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 

The Humble with the Splendid

When interviewed for a thirteen page spread in Utah Homes & Garden Magazine, I was asked what my design philosophy was in building our new Country Home

That's easy,  The Humble with the Splendid

Utah Homes and  Garden

Utah Homes and Garden

Utah Homes and  Garden

Utah Homes and Garden

Some People like Silver, I LOVE Gold

I also Love my French and Italian Chandeliers

This is the other gold mirror, this time without the base.  I can't believe that we transported both mirrors in our old truck.  They arrived without a scratch.

Have a great weekend, my dear Blogging Friends

Gina

All Utah Homes and Garden photography by Mikel Covey
Montage photographs by Gina

My Goose that laid the Golden Egg

Happy April Fools' Day

You don't have a goose that lays golden eggs?

Then you will just have to gild your own

See gold leafing tutorial post  here

It's so easy

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