Course Description

An introduction to the world of traditional sign writing and gold-leaf gilding on glass.

Through demonstrations and practical guidance, you will produce a stunning Victorian style letter, painted and gilded onto glass. You will explore different techniques of gilding to produce different effects, through examples and short demos.

On the first day, Katrin will provide you with a template of your chosen letter which you will use as a guide to paint onto your glass. You will spend the first morning practising painting onto glass using a chisel tip brush and enamel paint before completing your letter outline, ready for gilding.

She will demonstrate the different techniques of oil gilding to produce a matt finish and water gilding to produce a mirror finish. During the afternoon, once the painted outline is dry, you will learn the intricate process of applying gold leaf on glass to create a beautiful mirror gild using water mixed with gelatine. You will apply the first layer of gold leaf onto the letter and leave this to dry overnight.

On the second day, you will apply another layer of gold leaf. You will finally complete the gild using paint to back up the gold leaf.

There should also be time to try oil gilding a small area of the glass, perhaps the edging of your letter. This will either be real gold or imitation gold depending on the price at time of the workshop.

Lastly, the addition of glitter & shell inlay will create contrast and extra sparkle! Complete with a backing card in a colour of your choice and a frame to finish your beautiful hand-lettered artwork.

Suitable For

This course is suitable for beginners or improvers alike.

Material Requirements

• Apron
• Latex gloves if you have sensitive skin
• Hairdryer to speed the drying process

Materials Cost

There will be a charge of £40.00 to cover the cost of all materials listed below. This is payable directly to the tutor.

• Book of 5 leaves of 24ct Loose Gold-leaf
• 2-3 leaves of Transfer Gold leaf (or Metal leaf depending on the cost of gold at time of workshop)
• GLASS with frame & backing board 148mm x 210mm
• Letter Templates printed onto A5 paper
• Enamel paint, oil size, varnish, abalone shell & glitter
• Use of all tools, including chisel-tip paint brush, gilders tip, gilders mop, small table top easels
• Clay based glass cleaner
• water gelatine size
• cotton wool
• Quick drying varnish
• White spirit
• Blue roll
• Wipes