Mecca frames
Posted: Mon 15 Mar, 2021 2:20 pm
Here's two minature frames I made earlier. The gilding used here is called Mecca Gilding. That is, instead of using gold leaf, I have used Sterling Silver leaf and the process of varnishing it with a gold coloured varnish is called Mecca Gilding.
There is a huge cost advantage here in that a leaf of gold costs £1.05 whereas a same sized leaf of silver only costs .15p.
To make the frames I covered the whole profile in gesso and followed with a couple of coats of red bole.
After the usual smoothing and polishing, I water-gilded the sight edges with sterling silver leaf. When dry, these were burnished to a high shine.
The mecca varnish was made with some French polish mixed with gold coloured spirit stains.
After varnishing, the gilding was masked out and the remainder of the frame stained with a ruby/black shellac varnish.