For
a long time, we've felt that there is an increasing disconnect between
the trades of house painting and decorative painting. Even as little as
50 years ago, these trades used to be one and the same. Most house
painting companies would offer decorative finishing services in
techniques, such as graining, marbling, glazing and gilding. Nowadays,
they have become two distinct trades even though they are two branches
of the same tree. Our aim in the forthcoming articles is to reconcile
the two trades, as they both depend on each other for the outcome of the
project.
Gilding is an essential part of the tool kit of today’s
decorative painter. Any serious artisan knows that proper preparation
when gilding is critical to the success of the finish. In this article
we are going to concentrate mostly on the gilding effect, including when
to gild and when not to gild. In a follow up article, we will
dive down further into the preparation and how to work hand in hand with
the painting team and the decorative painter.