It's not too late!

Ordinary candles, shall we make them special? 

Why not add a little gold.

You will need a few sheets of gold leaf and a bottle of 

size (glue).

All available in any craft store. 

Size (rabbit skin glue) comes in small bottles. 

  Pour a small amount of glue into a plastic container.

Brush on glue to lower part of candle. 

Wait about 30 minutes until glue is slightly tacky. 

Stays tacky for several hours.  

Lay gold leaf sheets onto candle. 

Polish with soft cloth or sheepskin.

While you wait for the glue to dry on candles why not gild a few acorns...it's the same technique. 

After gilding the candle you can scribe a scrolling pattern into the goldleaf with the handle of a paint brush.  

See how special. A few candles with gold leaf, a few pomanders,  and fresh greens and a centerpiece is born.  

Have I convinced you yet?

Thank you dear friends for stopping by.  I am always so happy to hear from you.  

Gina 

Repost from November 2015

Thanksgiving and Christmas without candles?

Oh no.


Shall we make them special? 

Why not add a little gold.

You will need a few sheets of gold leaf and a bottle of 
size (glue).

All available in any craft store. 

Size (rabbit skin glue) comes in small bottles. 

  Pour a small amount of glue into a plastic container.

Brush on glue to lower part of candle. 
Wait about 30 minutes until glue is slightly tacky. 
Stays tacky for several hours.  

Lay gold leaf sheets onto candle. 
Polish with soft cloth or sheepskin.

While you wait for the glue to dry on candles why not gild a few acorns...it's the same technique. 

After gilding the candle you can scribe a scrolling pattern into the goldleaf with the handle of a paint brush.  

See how special. A few candles with gold leaf, a few pomanders,  and fresh greens and a centerpiece is born.  

Have I convinced you yet?

Thank you dear friends for stopping by.  I am always so happy to hear from you.  

Gina 

Make the season last a little longer

Pansies.

Enjoy their beauty a little longer.

Dried Pansies affixed to soap bars. 

You will need: hairspray, scissors,  bar of soap and pressed flowers.

Make sure Pansies are dry.  With scissors, cut away thickest part at back of Pansy.   Arrange face down in an old book.
For more interest fill a few pages with smaller flowers and leaves. 

Place a heavy weight (this is a left over architectural fragment) on top of book and let sit undisturbed for 3 to 4 days. 

 When flowers are dry, spray bar of soap with hairspray and immediately press flowers onto soap. 

So many pretty flowers lend themselves to pressing and drying in books.  No need for a special flower press.  All of the above came from my garden. 

Or you can use a spray-on -fixative or ordinary wood glue to attach flowers. 
Personal note cards, writing paper, greeting cards, lamp shades and candles,  all can be personalized with pressed flowers.  

 Of course there are many other methods of affixing dried botanics.
However, most are very dangerous.  
They involve hot wax, a frying pan and a well ventilated room. 

And a Fire Truck standing by.  


Have a great week my dear 

Blogging Friends.

Gina 

Too much is not enough Part II

Too much is not enough.



That's my Motto and I'm sticking to it!

It said so on the inside of a pair of shoes I once owned.

The shoes are long gone but the Motto has stuck.

Happy Christmas decorating my dear Blogging Friends

Gina

Special holiday candles...for you to make

Add a little extra

Add a little gold leaf, see how here

A little paper, a few bottles of acrylic paint, pear and leaf stamps made from old computer mouse pads

Apply pressed flowers and pressed vines with hot wax

And, if you didn't press your own flowers, don't worry, I have plenty in my Etsy shop

Gina

Gold Leafing Tutorial

Let's give Gold Leafing a try

A few weeks ago the Utah Historic Society sent a young lady to me. The young lady had a novel idea. She wanted to teach a large group of very young children how to do gold leafing. She didn't know how herself. In my mind I conjured up a scene of 40 young children and gold leaf floating thrughout the class room.


But first things first. Let's line up the necessary materials. There are two types of gold leaf. They look exactly alike. The small envelope you see holds the real thing. 22 karat gold leaf. It costs about $80, and holds 25, 3x3 inch leaves. The other, larger envelope costs $11 and holds 25, 6x6 inch composite metal leafing. (We didn't use the first package).




The bottle in the middle holds the glue,
called "adhesive size". All materials used here
are easily available in any craft store or
art supply shop. I will explain the other bottles tomorrow. We will need them for
our next project.










Tape off area to be gilded. Brush on size (glue).
Let dry for at least an hour. Lower part of candle should be tacky, not sticky. Tackiness will last
for at least another 4 hours.




Place only a small amount of glue into container. Immediately clean your brush with soap and warm water when you have finished.




























Lay one sheet of gold leafing onto lower section of candle. Add another until candle is totally covered. Tap on with brush and polish with soft cloth or sheep's wool. You can leave candle as is or scribe a pattern into the gold with the handle of a brush.

By the way, the little boys and girls had a wonderful time learning how to gold leaf. I was told that it was a rousing success. If they can do it so can you.



Tomorrow I will continue with another gold leafing tutorial. The next one will be a little harder to do but will be so rewarding, once learned.


Gina