Metallic silver paint recepe.

[Not your average framer]

I'm not much in favour of metallic paints using fine particules of mice. To me they don't quite look real. I have somewhere got some silver bronzing powder which I am still yet to find following moving my shop premises, but this particular silver bronzing powder is not very fine and does not burnish well, it is also made from aluminium. The liberon gilt cream waxes are a bit expensive and not always in stock if you want to order them, but I want to do some hand finished silvery and pewter finished frames before long and wondered what everyone else is using.

Any advise will be greatfully received,
Thanks,
Mark.

[prospero]

The silver gilding powder that I used to use appears to have vanished from the market. I have some of the granular
sort which is not very good and I have been unable to grind it up finely enough to use it. The instructions say dissolve it in
turps, but that didn't work for me.
I don't use silver very often. I did get some silver leaf to test out but haven't tried it yet.

[Not your average framer]

So what else is usable for creating silver finishes on frames and mouldings?

[vintage frames]

There seems to be a few possibilities for this.
You can buy a dry silver pigment from these guys -

https://just4youonlineuk.com/products/d ... LoQAvD_BwE

Then you can mix that into what ever medium you want.

Gold leaf Supplies stock the Liberon gilding waxes and a few other metallic paints -

https://www.goldleafsupplies.co.uk/spec ... ilt-cream/

or there's this stuff -

https://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/gil ... MkQAvD_BwE

You can of course use some silver leaf as Prospero suggests but unless you use an OIL gilding size, you won't be able to create many interesting effects on the gilded finish. Silver leaf is cheap though.

[prospero]

Thanks for that heads-up Dermot. I've ordered a pot to test out.

[Not your average framer]

Although I'm not very keen on the Liquid metal "silver", I might stick with it and mix a little of their "renaissance gold" into it. I not thicking of adding anymore that just a touch. I just don't really like their silver very much, as I think it lacks the feel of real silver. I just like to antique things a little, so that it feels real.

[GeoSpectrum]

I’ve been considering try some of Stuart Semples
Paint. I’ve tried Black 3.0 which is amazing.

https://culturehustle.com/collections/p ... SMQAvD_BwE

As long as you are not Anish Kapoor.

[Justintime]

We love Stuart Semple paints, big fans!
Mark "fine particles of mice..." really? I had no idea!

[Not your average framer]

It was supposed to be "mica", sorry, I'm right handed, but since the stroke I need to type with the left hand and don't always spot when I make a mistake. I tried to correct it, but it would not let me!

[Not your average framer]

I've just had a "Liquid leaf metallic paint colour chart" arrive in the post from Gold Leaf Supplies. I looks quite interesting! It is a solvent based paint and I will clearly need to buy some in order to try it. It appears to require a special top coat sealer called "Treasure Sealer", which I am told that most people don't bother with. It says that it will cover quite a large area, but a it covers with quite a thin coat, so distressing a paint layer above it, is probably going to require a clear coat of something between the paint and the silver underneath, which will probably need some experienting.

I am guessing that using it over acrylic finishes might be problematic, because the silver leaf paint contains a very strong solvent, which may attack and underlying acrylic finish, so again something else to experiment with. I would be interested in hearing any feedback from anyone who already uses this paint, The paint is available in a range of eight colours and the pewter is almost the same as the silver. There does not appear to be any obvious options for mixing and darkening any of the colours in the range, but the finish on the colour chart looks great.

[Not your average framer]

As an after thought, I am thinking that these paints might be really goog to go under a black crackle paint finish as these metallic finishes are really quite stricking. I will be looking to find a suitable base coat to go under these Liquid Leaf paints, which won't be adversely affected by the solvent in these paints, which maybe won't be so easy to find.

[Not your average framer]

I'm hoping that this silver leaf paint will be possible to apply over a mixed layer of chalky emulsion and acrylic paint. Looking at the colour chart, I think that I prefer the pewter colour paint to the silver. There is very little difference between the two, but I think that the pewter is slightly duller than the silver and hopefully will look much more natural.

I'm also thinking about trying this paint for painted mount reveals and bevels, I used to do this at one time and I'm thinking that this might be something I should get back to doing. Some giled frame slips and ornamentation might be something else worth looking at again. I still got quite a lot of wood pasta ornamental pieces, they have tended to not be much in demand these days, but maybe it's a good time to bring them back again.