How to Gold Leaf on Paper {DIY Wall Art}..

 

 

 

 

 

I’m nearly finished with my master bedroom revamp.  I am so excited to get all the final projects done and see the whole room completely finished.  I need this weekend to pull everything together and I promise I will post pictures of the whole finished room next week.  I know I have been promising to have the project done this week but it’s taking me a little longer than I planned.  Isn’t that always the case?

I am now working on pulling the room together with wall art and accessories.  I searched everywhere for just the right wall art for my big wall and couldn’t find anything that I just loved.  I knew from the beginning that I wanted a collection of four framed prints in a dark slate/navy with a large white mat to really tie in the dark slate color in my accent chair that I recovered and shared the project earlier this week:

 

 

Ok, so I’ve been in love with all of the gold leaf stationary and quotes that I have been seeing lately on Pinterest.  There is just something so amazing to me to see the beautiful gold leaf against a rich dark color like black or navy:

 

There is such a difference between a gold paint pen on paper and a true gold leaf.  If you have ever seen gold leaf foil writing on stationary, you know the difference that I’m talking about.

So I also knew that I wanted something elegant coastal, so I decided to try my hand at gold leafing on paper to see if I could create a collection of four gold leaf prints of ocean elements that I could frame for my big wall.  After some practice and figuring out a couple tricks, I was so excited with my end result:

 

 

After a lot of research, I realized that there are several different ways to gold/silver leaf on paper. I choose the easiest route {of course!}.   I used a gold leaf product that has a pen for the adhesive and 6 sheets of gold leaf.  The product is made by Mona Lisa that I found at Hobby Lobby for $8.99:

 

 

There is another way to gold leaf on dark paper that involves sticky powder and heating the sticky powder.  I also think there is a way to do it with clear embossing powder.  You stamping gurus could probably tell us what product and technique that you use for gold leaf embossing your stamps.

All in all, after a ton of practice, I finally got my technique down and while it’s not perfect, I was really happy with the results.  I can’t wait to hone my little skills and create more prints and wall art maybe in a silver leaf and go beyond just one object.  I cannot tell you how beautiful this collections looks framed and on my wall.  At night, the gold just looks amazing!

 

 

When all was said and done, I spent less than $20.00 with each framed print.  This is an inexpensive way to really add something special to your wall.  I have made the project and instructions really easy for you and I hope you will give it a try.  Remember, they also sell silver leaf sheets as well if you would rather try silver leaf.

So let’s jump right into instructions for how to gold/silver leaf on paper.  This is the process and technique that I used:

 

 

1) I searched free clip art images online and saved them and then inserted them into a blank Word document.  I adjusted my size of my image to fit my 4.5″ x 4.5″ mat that I had cut ahead of time.  I then printed the images out in black ink on navy card stock that I picked up at Hobby Lobby:

 

 

2) I then used a gold leaf paint pen made by Krylon that I also picked up at Hobby Lobby in the gold leaf section.  I outlined my images because it’s impossible to get a clean gold leaf line using the product that I used:

 

 

 

3) I then shook my adhesive pen up really well and flip the tip around to the chiseled tip (read directions on the back to see how to do this) and I filled in my image with the adhesive.  I went over just a narrow part of the gold pen outline as close as I could to edge without going over my line.  I learned that the more glue, the better the gold leaf will stick:

 

 

4) I waited about 10-15 minutes until the adhesive was almost dry but tacky and then I covered the image completely with a sheet of gold leaf with the tissue on the top.  I then took a basting brush that I had and lightly stippled over the tissue.  I also used my finger and rubbed over the tissue several times:

 

5) I then waited about an hour. If you can believe it, there were absolutely no instructions whatsoever on the back of the gold leaf pen kit on the exact technique for applying the gold leaf tissue, stippling it and how long to wait to remove. I found that if I waited at least an hour, put a cloth glove on, removed the tissue and gently rubbed along the edges and stippled the back of the gold leaf itself, I stood a better chance of the gold leaf staying on:

 

 

6) I then used a very light brush to remove the excess gold leaf. Because I could not get a clean line with this product, you will see that I had several areas that did not stick (drove me nuts):

 

I went ahead and filled in the spots where the gold leaf did not stick with the adhesive pen and waited 10-15 minutes for the adhesive to dry.

7) Using my excess gold leaf that came off when I removed the leaf, I filled in my spots by picking up the gold leaf with a tweezers and reapplying the gold leaf. I learned that you really do try as hard as you can not to reapply gold leaf over existing gold leaf. It’s hard to do but it will look better in the end to keep it minimal:

 

 

 

8) I then waited another hour and stippled the gold leaf and then put my cloth glove back on and gently rubbed off excessive gold leaf.

Any spots that did not cover the second time around, I filled in with the gold paint pen:

 

 

 

While I figured out how to use this product and make it look good, I think there is probably a much better product and process on the market that would eliminate having to go back a second time. Yes, I was pleased with my end result and maybe it’s just a matter of practicing more with the technique and the adhesive pen to get better clean lines.

 

 

This has been such a fun project and I always love to learn something I’ve never tried before.  The best part of all is that this is a great way to add inexpensive original art to your walls.  You can control the color of your paper, the color of your mat, your object(s) and whether you use gold or silver leaf.  If this appeals to you at all, I really encourage you to just try a little practice run with this technique. Maybe try a quote or a monogram? This would be a great personalized gift idea too.

Ok friends, thanks for hanging out with me and I am heading in to finish up my bedroom revamp.  Have a great day and I will be back on Monday.  I’m skipping Friday Favorites tomorrow so that I can focus on finishing up my bedroom.

Cheers!

Cyndy

 
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