Gilding which is a term for “Gold Leaf Decoupage” is the art of covering a specific area using specially designed Gold Leaves. Gilding is an age old process which adds a beautiful dimension to paintings, leather, sculptures, glass, metal, picture frames and much more. The imitation leaf comes in a variety of metallic colours like Gold, Silver and Copper (multicolored too). To allow the Imitation Leaf to adhere to a surface, a gilding adhesive is required.
FACT: Gold Leaf Decoupage has its roots in ancient Traditional Indian Art. The age old royal paintings: Thanjavur Painting and Mysore Painting are relief paintings where the dimensional/embossed surface is decoupaged using original Gold leaf and Arabic Gum.

MATERIALS USED FOR GILDING PROJECT:
- Surface that has to be gilded. This has to be clean and free of oil and dust.
- Mont Marte Imitation Leaf
- Mont Marte Leafing Size(water based Gilding adhesive)
Here’s how I made a card using the procedure of Gilding:
1. I took a piece of card stock(I have used a green one here). I applied a thin even layer of the size with a soft brush onto the entire area of the card stock, as the whole area has to be leafed. I left the card stock for about 25 mins for the size to develop tack.
2. I then applied a copper leaf by carefully holding the leaf sheet from the corners and laying it over the sized surface. I made sure to use a soft brush to smoothen out the leaf onto the sized surface so that it adheres well.
3. I then ran the piece through my Dream Cut machine to create an embossing pattern onto the gilded surface.
4. I pasted the ornamental gilded piece onto a blank card followed by a handmade flower embellishment.
5. I then applied some leafing size onto the edges of the petals of the handmade flower and kept it aside to achieve the desired tackiness.
6. I placed a sheet of the Gold Leaf onto the flower and brushed off the excess leaf.
7. I then cut out a basic rectangular piece using my Dream Cut machine and placed a sentiment.
Here’s how the project turned out…
I have a couple of other projects too using the Gilding technique. You can hop over to the Itsy Bitsy blog(Click over the titles) to know more about these projects:
WALL ART ON CANVAS USING GILDING:
Do let me know how you liked the technique of Gilding and how you have implemented the technique in your creations. I would love to hear from you!!
awesome ! Nice to see you use this good old technique in various forms !! great going gal !
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Thank you so much Sharadakka!! Thanks for taking time to visit my blog 🙂 ❤
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