Gold Leaf Gilding Project
Today I'm going to share my gold leaf gilding project. I haven't finished it yet. I just want to show you my progress. First off, I'm using 24k gold leaf for this project. Gold leaf is delicate and should be used with care.
I must remind you that this is my first time gilding anything. I chose to gild a statue of one of the Sanxing gods. I'm gilding Luxing at the moment.
Statues of these three gods are found on the facades of folk religion's temples and ancestral shrines, in nearly every Chinese home and many Chinese-owned shops on small altars with a glass of water, an orange or other auspicious offerings, especially during Chinese New Year. Traditionally, they are arranged right to left (so Shou is on the left of the viewer, Lu in the middle, and Fu on the far right), just as Chinese characters are traditionally written from right to left. You can read more about these deities here. link to Sanxing!
I'm using 24k gold leaf and 24k gold powder. Here is the gold leaf.
Gold leaf gilding is an ancient art form going back to the Egyptians. It is still appreciated today.
The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, it was traditionally silver in the West, to make silver-gilt (or vermeil) objects, but gilt-bronze is commonly used in China, and also called ormolu if it is Western. Here is a link to for gold gilding. link to Gilding!
I'm using gold powder to fill in the small spaces. It's a little difficult to get the powder into the small cracks.
You can use gold leaf for many different applications. Some people use it as a food decoration, spas use it. There are a multitude of uses for gold. Here is a list of gold uses.
I hope you enjoyed my gold leaf project. I will let you know how it turns out.
