![\"Original](\"http:\/\/www.frenchdesigningdc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Noel-et-consoles-Aneko-026.jpg\" "\\"Original")
<\/a>Original white console<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Original black sconce<\/p><\/div>\n
From the beginning I was targeting a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century look. \u00a0I would use a lot of dark grey and some silvery grey, then accompany those colors with a dirty brown simulating dirt accumulated over centuries. \u00a0On many gilded furniture, the gold base is blood red, which also yields wonderful results, but I wanted to explore a more discreet and authentic look.<\/p>\n
Using Benjamin Moore latex paints, I started by coating the table with a tan-colored primer. \u00a0I then covered it by two dark bronze\/brown layers of paint, applied next to each other in a patchy pattern. Once they were dried, I brushed the piece with Smoke metallic paint, ragging it off to leave tracks of it only in the recessed parts. \u00a0Again, I waited for this coat to dry to randomly apply a layer of iridescent gold that I also partly ragged off, but this time, I left some of it onto recessed as well as raised parts.<\/p>\n
Once the base coats were thoroughly dry, I brushed size all over the pieces. Approximately one hour after its application, the size still being tacky, I started applying the gold leaves. Different gold leaves are available in art stores.\u00a0 Some are regular squares coming in every shade of gold.\u00a0 The variety I picked was pale gold, with a peculiar consistency that disintegrates as it comes in contact with the size. \u00a0As a result, when gluing the entire square to the piece, only fragments of the leaf adhere, leaving irregular tracks of gold that simulate a distressed gold finish.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Beginning the aging and gilding process<\/p><\/div>\n
I repeated the application many times until I felt that enough gold had been applied.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Detail of distressed gilding on apron of console<\/p><\/div>\n
A certain amount of gold had to be applied to convey a rich and intriguing shine, set out by the various undercoated tones.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Detail of aged gilding on legs<\/p><\/div>\n
The next step was to age the gold leaf by rubbing (burnishing) a diluted dark grey brown latex paint on its surface and ragging it off to preserve the gold shine and mute the recessed parts.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Detail of aged gilding on the apron of the console<\/p><\/div>\n
I aimed to demonstrate that the quality of the gilded piece was still dominant despite the defacing it incurred from the passing of time.<\/p>\n
At last, the newly faux finished furniture\/object received a water-based varnish, with semi gloss sheen, to protect them.\u00a0 Et voil\u00e0, that’s how it’s done!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Finished result of distressed and gilded sconces<\/p><\/div>\n
As a final remark, I will add that one should expect the gold metal leaf to yellow a little bit more than its original tone.<\/p>\n
<\/a>One of the distressed and gilded consoles<\/p><\/div>\n
The consoles can be placed side by side with any valuable collectibles.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Second finished console with its aged gilding<\/p><\/div>\n
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When one says “gilded”, you envision a glossy shiny gold finish. But this is not always so; it is true that straight gilding is done by 1) applying a base coat, 2) brushing size on the piece (glue size is … Continue reading