Gold Leafing

[metalchurch]

I am curious to know about this process, I've seen it done before, but it has been a long time since then.

If anyone has ever done it, and you can offer some tips and insight, please let me know.

I'm basically looking to do either a gold or silver leaf logo on a headstock, but I'm trying to research it a little bit first. I haven't found much on the web in the form of how-to's.
Thanks

[Chuxema]

I got nothing man.
Seems like a pain in the ass of a process though.
Just stencil it on with fancy gold spray paint and
tell everyone it is gold leaf.

[songsmith]

I think the old craft ladies can help. I hear it's popular among the scrapbookers, and I watched a little on the DIY Channel once... it looks like the hard part is handling the gold, it's very wispy and hard to hang onto without messing up.----->JMS

[Charltor]

Someone who does custom pinstriping may be able to give you some insight.
You might wanna check out the vinyl at Copy-Rite, Amy said they have a gold leaf-like vinyl that they could cut your logo out of. If you cleared over top of it, you probably couldn't tell the difference. Plus it be cheaper and less hassle.

[metalchurch]

Thanks Johnny, you know alot of those old techniques are becoming a lost art as the years go by. Sort of like the old craftsmen and building techniques like blacksmithing for an example.
I like watching those programs on discovery and the history channel.
That's an idea, I could ask the old ladies at AC Moore, they might know.

Dave, I need to get my butt over to copyright any way, and you know thats a good idea as well, and worth looking into.

Thank you both!
In the words of Tommy Brown, Rock On!

[KyleMayket]

my cousin does custom motorcycles, I can see if he knows how to, or at least anyone that does know how to do gold leaf. But everyone else is correct, it's a super pain to do. Let me know, Joe.

[metalchurch]

ok let me know.
I've seen it done before, but it's been a while actually.
I think there's a glue put down first, or maybe the gold leaf has a glue backing on it and you just press down on it to apply. I know it comes off in little pieces.

Thanks

[Ron]

Joe,
Normally you would hand paint the glue onto the surface in the shape of the design you want. That is one of the hard parts... hand painting the glue. Then you press the gold foil onto the glue. Another hard part... you have one shot to get the super thin leaf down with no wrinkles. Let it dry and brush the area. All of the gold that isn't glued down comes off.
It's a simple process but pretty hard to master.

[metalchurch]

Thanks Ron! have you ever done any of this before?
Do you know if Silver leaf would be just as hard to apply?
I'm trying to do a headstock logo in Silver leaf, that's why I'm asking.

[Ron]

Silver leaf is the same procedure. I used gold leaf a few times when I worked for a sign company years ago.
A head stock logo shouldn't be too hard to do since there are no large areas of gold leaf. Large areas are where wrinkles in the leaf can become more of a problem.

[UncleScabby]

Anytime I've seen this done, the gold leaf is picked up and sort of dabbed onto the glue with a big soft brush. It kind of has a chunky/multi-dimensional effect when its all smoothed down. I think another trick is to use minimal glue, since the gold leaf is so delicate and thin.

[metalchurch]

Thanks, I found some videos on youtube showing some of the procedures.
One of the videos wasn't even gold leafing, it was some old hippy sampling some weed and giving them grades based on taste,smell, and the 'stone' effect. LOL
Needless to say, I watched that just for shits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGAW_0mBOCM


Maybe it takes a combination of the two for the best effect?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnOp0R4A ... re=related

[Charltor]

Thanks, I found some videos on youtube showing some of the procedures.
One of the videos wasn't even gold leafing, it was some old hippy sampling some weed and giving them grades based on taste,smell, and the 'stone' effect. LOL
Needless to say, I watched that just for shits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGAW_0mBOCM

holy shit I thought that was the Donster for a sec there! HAHAHA!
I need a job like that, any Rockpage growers can pm me for an address where to send samples!

[metalchurch]

Hahaha, yeah I thought the same thing Dave! I was surprised to see such shit on youtube especially that.
Sounds like he has a good scam going there, but I'd be too scared to try it. Not only for taking the chance to get busted, but also you might ave some freak lace the weed with PCP or something like that.
That would be funny if that happened to him while he was taping it

[Chuxema]

http://www.acmoore.com/p-58214-silver-l ... ilver.aspx

http://www.acmoore.com/p-58213-gold-lea ... -gold.aspx

http://www.acmoore.com/p-58215-gold-lea ... sh-on.aspx

http://www.acmoore.com/p-35633-rub-n-bu ... -leaf.aspx

http://www.acmoore.com/p-58218-gold-lea ... -kit-.aspx

http://www.acmoore.com/ <--Just go here and do a search for gold leaf.
It brings up all the adhesives and shit as well as the GOLD leaf. Then do
a search for silver leaf and that will bring up what you want. I have all the
good stuff in the links at the top but you could do a search yourself if you wanted to.

This should be all that you need.
Thanks again!

Cheers!
Chuck

[metalchurch]

Thanks Chuck! The supplies are much cheaper than I expected them to be. I'm going to the AC Moore in Altoona to see if they have these items in stock.
Looks like I'll be good to go now, and with the prices I can afford a little trial and error.

Anyone have an old ham, or an ass cheek for hire?

[Chuxema]

No problem man. Just glad to help you out.
Payback for all the assistance I've needed.
Let me know how it works.

Cheers!
Chuck