-
aluminium leaf
hi!
i wander if anyone can give me some advice on gilding aluminium leaf? i’ve used transfer leaf and a couple of days after gilding it came up in loads of little air bubbles from under the leaf. i have no idea why! i used overnight oil gold size to start with but changed to one hour size as i thought this may of caused it, but that made no difference. the boards are made of aluminium i don’t suppose this makes a difference. and can i get rid of these bubbles once they’ve appeared. i’ve done aluminium leafing before on wood and not had this problem-its a real mystery to me. thanks! -
11 Replies
-
Hmmm.
This is just a way-out-there guess and possibly wrong, as I suck when it comes to gilding.
Was the aluminum you used masked with a clear plastic material?
Our blanks come that way.
I was thinking either outgassing after removing the mask, or not removing the mask at all and accidentally gilding on the plastic as the culprit.
I am a crap gilder no matter whether I use slow or fast size, but aluminum leaf is one I have more success with.
Love….Jill -
hello jill, umm i dont understand what you mean by "masked," the leaf is on transfer just applied to a painted surface. its as if theres air trapped in the gold size somehow which has formed these bubbles! but i can’t see how thats possible! thanks for your thoughts on this!
-
quote aaron stephens:hello jill, umm i dont understand what you mean by “masked,” the leaf is on transfer just applied to a painted surface. its as if theres air trapped in the gold size somehow which has formed these bubbles! but i can’t see how thats possible! thanks for your thoughts on this!If it has just been painted it "out gasses" release of vapours for a least a week this may cause the bubbles, the paint needs to dry out before applying the size and leaf.
Graham -
Hi Aaron, what did you use to apply the gold size?
-
i used a regular sign writing brush to apply the size neil. it sounds like this out gassing may be the cause of it graham. it must have been nearly a week before gilding, but i redid a section just a few days ago which would be over two weeks since painting and it hasn’t happened on this part. so it sounds like this could be the case! although its never happened before to me with gold leaf, maybe the aluminium traps the vapours more because its thicker? thanks!
-
Our aluminum sign blanks and even the big 4’x8′ sheets come with a protective masking applied to them.
Like a clear plastic film, sometimes it’s blue or purple too.
😉I know when I paint or vinyl up a freshly painted vehicle I tell the client we will have to wait a few weeks to avoid outgassing.
-
hmmm i thinl i’;; do a test piece and see what happens, hopefully this out gassing is the problem!
-
Hi Aaron, Is this project for interior or exterior purpose? the reason I ask is that what I use for interior gilding of either aluminum, copper or composite gold leaf (dutch metal) is Polyvine Metal Leaf adhesive, it’s a water based acrylic size & I’ve never had any problems & have been using it successfully for many years.
-
its for outside use, on a fairground stall. i’ll bear that in mind though, we use charbonnel 12 hour size mixed with oil colour, or one shot one hour size, the oil stuff is easier to work with though.
-
just so you all know, i did a test piece which i gilded one day after painting-which bubbled, then gilded the other half 5 or 6 days later which didnt bubble! so it seems outgassing was the problem! thank you all for the advice on this subject!
-
Better if you can post pictures if you get a problem like this as it lets us see whats happening
Log in to reply.
