Reflections....

I am really not much of a magpie….shiny bits of things don’t really attract my attention.

But long ago, I fell in love with the amazing qualities of gold/silver leaf.  I did the obligatory “first” projects before moving on to larger territories.  Indeed, once, not being able to afford replacing the hideous 1970’s yellow Formica counters in my kitchen, I said “what the hell”, sanded, primed, painted red and then silver leafed them.  The result was a triumphant, if somewhat unusual solution to the dilemma of the counters.

My dearest friend Tad is a gilder-extraordinaire.  Seeing Tad working his craft is to realize that certain skills are actually god-given talents and nothing less.  Tad asked me one day what I intended for a small wall in a hallway in my house that I could not seem to decide what to do with.  I had thought about it for weeks (designers can seldom figure out what to do with their own homes!)  Knowing me well, Tad suggested I silver leaf the wall.  He had silver leafed a wall a few years earlier in a Street of Dreams condo that I was working on and the resulting wall was positively jaw dropingly beautiful.  I immediately stated “you mean, you think YOU should help me silver leaf the wall???”  The rest is history.  The entire process took an evening.  It will still require a protective “top-coat” and some darker, antiquing glazes to tone it down a bit, but oh, how it shines and gives such a sense of magic to the little place I call home.

laying the extraordinarily thin sheets of silver on the

already mostly dried sizing (or glue)

gently brushing away excess silver leaf

and VOILA!