Making a Nail Lacquer Ornament

What You'll Need...

We're getting set up here to film a video showing how to make a Nail Lacquer Christmas Ornament. And, while we're waiting for Louis to find a can of spray paint we took this photo of everything we'll use. Clear glass ornaments, nail lacquer (at least 3 colors) and old Krylon gold marking pen and a can of white or silver or gold spray paint.

Louis?

Since You Already Know That I Believe in The Power of Tulips....

Then you won't think twice when I point at this bit of news (news to us!) and say....Hey, Thank You Kristen Phillips and good luck tomorrow!

A Friend Writes Us With A Great Party Idea

"I need to decorate a clear glass ball ornament for a Christmas party next week. Everyone got one in the mail and needs to bring it decorated to the party. Any fabulous and easy ideas? Help, quick! Xoxo Sent from my iPhone"

So, of course, now we have clear glass ball ornaments on the inventory shelves.

We tried to sell our friend on an idea of painting them with nail lacquer (and already came back from Glamourama with a bag full of colors) when a 2nd email arrives...

"I need a fantastic over the top idea! Apparently there are 80 balls and it's a competition."

Apparently nail lacquer doesn't sound like the grand prize idea to our friend.

I tried to explain that 79 other guests are having similar creative crises and am going to go ahead and play some here with my lacquer and fumes but, hey meanwhile...who out there has the fantastic over the top creative idea???

Feel free to contribute yours since ours looks unlikely to win.

Still, we think mailing out undecorated ornament invitations is a great Christmas party idea.

Gilded Pears - The How-To

Because I wrote about this project as it progressed, it's listed here backwards...i.e. from Finish to Start. If you want to follow the project as it developed, scroll down to Gilded Pears Project - The Beginning (or click on the New Decoupage headline above to return to the Main Page).

And, for those of you who followed either here on this blog or on Twitter....I should make one or two corrections on the things that I learned along the way.

First, a skinny nail is not going to be great as part of the Helpful Contraption Thing. In fact, the big fat nails I used weren't quite perfect. Next time around I think I'll dip them in some glue before I stick them into the pears. It would have been nice to have the pears held a little more securely.

So let's hear any and all of your questions AND also your advice from you experienced gilders because what we covered here is, I think, only the beginning when it comes to Gilding Something Beautiful!

Using The Cosmetics Brush To Burnish

After it's burnished, smooth and beautiful you'll want to coat it with a Metal Leaf Sealer.

The sealer that link points to is a water-based sealer. Which is fine. Very much like a water-based polyurethane from your hardware store. However, I have been told by at least one gilding expert that the water-based products will harbor a little bit of oxygen....even after they are dry. And that will contribute to the overall tarnish.

An oil-based finish would then deter the tarnish better. However, remember that oil-based products are always more toxic. So, as always you should think hard about what's more important...preserving your healthy brain cells or the long-term life your holiday decor!

The Gilder's Tip In Action

On each pear I use 4 sheets of gold leaf (two applications). As there are 25 sheets of gold leaf in one pack, you can gild 6 pears with a single pack with one sheet to spare.

Well, perhaps not on your first pear gilding session.

Louis Now Has 4 Seconds Of Film Making To His Credit

After the Gilder's Tip positions the sheet of gold leaf, I like to use a Cosmetics Brush to to gently press the gold leaf onto the surface being gilded. And then you repeat, repeat, repeat until the pear is completely covered in gold.

Then, the gold gets burnished with the Cosmetics Brush. Burnishing is gently rubbing the gold leaf with the brush and pressing it into the tacky size. As you burnish, the bits of gold leaf not touching size will break away and at the end you'll have a smooth gold finish on your pear.

Well, at least you will if you repeat the process. One layer of gold rarely covers the pear perfectly. So, re-size, let it get tacky and then repeat the gold leaf application process. You'll end up with a beautiful pear!

Hint: Sometimes big bits of gold leaf with detach and "fly away". Save these, and use them to patch the pear wherever you need an extra bit of gold.

Here Is What Happens When You Hand The Camera To Louis

I invited Louis over to take a few pictures of the gilding process and instead he complained that the camera's memory was full and in response pushed maybe all of the camera's buttons.

The end result is this 2 second video of me using a Gilder's Tip to transfer a single sheet of metal leaf onto a sized-up pear.

You get the idea that the gold leaf is really flimsy and, some think, difficult to handle.

A Gilder's Tip is a piece of cardstock and squirrel hair. It's a handy professional tool to help get the gold leaf where you want it to be. You can craft your own from a piece of card stock (sans hair) while you are learning or just use your hands and fingers....I repeat, you are learning and that means it's not going to be perfect!

Gilded Pear Project - Apply the Size

You need to use Size to apply gold or metal leaf, and for the novice gold leaf student I recommend using a water-based size. It pours out white and can be applied with an inexpensive foam brush. Your goal is to brush on a thin but even layer of the size.

Notice the drips on the bottom right pear. Those are not good. Drips or puddles of size tend to encourage tarnish on your gold leaf. So, keep your eye on your pears and use the foam brush to battle the drips. Use the brush very lightly, feather-like, to take care of the drips as the size is setting to its tack.

Tack is very important to know about when you are applying any metal leaf. Tack is when the size is sticky and ready for metal leaf application. When the white size has dried to its tack it will be clear. This happens in 15-20 minutes with water-based sizing. Touch your first pear to understand what it feels like but try not to touch the tacky size on all your future projects. Any sort of contamination from your hands can also encourage tarnishing.

You may ask why is the gold leaf tarnishing??? Well, in fact we are using composition gold leaf. Real gold leaf won't tarnish but the composition leaf, not being true gold, is prone to tarnishing. Our goal is to minimize the tarnish effects.

And another great thing about water-based sizing is the tack stays tacky for a very long time and that means not so much stress about your gilding projects!

Gilded Pear Project - Making the Helpful Contraption

These things are what I made a few days ago and finally got around to photographing today.

And, I'll point out some mistakes I made if you should decide that you want to make some contraptions of your own. (We may decide on later on something better to call them.)

Anyway, I measured and cut the wood blocks to 4" x 4" size. Then I hammered a single nail into the center of each and I was happy with my nails until the first one split the block of wood in two. Turns out I got something called a "duplex" nail meant for concrete or something with an extra ridge about a half inch in for easier removal from the concrete.

Jeff pointed out that I should have pre-drilled the blocks and that way I wouldn't have split the wood. Which is probably a very good idea or selecting a skinnier nail might be a very good idea here too. However, after successfully hammering several nails down just to the "duplex" ridge thing, I decided I liked the tilt of my new pear gilding and drying stations. I can now envision the sizing and finish dripping down to one easy to clean up point versus all collecting (and drying) at the point of the nail and maybe making removal from said nail difficult.

So, I pulled out the fake stem and stuck a pear onto each of my drying station contraptions and I'm happy and almost ready to gild!

And, by the way, I'm not suggesting you do all of this on a gorgeous pink embroidered handmade paper! I'm just taking the photo opportunity here to show off one of the beautiful papers that we stock in our store.

Gilded Pear Project - The Beginning

Here's what I started with a couple of days ago...a box of nails ($3.33) and a 4' 1x4 piece of pine ($2.99)...although, any old board might work AND you might already have some longish nails around the house.

Also a ruler to measure 4" squares of wood before cutting and a hammer to drive the nails.

And, of course, some artificial pears.