Gilding and Patination

Here again is a Georgian style frame, watergilded in 231/2 ct gold.
The patination here is the result of many layers or glazes, carefully built up to give the best impression of age, wear and tear.
Whilst I always thought it should be possible to copy the colour and tone of old gilding with a fairly simple mix of dyes and pigments, experience has shown me otherwise!
For some reason the mixtures are wide and complex and can mean that patination can take up to three days to achieve.

This is a close-up where you can see the effect of distressing the outer edge.
The challenge is to age the gilding without muting the reflectivity of the gold and keep the frame as bright as possible.
An interesting test of successful patination is the degree to which it illuminates an early print or painting.

More Gilded Frames

This is the ever popular Morland style frame. It is a fairly simple scooped profile and works well with early drawings and watercolours. The wide scoop acts as a light, to brighten up the enclosed art-work.

I call this one a thin Georgian style frame. Like the previous frame, the outside rail is strongly distressed and this has the pleasing effect of delineating the frame against it's back-ground.

I suppose I could call this one - a thin neo-classical frame. There's lots of shadow lines in the profile and these reflect well on a mounted drawing.

A very large frame in the Morland style again. There is no applied beading, but the sight edge has been given a complex profile to highlight the art-work.

Finally, an 18th cent. print frame. I call this a Gothic Sanded Slip frame but I've no idea what the true description is. The main elements are the decorative sight edge set against a rough sand finish and contained within a gothic fruitwood profile.