Clearing over Gold theory from Glen Weisgerber....

[Doug Fielder]

Hey guys,

Since this place has the most gilders outside the SOG site, I thought I would share a theory Glen Weisgerber shared with me recently.
Glen is known to be a great experimenter as well as a great artist/painter, and I got to hangout with him at his shop a while ago adn he shared many tips and tricks.
Glen usually uses 1-Shot size (which he helped develop) then gilds and after engine turning or burnishing, he lays on another coat of size. His theory here is that the gold sticks well to the size, the size must stick well to the gold.... He refers to it as a gold sandwich. He goes on to letter this and that and comes back and lays on a coating of Interlux Cetol Gloss Marine Clear varnish. He will then finish the job and then again hit the gold with another coat of the varnish, so it has 3 coats of clear over it. He has been doing this for the last 15 years (since other products have left the market) and has had nobody coming back to him with a failed leaf job. His reason for this product is that it has good adheasion to the gold size and stays mallable for many years so that it can expand and contract with the metal/paint etc.
His observation of failed clearcoatings is that they do not stick to the gold, but rather around the edges and they dry hard and crack too.
Unfortunately he doesn't get online to talk about this stuff, but he is willing to share any info he has, even if you call him. Just start talking on his message machine and give him a moment to hear who it is and answer the phone.
I have yet to torture test this method, but in theory it holds water.

[Kent Smith]

When we were experimenting with the resins that 1Shot had available, the ones most likely to work both as an adhesive and as a durable varnish, most were finish varnishes. Steve at 1Shot figured the best would to be a boat finish that had enough elasticity and extended dry time to be good for producing an acceptable tack for gilding upon. The advantage to the one finally chosen is that it cures from the bottom, has good adhesion to most surfaces and cures with some eslaticity remaining. The only downside is the same as all single component clears, its UV resistance is no better than any other.