Gold house numbers on your glass transom
Gold leaf is a beautiful way to decorate your front entrance. Typically, we install traditional gold house numbers on the interior surface of your clear glass transom. Gold house numbers usually take about five hours to finish. We are available Monday through Friday. First, we arrive at your home at 7 am to begin work. We apply the outline and shadow with black backup paint and then allow it to dry. Next, we apply a mixture of water and gelatin to the glass. Then we apply the gold leaf with a gilder’s tip brush. Again, the gold leaf needs time to dry, and then we polish it with cotton. We repeat the process at least two times. Sometimes a third layer is required to fill the numbers with gold leaf.
Be patient, avoid Holidays!
Complete coverage is critical. Any tiny holes or cracks in the gold can ruin the numbers. Also, cracks or holes would allow black paint to show through the gold, which is not good. Finally, we back up the interior of the gold leaf numbers with black backup paint. Once the paint has dried, we remove the excess gold leaf around the letters with a brush. We take great care during every phase of the process. Patience is necessary with this type of detail-oriented work!
With proper care, your gold house numbers can last for decades. Never spray cleaners directly onto the numbers. Instead, spray some cleaner onto a rag or paper towel and carefully wipe the glass, but do not wipe the letters. If the back of the black backup paint becomes dusty, a feather duster can gently clean it.
4209 looks great with 23 karat mirror gold leaf
Removing the excess gold
One photo shows this step in progress. We removed the excess gold leaf around the 0 and the 9. However, the 4 and the 2 still need to be cleaned up. The final part of the process is the removal of excess gold.
A brief history of gold leaf
The purpose of gold leaf was always to embellish and honor objects and people. The gold leaf tradition dates back to ancient Egypt. The pharaohs used it to adorn sculptures and cover the rooms in which they buried their dead. Ancient Greeks loved gold leaf too. They used it to decorate statues. Traditional illuminated manuscripts incorporate various precious metals. The Byzantine Empire used gold powder in paintings to illuminate halos and other desirable objects. But gold leaf is not only popular in religious settings. For example, famous chefs cover food with edible gold leaf.
Learn more about gold leaf on Wikipedia.
See more of our glass gilding: Golden House Numbers, Gold Address Numbers – 1204, and Glass Gilding – Cafe Normandie.
Contact Designs & Signs
The quickest way to get started on your project is to send us an email.
We can also be reached by phone at (410) 798-5115.