Liquid Metal Metallic Paints

[StevenG]

I have a few little things I want to make for sample pieces for the shop - I'd like to offer some basic hand finished stuff. Nothing fancy just something offer colours that wouldn't usually be available. Personally I really like nice metallic gold sight edges but I'm not sure on the best method or product to achieve this - I don't particularly want a flat gold colour but something nice/classic/tasteful/traditional etc etc.

I've seen that Lion offer some paints that might suit - Can anyone offer any advice please?

https://www.lionpic.co.uk/r/25507/Liqui ... lic-Paints


Cheers guys
Steven

[vintage frames]

Hi Stephen
There's probably nothing wrong with the paint from Lion.
Generally, if you do want to add say a gilded sight line then a Picture Frame wholesaler might not be the best place to start looking.
Lion are wonderful people and we have all used them as pointers leading on to better things.
For a really bright gilded finish however, look at my past topic - 'Gilding for Dummies'
This will give you a very convincing effect which I used to use before going in another direction.
I used it on frames I once made for a dealer in the US.
He sold hundreds and hundreds.

[Not your average framer]

Liquid Metal Paints are sort of O.K., but the are not as convincing as either a proper gilded finish, or a metallic finish using bronzing powdwers. Prosperro uses a bronzing powder receipe based on a varnish base,while I use a bronzing powder receipe based of a water based method with a wax based binder. Both methods are different, but both methods produce acceptable results. The Liquid metal paints can go solid in the bottom of the jar over time and they are not necessarily the most cost effective option. Which ever method you wish to use,you will need to adequately prime and prepare the underlying surface in order to create credible results.

Personally, I stopped using the Liquid Metal Paints quite long ago, because they look too artificial and I don't thnk that they are the best value for money. Liquid Metal Paints are not true metallic paints, but contain powdered mica to add a bit of sparkle, but it's a rather dull sparkle to be honest. If you want a bit of realistic bling, you really need a real metallic finish containg real bronzing powder, or a proper gilded, or metal leaf finish. Dull psudeo metallic finishes generally lack the realistic look. The advantage of the wax binder is that the finish can be burnished to a very convincing finish. The bronzing powder with the anti-tarnishing solution and the hard very clear wax are set with a hot air gun, burnished and polished to the required finish.

[prospero]

All the so-called gold paints are essentially metallic powders bound by a clear medium. The way the mixture is applied
is a big factor in the end result. I use a varnish as a binder that not only dries fast but is soluble when dry. Up to now I use
a brand which was made in Germany. Unfortunately it's not available any more in 500ml tins. I still have several years supply though.
I have done some tentative test with Dammar crystals dissolved in Turpentine. Results were encouraging.
For my own purposes the varnish must be:
Solvent based.
Tough.
Fast drying.
Removeable with turps.
Cheap.

The reason I like it removeable is so I can manipulate it once it is dry. With water based stuff you can't do this. If you don't get it
right first go then you are stuffed. I apply it over a base of Acrylic paint. The beauty of this is that the gold sticks well but it I do
have to strip it back the turps takes the gold off but does not strip the basecoat.

Whatever you use it's the way you apply it that makes for the best results.

[Not your average framer]

The method which I use was popularised by the well known Pete Bingham. The bronzing powder is mixed with an oxidation preventer and simply stippled into an initially brushed on coat of Liberon Black Bison wax. The resulting finish is then gently heated with a hot air paint stripper, with causes both the water content in the oxidation preventer and the solvent in the wax to evapourate, which sets the finish. It is then necessary to burnish the finish with 0000 grade steel wool and if necessary add a thin overalll toning wash which is burnished with a smooth hard burnishing instrument. Pete Bingham used to use a commercially available anti tarnishing preparation, but I use sodium silicated mixed with water. The quantity of sodium silicate which is added to the water is not very much. When the water is evapoured by the use of heat, the sodium silicated forms a gas tight coating around the individual particules of the bronzing power, which blocks the oxygen in the air from being able to cause oxidation and hence discolouration of the bronzing poweder will the passing of time.

I am an ex design engineer and already knew about how to use sodium silicate to prevent metals from oxidising. The use of different clear, or pigmented versions of the Liberon Black Bison wax adds a toning tint to the shade of the bronzing powder, which helps to vary the colour of the bronzing powder to produce the required effect. Liberon Black Bison wax is a micro crstaline wax which contains both parafin wax and a hard wax, when set this wax produced a very hard, durable and gas impermiable finish, which is esentially a damage resistant and permanent finish. It is a simple matter to added a wax a wash subtle limng effect over the top of the overall finish to give a slighty aged effect, using water down acrylic paint mixed into clear Liberon Black Bison wax, with the surplus wiper away with a piece of disposable paper kitchen towel. This additional slightly aged effect is then set using gentle heat from a hot air paint stripper gun. Ideally you need to see this done by someone who is used to using this technique to understand how to best acheive the disired results, but there is no reason why you cannot find this out yourself by careful experimentation.

This technique is many centuries old and goes back at least to thr renassiance era, and perhaps even further than that! I personally like to use watered down Craig and Rose chalky emulsion match pot paints, which I think produce a nice subtle and very natural looking result. I prefer most of my gold finished frames to have an element of the antique about them, which I think adds an unmistakeable touch of class to them and is very popular with many of my customers. Having said all that, it is a very simple matter to leave the gold finish as bright as you also may want it. It tends to be a normal thing to apply the gold over a red underlying colour and to gently distress the gold to subtly expose some of the red. I like to add a hint of a distressed warm grey and beige wash ovver my distressed gold finishes. One of my most classic old style frame finishes is a distressed black over red with a distressed gold sight edge and a very subtle pale warm grey and bege overall wash. This looks amazing for framing older and antique prints and the like.

[StevenG]

Hi guys, thanks for all the replies - Some really good things to consider. I totally forgot the 'Gilding for Dummies' post!!! I've went back to that and I'm going to give it a try, however the gold size seller won't ship to my address. I've found another product and listed it below - would this be a suitable alternative?

Thanks again for the advice - it's really appreciated
Steven


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142548236226 ... media=COPY

[Not your average framer]

Although this does not refer to mettallic finishes, I also am a big fan of layered, distressed, waxed and subtly washed paint finishes on mframes and mouldings. It does not make too much sense to make these finishes unnecessarily complicated as it is much more worthwhile to be able to complete the whole finish in as a quick and easy process. It might sound surprising, but taking to much time on producing such finishes, does not usually add anything worthwhile to the end result and can spoil the nature of the intented feeling of flow to the final overall result. I have found that in order to make a worthwhile proft from hand finished frames, it is particularly necessary to be able to work at a fast pace. It is still a fact that the finished result has to fit into your customers budget. Everything has it's own perceived worthwhile customer price and no mater how special that a frame may look, you do need to consider customer price resistance as we are still trying to sell to custmers who live in the real world and have a sense of what they can afford.

I also make up some very quick and easy frames and moulding using low cost bare wood mouldings. These need to be extremely quick and easy to make any financial sense to do these at all. It you can buy factory finished mouldings cheaper than you can make the yourself, there just is not any pont in producing your own. At the end of the day, this needs to be about adding more profit to your bottom line, so basic finishes and processes are the order of the day. These are mainly stain and wash finished, which a appllied with a piece of sponge for speed of application. I make my own stains from acrylic paint and water, as commercial wood stains are unnecessarily expensive. After the stain and wash finish has dried the final result is just wiped over with a bit of Liberon Black Bison wax on a peice of disposable paper kitchen towel. Job done! I have a good range of cheap bare wood mouldings which I use for this purpose and I also use some of the same basic mouldings for producing stacked moulding frames, whch are sold and priced as a more luxury item and tend to be a really popular item with my customers.

I have some customers who often buy the Ribba range of frames for framing various items to sell on the itenet. Obvously there is no possibility of compeating with IKea prices and I don't want to work for peanuts anyway, some my prices are considerably higher anyway, but the ribba range don't always do the sizes which everyone wants and although I personally think that the Ribba range looks a bt cheap and nasty, so people really like the look. I have a good sized stock of a cheap Ribba look a like bare wood mouldong which I mostly use for extending normal frames to make deeper box frames and this makes quick and easy Ribba style frames in frame sizes which IKEA don't have available. These sell reasonbly well. I also make Ribba style box frames, for those who want them in make to order sizes. Naturally the applied finish needs to be really quick, easy and quick to do, but these have become a reasonably common and popular sales item for me. To be honest, I was not expecting this style of frame to be worth me bothering to produce, as I thought that there would not be any worthwhile money to be made from it, but it is quite worthwhile after all.

[Not your average framer]

I was sent a colour sample sheet of Liquid Leaf paints by Gold Leaf Supplies. The sample sheet was made by Golf Leaf Supplies themselves and it looked quite impressive to me. I have not tried these paints myself, because with all my medical problems there is too much going on right now, but maybe asking for a sample sheet yourself might prove a helpful move.

[vintage frames]

Yes Stephen, that will do fine - post free too.
Sorry about all the noise now coming in on this topic.

[Rainbow]

Although this does not refer to mettallic finishes...

Sorry, Mark, but I don't think off-topic posts are at all helpful, particularly when they're very long and rambling. I'm afraid they're more likely to put people off. You used to be a moderator so I'm surprised to see you indulging in off-topic ramblings!