This post is a little tardy to the party considering Valentines Day is Saturday. I really think that this is a pretty great craft for anytime- so there you go. Have you ever done gold leafing? I have been wanting to try it out for a really long time. Valentines Day just happened to end up being the perfect excuse to try it out. Now I want to gold leaf E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G! Seriously though.
You can buy kits for faux gold leafing at almost any craft store. I didn't use real gold leaf because obviously it is crazy expensive. The metal leafing kit that I linked to has everything you need to try it out and it is a really great fake. I used a 110 lb weight card stock. The heavy weight paper helped to keep the adhesive from bleeding through.
I free handed a heart on the paper with the adhesive. You can use a light print or a pencil sketch to use as a stencil because the gold leaf will cover it up. You have to let the adhesive get really tacky. It needs to be left for 20-40 minutes depending on how thick it is. This is SUPER important. If the glue is too wet then the leaf won't stick and then you get a mess.
After the glue is tacky I layed the gold leaf pieces on top of the adhesive. You can use full sheets or tear them in to pieces- which is what I did. Once that was done I used a soft paintbrush to brush the gold leaf down onto the glued parts. I let that sit for a second and then used the brush to wipe away the extra gold leaf. It turned out great! If you do end up with a bald spot just reapply some adhesive and lay more leaf on the spot.
And wah-lah! By the way you see that funky spot on the top? Yeah the glue wasn't tacky enough. Too wet and spread and ugh. But now I really like it! I like things that are a little off. The last step that I did was I sealed it. They say you need to so I said okay. The sealant dried totally clear which I loved.
And this one! I love all the imperfections.
And all three. Oh I loves them. Now to frame them or just leave them loose? What would you do?
