Silver and gold leafing, no more waterslide decals for me

[rob91bob]

If like me you are tired of the waterslide decals, I have found an alternative. Gold and silver leaf, or gilding. I had seen this technique used in the past on motorcycles and hot rods I thought I would give it a try on guitar headstocks.

Equipment:

First you need something to cut out a logo/design for a stencil. If you have a steady hand and an artists touch you could do this with a razor knife I don't have either.

I use a Cricut Explore Air 2, about $240 on Amazon with some vinyl and tools.
Stencil vinyl
Transfer vinyl
Weeding tools
Razor knife or cutting wheel
Cutting mat

First create the image in Cricut Design Space(online design program that comes with the cutter)

Cut out the design

Weed the stencil
This is where you remove all of the parts that you want to see in your finished design.

Layer on the transfer vinyl
The clear transfer vinyl sticks to the decal used for the stencil, this keeps all of the little pieces in the right place so you can transfer the stencil to your work piece.

Be sure to burnish it in very well with the squeegee.

Transfer to the work piece and burnish it in again, slowly remove the transfer film making sure the stencil stays put.

 

[rob91bob]

Part 2

Materials
Sizing (glue)

I use the Martha Stewart brand available at Micheal's craft store

I do two thin even coats with a small artist brush

Allow it to dry until it is tacky then remove the stencil carefully, don't for get about the small pieces inside the O's and a's and so forth.

Apply your choice of leaf (gold, silver, copper) also available at Micheal's
I cut the sheet into the size I need and gently apply to the glued area. Using the paper liner sheets I rub it down into the glue and allow to set up for 15-20 minutes.

After allowing it to set gently peel off the leafing. There will still be some leafing stuck all around the lettering.

Using a soft bristle brush that you can see in a few photos back, brush the leafing away from the glued lettering. you may have to use a small pick to get loose the leaf inbetween the letters.

Once cleaned up well, allow to dry for several hours/over night then you can seal in the leaf with a good quality clear, I use nitro lacquer. Build up several coats (6-8coats) over the next few days then level sand to flatten out the finish, buff as desired.

That is only one coat, was doing a sample

Hope this gives you some ideas .

Bob

 

[Cagey]

That looks nice! Always wondered how that was done, what with leaf being so incredibly thin.

 

[docteurseb]

Looks great! I'm surprised nitro worked for you though.
Every time I used nitro over gold leaves, it wrinkled and cracked the leaves as the finish dried. It happened both with real and imitation leaves, both with the spray size/glue or the brush on gilding size. Polyurethane on the other hand never reacted badly.

I was dealing with large surfaces though (full guitar body or applied to a xmas ball ornament), it's possible that with the sparse usage of leafing like you do here it's just not a problem. It's also possible I wasn't very patient and applies coats too heavy and too rapidly

 

[timezon3]

That's pretty cool.  I have already made myself a headstock logo with a vinyl cutter - I could just use the negative and try this... 

TZ

 

[rob91bob]

Looks great! I'm surprised nitro worked for you though.
Every time I used nitro over gold leaves, it wrinkled and cracked the leaves as the finish dried. It happened both with real and imitation leaves, both with the spray size/glue or the brush on gilding size. Polyurethane on the other hand never reacted badly.

I was dealing with large surfaces though (full guitar body or applied to a xmas ball ornament), it's possible that with the sparse usage of leafing like you do here it's just not a problem. It's also possible I wasn't very patient and applies coats too heavy and too rapidly

I did have that problem with a pickguard. I think the problem is not letting the glue under dry completely, atleast in my case. with the small headstock logo I haven't had an issue.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

I thought I knew what “weeding tools” were, but I didn’t see a single garden implement in the pictures...  :icon_jokercolor: Cool project and fine looking results, thanks for the demonstration! :bass:

 

[rob91bob]

I thought I knew what “weeding tools” were, but I didn’t see a single garden implement in the pictures...  :icon_jokercolor: Cool project and fine looking results, thanks for the demonstration! :bass:

And some peoples examples of weeding tools are something completely different!

 

[rgand]

This is a whole different look for logos. Very nice. Thanks for walking us through the process.

 

[dmraco]

Very nice.  I have used variegated leaf before but only under poly.  I too had a disaster with the glue and nitro.  It may be a combo of not letting it dry enough and the fact that I did not do light dust coats before really laying on the nitro.

I did gold leaf flames on a motorcycle tank one time...turned out amazing.

 

[Cagey]

It probably wasn't the nitro, it was the acetone it's mixed with. It's a pretty aggressive solvent. Even epoxy and superglue aren't safe from that stuff. And most pickguards and binding are made of ABS plastic, which will dissolve in the presence of acetone. In fact, it's used as "glue" when binding. It's not a glue per se, but it melts the strips together which accomplishes the same thing. Kinda like model cement - not really a glue, just a vehicle for toluene that melts polystyrene, effectively "gluing" the parts together.