House numbers hand painted with sign writing & gold leaf gilding on a transom entrance window at a century old property in Kennington.
The style of numerals were chosen by the client. They wished for outlined & fine drop shadow sign writing as well as having gold leaf.
The numbers were drawn onto the glass with a stabilo pencil for a guide where to sign write but also measured & centred.
Sign writing the last part of the outline & dropshadow, before having to leave it to dry.
This was done on the inside of the pane so the finish would be better, but also for added protection from the elements & window cleaning.
The next stage was to apply the clear ‘size’, which if done well leaves bearly any stroke marks & a smooth finish ready for applying the gold leaf.
The gold leaf is applied to the size & pressed on smoothly.
Once given a little time to dry, the excess is burnished off using a soft hair signwriter brush or make up brush.
The gold is then ‘backed up’ with a fast drying & hardened sign writing paint which seals the gold to the window & makes the house numbers fully opaque.
The completed gilding, showing a smooth ‘matt’ finish.
Its called a matt finish, as the water gilding creates a mirror finish, so the size application looks more matt compared to the mirror finish.
The gold still shimmers & catches the light as you would expect real gold to do.
A view from the front steps of the clients front entrance. They were really pleased with the finished house numbers & even sent a thank you message afterwards, which is all it takes to know you’ve done a good job.
Traditional Hand Painted Gold Leaf Signwriting in London
Signwriter – Traditional Signs of London
info@traditionalsignsoflondon.uk