MushCreek
Well-known member
Now for something totally different. I built a very pretty traditional rowboat, and decided I wanted to put the name on the transom. I watched a few videos on gold leaf lettering, and it looked easy, and was surprisingly inexpensive. Reason prevailed, so I did a practice run on a name board instead. Good thing. Real 24 kt gold leaf is unbelievably thin- about 4 or 5 millionths of an inch thick. It comes on a backing, but it's just kind of sitting there. The draft from our AC system started lifting it off of the backing!
The process is as follows- The board was varnished and sanded with 320. I had a vinyl stencil made, and stuck it in place. Sizing is applied, which is similar to varnish. When it's nearly dry but still a little tacky, you lay the sheets of gold leaf on it. You rub the backing to stick the gold to the sizing, then remove the backing. Peel off the stencil, and there you go. Except- the stencil was very hard to remove. It peeled up a little gold here and there. It left a very sticky residue, so the little flakes of gold that fly all over stuck in a lot of places they weren't supposed to. I was able to clean up the flakes with a Q-tip soaked in acetone. I patched the areas where the gold had lifted, but you can see where I patched it if you look close.
The final steps are to hand paint a very thin outline of black paint on the letters, then varnish over all of it. At 71, my hands are no longer steady, so the outlining is pretty sloppy. Still, from 5' away, it looks OK. I'm just glad that I didn't try it directly on the boat. The stencil caused a lot of trouble, and I'm going to write to the supplier to find out why it was such a mess.
What did I do wrong? I learned that I should have painted the lettering first with yellow paint before the sizing and gold leaf. I should have (gently!) brushed off the excess gold before removing the stencil. I should probably have a shot of moonshine to steady my hands before painting the outline. I don't know how professionals do this stuff outdoors on big boats. The slightest breeze would be a disaster.
The process is as follows- The board was varnished and sanded with 320. I had a vinyl stencil made, and stuck it in place. Sizing is applied, which is similar to varnish. When it's nearly dry but still a little tacky, you lay the sheets of gold leaf on it. You rub the backing to stick the gold to the sizing, then remove the backing. Peel off the stencil, and there you go. Except- the stencil was very hard to remove. It peeled up a little gold here and there. It left a very sticky residue, so the little flakes of gold that fly all over stuck in a lot of places they weren't supposed to. I was able to clean up the flakes with a Q-tip soaked in acetone. I patched the areas where the gold had lifted, but you can see where I patched it if you look close.
The final steps are to hand paint a very thin outline of black paint on the letters, then varnish over all of it. At 71, my hands are no longer steady, so the outlining is pretty sloppy. Still, from 5' away, it looks OK. I'm just glad that I didn't try it directly on the boat. The stencil caused a lot of trouble, and I'm going to write to the supplier to find out why it was such a mess.
What did I do wrong? I learned that I should have painted the lettering first with yellow paint before the sizing and gold leaf. I should have (gently!) brushed off the excess gold before removing the stencil. I should probably have a shot of moonshine to steady my hands before painting the outline. I don't know how professionals do this stuff outdoors on big boats. The slightest breeze would be a disaster.
