Liberon Gilt Cream Question

[Orde02]

Hello. Hoping someone can answer a quick question. I've just applied some Liberon gilt cream to a couple of frames which I'd now like to finish with wax polish. I'm assuming the wax won't react with the gilt cream in any way but it's the first time I've tried it and I'd hate to have my work ruined at the last minute trying out something new.

Thanks in advance

Matt

[JFeig]

If I am not mistaken, Liberon gilt cream is wax based and has petroleum solvents in it. I think you might want to test a test piece first.

[Not your average framer]

Kiberon gilt wax cream is likely to be affected by the solvents in the wax, but you can apply a barrier between the gilt cream and the wax using pale french polish. I have read this somewhere, but I've never done it. Gilt wax cream is very durable stuff and it buffs up to a high gloss after it has fully set, so I'm not sure that I needs an extra coat of wax as a sealing, or protective top coat.

Just a though, I sometimes put a thick coat of black bison waxon some frames with a brush and set and level the finish with a hot air gun. Maybe you could apply with wax and cause it to set very rapidly with some heat, so that the solvent in the wax evaporates very quickly. I'm not sure that waxing over the gilt cream is likely to be necessary. Pete Bingham's Everest metallic paint's were stippled into wax and did not need any further protection., so why should the gilt cream be any different?

[Not your average framer]

Rhinking about it, I often put wash anh a wash over both Pete Binghams matalic paints and other finishes as well. The wax was stippled into a thick coating of wax and mostly wiped off and buffed with a rag, I still use this technique to day and have never had any problems using the technique, perhaps You will be o.k. appllying wax on top of the gilt cream after all.

You should be aware that the solvent in the wax, does not penetrate into the gilt cream immediately, it is a process and takes time. If the wax is applied fairly quickly and left to set, before you decide to buff the wax to a shine, this may avoid any problems. I'm always trying to speed things up and I like to set the wax with a hot air gun, so that I can quickly move on to tthe next stage, when I'm hand finishing and I find that this works well for me. Perhaps it will work you too!

Just as a side note, I have often used patel colouredl tinted wax and wash finished on cheap pine mouldings to make small quantities of ready made frames. It's quite quick and easy. These frames were reasonable popular about ten to fifteen years ago, but sales of pastel coloured frames was in fashion then, but not so much now.

I still sell a few even now, but white is much more in fashion these days and pine wood grain is not so popular with white. I am not really wanting to do this sort of finish of other woods, like obeche, without giving the wood a painted finish first, but this increases the time required and needs a nicely shaped moulding to look right.

[Orde02]

If the gilt cream is durable then I won’t put any wax on it. It would be easier just to apply the wax to the whole frame which I’d do if the wax wasn’t going to affect the gilt cream but I’ll just work around it and buff it all up together.
Matt

[vintage frames]

As everyone in the previous replies has said, gilt cream is just a wax paste with a coloured mica pigment. You can apply wax over wax with no problems but there might be a chance that the upper wax solvent will soften the lower gilt cream and cause it to streak a bit as you rub in.
But, don't worry - if it does go horribly wrong, just wipe it all away with some white-spirit.

[Not your average framer]

I like using gilt cream waxes as part of other finishes. One technique is to mix a small amount of gilt cream with a little bit larger volume of white spirit and then brush the disolved gilt cream over a painted moulding which has previously been distressed with a wire brush, or has some nice ridges in the shape of the moulding where thin lines where the gilt cream can settle. After the white spirit has evaporated and the gilt cream has set a bit, I wipe of any surplus gilt cream from any exposed surfaces with some meths and a tiny amount of cellulose solvent of a piece of kitchen tissue.

The other method, which I also use is to paint a brushed piece of wood and after the paint has set, then rub in the gilt cream into the the brushed texture and again remove the surplus from the exposed surfaces with the same solvent mixture as above. This effect is much bolder than the previous effect, which is much more subtile. Both effects work well, but the effects are quite different.

I originally used to do both effects with Goldfinger, but the gilt cream is much better value for money, I have only switched to the gilt cream quite recently, but now use it in place of Goldfinger and won't be buying the Goldfinger anymore, as there is no advantage in stocking both. Gilt cream is easily applied with a stiff brush and works quite well with masking tape and does not creep under the edges of the masking tape.

I have one of those deckle edge trimmers and sometimes like to produce a roughly torn edge on the making tape, so that I can produce a gold feature on a moulding with a more random edge. This it easy to do by stippling a water based gold paint, or the gilt cream after the wood has been suitably masked.

I don't just do this on the sight edge of the moulding, but also elsewhere, which by being used in a less traditional way, often creates something a lot more like a designer finish. You can also do something akin to dry brushing with gilt cream as well, but if you have not done this before, using gilt cream, I would advise some practice beforehand. There are lots of different ways of using gift cream and some can be very original indeed.

I also stock a very wide of the different bronzing powders from Roberson's and these powders mix very easily into micro crystalline wax and enable you to create your own gilt cream in colours such as blackened bronze and copper, etc. I particularly like creating classy finishes on cheaper moulding and do quite a bit of experimenting with various ideas, many of them don't work very well, but there are some that are just wonderful, so I keep on trying new ideas.