Gilded Gold Rosettes for detailing

                           These tiny rosettes were cast from an original mould and gilded with various gold leaf and finishes. They can be used in many ways to embellish doors, ceilings and furniture. In fact they can be customised in any metal leaf you like with a different bas colour. These and 53 others were used french style on wooden batons across the front of huge glass doors. They were finished with a final antique finish.

Shorditch Loft Gets Gilded Ceiling

This Shoreditch loft project was curated by the designer Alastair Cummings. He has a wonderful eye for the dramatic and experiments with the use of exotic and textures & materials.  He has created an extraordinary makeover using imitation gold leaf usually associated within classical interiors, not lofts.

The warmth and glow from the ceiling against the vibrant green lacquer walls makes the bedroom a sumptuous, stylish haven for the owner of this glorious loft accommodation right in the heart of Shoreditch. There are a couple of photos of work in progress as well of the final room.

Repairing Old Mouldings on Gilt Frames

Scroll through the images from the original damaged frame through the stages of repair to the final finished gilded frame. One of a pair.


Original state of damaged frame with multitude of missing mouldings 

New mouldings cast and added

Repairs gilded with 23.75 carat gold leaf

Final finish with antique patina to match original finish

Gilded Ceilings

 This ceiling was painted ready for gilding with imitation Silver metal leaf. The leaf is laid out carefully to fit the shape & size of the ceiling. All masking completed to protect tiling etc as the work happens when the bathroom is finished and there is no dust.


The silver reflects light and transforms the ceiling into a bright vibrant plane of colour. This really illuminates and brings a luxurious finish to a contemporary bathroom instead of the usual dull white paint.

Palladium Leaf Mirror

My client had inherited a large decorative mirror which was golden originally which they wanted to change. However they didn't really want to get rid of the mirror. The solution was to re-gild with Palladium leaf to get the exact shade of silver for the frame. It then matched the new colour scheme in the room.

The mirror looked amazing and was transformed. Looks like it will have another 100 years of life now! 




One way to preserve an inherited heirloom but giving it a contemporary feel and a new history is to re-gild with another beautiful coloured leaf.

Beautiful golden Fireplace

This White painted fireplace was transformed twice. Firstly into a gold fireplace then secondly into a tortoiseshell effect using pigmented lacquer. Both surfaces pick up the light and the glow from the fire. Just what is needed on a cold January day.

The fireplace is a Traditional style Bio Fuel fireplace supplied by 

https://www.gelfireplaces.com  

GIlding Decorative Mouldings

The Victorian gilt moulding had been badly damaged, with cracks and loss of gesso & gold leaf. You can see the process to repair and restore the moulding using traditional water gilding. The final moulding which was over 2 ft long was ready to display in the owners house. 

Gilded Letters on Plaster or Stone

 First step mask the letters

Second step carefully size background 

Once the gold leaf is applied polish and clean tape

Gorgeous Gilded Golden Walls @Kokoro London W2

Kokoro a fabulous store in London W2 which mixes Japanese inspired prints with the very latest cutting edge designs and techniques, reopened recently with a wonderful new refit of the interior. Designer & owner Dawn Green, had a clear vision for a golden gilded wall which we were able to transform for her on the everyday white walls. As light changes so does the golden wall, worth visiting both for the wonderful clothes and for the beautiful interiors, not to mention meeting the lovely Dawn!

Gilding Religious Icons and Sculpture

 





St John The Baptist was in an extremely poor state when I was asked to restore him. The damage was primarily caused by woodworm which had loosened off the gesso and which was continuing to break away from the carved wood, riddled with tiny holes. First stop was to have him specially heat treated to rid the worm. Then it was a painstaking process of securing the existing gesso and then restoring areas of gilding. I used the traditional methods of water gilding and burnishing to match the surface area. My primary concern was to restore but not destroy the age and patina of the overall sculpture. my client wanted it to keep its integrity of appearance and age but also to stem the destruction of this beautiful sculpture.

Changing Chair to antique silver finish

This chair was transformed using aluminium leaf with a hand finished, antique distressed finish.

Track back through the processes shown in the photographs back to the original chair with dull greyish/silver paint which had oxidised and appeared matt and lifeless.

Anything can be transformed in this way! 

Just email me with a photo  and ask for an estimate.

Small Repairs to Gilded Mirror Frames

Some projects are grand and some are just simple and more homely requiring just a few repairs to bring a treasured family heirloom or purchase back into working order. A few small repairs also stop deterioration of most gilded pieces. ( stitch in time)


This was a very small pretty Swedish mirror frame that had sustained tiny amounts of damage over the year and the crest was wobbling and in time risked would  break away. The white gessoed areas are the ones i repaired before I re-gilded and matched it to the remaining frame. I toned in the bright gold to match the elegant glow of gold on this beautiful mirror.

Restoring & Repairing Chinese Lacquer work

This modern Chinese gilded screen had suffered damage in transit. The colour on the screens was scratched back to the base coat black and several areas of painting had been lost. I re-painted the flowers and trunk areas then re-gilded and matched the coloured glaze and all the damage was hidden. 

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the original damage so I can only show the finished item!

You can see my sample board with tests to get the beautiful translucency of colour and exact tint of lustre in the lacquer correct.

I am happy to look at any painted damage with a view to restoring it, whether its a modern or antique piece.

Restoration of a Gilded & Black lacquer Torchere

This Regency Gilt & Black lacquer Torchere was in a poor state when I was asked to sensitively restore it. My client requested I restore damaged and discoloured areas to match the patina of the existing intact surfaces. 

The old gold paint had oxidised and turned it to a dull brown colour as you can see from the small base photo. Its quite an adventure doing this kind of work, as I never know what I will find under the paint. This object revealed some real gold intact, places where gold has been worn away by cleaning and many hidden damaged areas. After cleaning the old paint and dirt off I could then see which areas needed the restoration. 

The last two photos show repaired areas in white,  gessoed ready for the bole coat then gilding. 

Wherever Its possible I keep the original gilding and then match the new gold to the existing condition of the Torchere, keeping restoration to the minimum. All the finishes were traditional and in keeping with the period of the piece.

Gilding on Metal

This fabulous staircase posed a technical dilemma for Balustrade manufacturers PSL. How do you integrate/weld a silver decorative metal ring into a powdered steel balustrade and have a seamless finish with two different composition metals? 

The solution ? 
They approached me and after creating samples, found the answer .... gilding straight onto the powder-coated metal with a silvery leaf. I could have  created the circles in copper, gold, bronze, or a silvered finish. Gilding create a perfect and crisp finished edge against the steel.

This house in Hampstead had four fabulous floors of staircase balustrading including inner two light wells.  The designer had specified inserting decorative circles of silver inserted to enhance the classical elegant design. Once the balustrades were in place I gilded on site, carefully to get the desired finish, although there were teams of contractors busying around me on other projects. 

Both the the client and designer were thrilled with the final stunning effect. PSL will be happy to include gilding in further projects to create seamless metal effects without the problem of welding different materials.

http://www.pslltd.com

Gilding a bronze leaf ceiling

Having just finished gilding this wonderful ceiling I just had to share some temporary site photos as the leaf was so gorgeous and the ceiling looked fabulous! Once the room is furnished and the concealed lighting in place I can go back for the final shots. 


You can see the subtle colouring from the leaf opposite and the gleam that it gives off. We worked using a scaffold tower and unbelievably didn't get sore necks..... we must have used over 1600 individual leaves of bronzed metal to cover the area.

The leaf is from a new range of colouring for metal leafs from www.goldleafsupples.co.uk and brings a dramatic and bold statement to the overall interior scheme.