but I use the easy kind that comes with a thin paper back so you can use that to pick it up and simply press it on. Leaf metal like this is crazy light, if you even breathe out near it it'll fly away immediately. I used the fluffy makeup brush (clean of course) in the back to gently brush off the excess but even that was too harsh and I ended up flaking little bits off. So, second coat of gold it is!
After the second coat. I used a slightly denser brush to gently press the metal into the logo, but the gilding did end up making it a little harder to see. It looks patchy here, but I promise that's just the artificial light! (Also, note the flecks of gold on my nails- leaf gold sticks to EVERYTHING.)
After the first coat of varnish. Oo, shiny!
Placing in the new gem. I used a cheap set of multicoloured gems that I got at Xenos for maybe 2 euros. The one I used doesn't match the colour of the original ones 100%, but in natural light it doesn't show as much as it does here. Also, I applied a second coat of varnish- leaf gold is so incredibly thin and fragile, it'd wipe off in days if I didn't coat it with something. I'd rather drown it in varnish than have to reapply all of that metal! Especially cleaning the gems was terrible because the metal sticks to anything remotely sticky, like glass. I had to use two brushes, a toothpick and a good hour to get it all off!
All done! These two turned out a little blurry, but you can see what it looks like in natural sunlight. I think it turned out very nice! It is however incredibly yellowy gold, it's kind of strangely fake looking somehow. I don't mind it though, I'm glad I can finally wear this ring and that I don't have to toss it out. It was also a fun little project! I'd never used leaf metal on anything but paper before. Would I recommend doing this with your worn jewelry? .....maybe? If you have everything laying around already it's definitely worth it, but if you need to buy glue, metal and brushes, you'll just end up spending the same amount as you would on a new ring. Plus working with leaf gold can be incredibly frustrating. Touch it accidentally and it immediately sticks to your fingers and rips off the paper. Pinch it with tweezers and it'll stick to them and rip off. I feel trying to use this stuff with no prior experience would be hellish, and not worth it for one single piece of jewelry. However if you have experience it can be a cool little project with a unique piece of jewelry as a result. The gold ended up not being 100% smooth on mine, it has a sort of crackly texture to it that I really like!
Have you ever customized a lolita piece before, a la Momoko?
Now THAT is incredibly COOL! I wouldn't have even thought of using gold leaf to fix a worn ring, I'd probably just get a new ring or live with it in its current state, so well done for even attempting to fix it. Yes, it looks a lot more yellow, but somehow I feel that makes it sweeter (whereas in its original shade of gold it was treading that sweet-classic line?) and looks super cute regardless.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you think it's neat! I can see what you mean, it does look sweeter now that you mention it. I hate wasting clothes and accessories, there's enough waste on the world already, now I can keep wearing this baby for years to come!
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