Gold leafing on furniture

  I recently, this week, finished a gilding project on a rocking chair. A school name, the person the chair was awarded to and the dates of service. I elected to use a low tack vinyl stencil. I have found that unlike a mylar stencil with spray adhesive that allows your size to seep in, the low tack vinyls do not. You can have these cut for you at most reputable sign shops with plotters. I am fortunate to have a really nice shop nearby. I just give them the layout of words/dates and the dimensions and they do the rest.
   I placed the stencil on the chair back and burnish lightly to make sure its adhered well. On furniture I prefer the slow oil size. I feel it gives more time and I feel it is just a little more substantial than the quick. No proof, just what I observe in the final projects. The key at this point is a uniform thin coating making sure of no holidays and that all the letter edges and curves have been sized. I let it set for about an hour to two and remove the stencil. If you wait to remove it after gilding you risk the cured size on the stencil "pulling" the edges of your letters leaving them a little jagged. I then wait till tack time and lay the leaf. I take a soft burnishing brush and very lightly push the gold and swirl a bit to make sure all the size has leaf. My own preference at this point is to come back the next day and clean and burnish. I feel if you hurry this process you loose some of the golds brightness. Sometimes there is tiny little areas that size got to that needs cleaned up. I like using cotton swabs (Q-Tips) with a little mineral spirits. Of course before starting you should know what the finish paint is. You wouldn't want to clean the gold off oil paint with spirits.