We’ll make your new home look great with new golden house numbers. So how does glass gilding happen? We use 23 karat loose gold leaf, applied carefully by hand. A master gilder arrives at your home in the morning, and the job usually takes four or five hours. Successful gilding requires patience and timing. The process is tedious and delicate, so haste is not advisable.
Installing golden house numbers
First, we clean the glass thoroughly. Then we paint the outline and shadow onto the interior surface of the transom glass. The next part of the process is applying the backup paint. It dries hard and fast. Backup paint is strong, and it holds up well during later parts of the gilding process.
Next, we apply a mixture of water and gelatin to the glass.
Finally, we quickly apply the gold leaf sheets with a soft gilder’s tip. The gold leaf will jump from the tip to the glass. Once the gold has dried, we can polish it lightly with cotton, and then we repeat the process. Multiple layers of gold leaf are necessary to cover the glass completely. Little spots where gold is missing will allow light or black paint to show through. “Holidays” are small areas of glass where gold leaf is thin or missing, and they can ruin the job!
How to finish a gold leaf installation
The last step involves more backup paint. We must cover the entire gold leaf area inside the outlines with protective paint. Once the paint has dried, we use a brush to scrub away excess gold. We apply the gold leaf gently, as the process is delicate. Poor judgment or hurrying will lead to unintended damage to the gold leaf and paint.
Gold leaf at Fort McNair in Washington, DC
We installed gold leaf house numbers on 15 homes at Fort McNair in Washington, DC. We are proud of the finished work and grateful for the opportunity to work on this famous military base. These Fort McNair transoms are one of our most extensive gold leaf projects to date. We love glass gilding in Washington, DC.
A little about Fort McNair
Fort McNair has been an Army post for more than 200 years, and only West Point and Carlisle Barracks have served longer. It sits where the Potomac and Anacostia rivers meet in Washington, DC.
Would you mind taking a moment to review more photos of our beautiful gold leaf installations?
- Gold Leaf House Numbers – 1363
- Gold Leaf Address – 1645
- Transom Numbers – 1833 Baltimore
- Gold Leaf Numbers Washington DC – 712
See more of our glass gilding: Glass Gilding – Cafe Normandie, Gold Address Numbers – 1204, and Glass Gilding – Transom Numbers 504.
Contact Designs & Signs
Want golden house numbers for your home? Send us a message through our contact form, or call (410) 798-5115.
