RE-USE, RENEW AND REFURBISH!

As folks say today "back in the day," well back in the day when I was a young bride my sweet husband would give me a personal gift at Christmas and a practical one to beef up my arsenal of items that were needed by a hostess at that time.  One of those items is this punch bowl which had not seen the light of day for probably 30 years!  It was wrapped in a moving box and boldly written on the side was "PUNCH BOWL." It moved with us for all those moves.  A dear friend recently asked if I had a punch bowl as she is helping with a family wedding.  I said yes and of course you may borrow.

 Having not seen the bowl for 30 years I was surprised at the quality of the glass but the dated stand needed a little updating.  I did note though that it was made in AMERICA by Colony and clearly stamped on the bottom.  That was back in the day!

 Decided to try my hand at gilding the base.  There are many, many options for gilding leaf metal, different colors, and different materials.  Since I had not done this before and since the punch bowl is not used often I decided on the lower price leaf metal as opposed to silver leaf which is much more expensive.

 It is actually quite simple and just a few supplies are needed. The leaf of course, sand paper or a paper block as shown, a brush for the glue and a sable brush to attach the leaf and then to brush the excess.

 You do not have to use special glue but I would recommend it for sure.  This is just one brand.

 Following the instructions on the leaf you sand the item and brush it clean, then paint carefully with the glue and let it dry until still tacky and then using small pieces of the leaf and your sable brush start attaching the leaf.  It goes pretty quickly and looks like this and ready for the next step.

 I used a soft, new paint brush to go over the base and get rid of all the extra leaf - you will notice that I put down some craft paper as this is a little messy and the leaf is so thin that it tends to go in the air and you will want a work surface that you can just wrap up and recycle.

 The final two steps are to use some tissue paper and rub lightly to get the nice soft sheen.  After it is completely dry (I would wait and let it sit overnight) apply a final, protective coat of clear varnish or sealer.  This is an optional step but preserves the finish.

Lots of YouTube videos on using these products so if you are going to update something using leaf you might want to take a look.  This was a fun project and I am eager to try this on say an old wooden picture frame.  Watch for future posts!

Resource

Silver leaf metal, Hobby Lobby
Brushes, Hobby & Craft Stores
Adhesive, Speedball Mona Lisa 2-Ounce Metal Leaf Adhesive Size
Clear Varnish, Krylon 6-Ounce Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating Aerosol Spray

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