I feel confession time coming on, so I’m going to cut right to the chase. I have two major addictions lately: Target clearance end caps + gold leaf EVERYTHING. The Target thing has been ongoing for a long, long, long time, and there’s probably no cure for me at this point. Learning how to gold leaf, however, has become a recent affliction that seems to be covering almost anything that would stand still. Remember when you found spray paint for the first time and you were all like, “THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER INVENTED!!!!” Yeah, that’s how I’m all about some gold leaf lately. I know, I know, I know, it’s been around for thousands of years in some capacity {wayyyyyy longer than spray paint}, but my current obsession with it isn’t distracted by that. It’s all about “what can I gold leaf now?!?”
So what happens when those two things collide? Amazingness – that’s what. Well, what I think is amazingness anyways in the form of my freshly updated, Target clearance rack lamps revamped with some gold leaf. Oh yes, I did.
I started with these concretey kinda lamps that I found on clearance for $5. The shades were a full price $15 find, but I digress… lamps for $20? That’s a bargain. but as much as I loved the white, they weren’t really a vibe I was digging on. So I looked at them and was all like, “Dude, I could gold leaf that.” And my husband then looked at me like I’d last my very last marble. But I did it anyways.
I stared off by taping off the pre-painted portion of the lamp. I figured if it was painted then it was smooth enough to gold leaf. (By the by… Target still has a version of these lamps in a skinnier shape on their lamp aisles for like $15.)
I know there’s a lot of gold leaf kits & brands out there – but I always use this version from Speedball and buy it on Amazon because it’s the cheapest place to get it that I’ve found. Because we have Amazon Prime I can order it on a whim and get free shipping – yay!
So, after it’s all taped up, I put on a coat of the Adhesive Sizing that comes in the package. Then wait 15-20 minutes by beating another level of Candy Crush.
When the adhesive is tacky, then I carefully applied a sheet of gold leaf, and used a soft brush to brush it down. The lamp parts were narrower than the sheets, so I gently ripped off the excess portion and put it onto the next place.
Sometimes it went on perfectly, sometimes not. I just kept smoothing and kept applying more gold leaf until the whole thing was covered. Once completely gold leafed, then I gave it a coating of the sealer and and it was done. Seriously like 15 minutes of hands on time per lamp and they were transformed into something gold.
Now that I know how to gold leaf, I want to cover every. single. thing. But I have shown a little restraint. Except on one more piece I’m going to share later this week (as well as other living room revamps to come – yay!).
Before I scamper off… did you see that Hemingway has made his living room debut? It only took nearly an entire year of moving him from the bathroom to the bedroom before my husband finally got over his jealously hatred of him. Because just like with gold leafing, decorating is an exercise in patience.
Cheryl at Snaps of Ginger says
My newest onsession is the liquid gold leaf. Love that stuff. Nothing is safe my from me now. It will all be gold!
~Cheryl
http://snaps-of-ginger.blogspot.com
Crystal Menard says
You are so funny. I really like your post . found it on Pinterest and I have never heard of gold leaf before now. Thanks for sharing. Ima go check out the rest of your site now. Hehe 🙂
Gina Luker says
Thanks Crystal, join me over on Facebook too, I do live crafts every morning at 9:00 Central time 🙂
Cynthia says
This is a great way to upcycle some of my what-nots. I think I will try this with my canisters this weekend. Thank you!
Marilyn says
Beautiul!
Marilyn says
Oops. Delete that. Sorry, I can’t type. But they’re beautiful. 🙂
kathleen says
What a thrifty way to revamp these lamps! And Hemingway looks great! Thanks for the tutorial, I’ve yet to try gold leaf, it’s on my list.
Thrift My House says
I have never gold leafed anything. Your lamps look pretty.
I might have to try this…. on the hunt for something to gold leaf.
Marie@The Interior Frugalista says
LOL Gina – for me it’s silver leafing. I get so excited when I have a project that “requires” (my excuse anyway) leafing. I even went to Michael’s once in my pjs under my coat at boots to get some silver leaf.
Love the leafing you did on this cool lamp!
pam clark says
Looks great!! I also use aluminum leaf, bought from ebay. It’s a less expensive alternative to actual silver leaf and looks exactly the same. I have also used copper leaf, again I buy from ebay. Thanks for sharing.
oh, p.s. I usually use spray glue adhesive….works great!
edythe says
was wondering if I copper leafed some kitchen cabinet drawer pulls , do you think it might hold up? Was thinking of spray painting them first, then copper leafing over for a more real look. Would I need to spray a clear acrylic over it? It’s way to expensive to make copper fittings into drawer handles but I thought wooden ones done this way may be interesting, just wondering about the handling them daily. Thanks Edythe
Gina Luker says
I really don’t know. Maybe try it on one? I know spray painting doesn’t hold up well for the long term, though!
Natalie says
Love this! I get my lamps at Goodwill and they often aren’t that cheap- especially if you factor in that most don’t come with a lamp shade.
Diane says
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/166562886194032947/ Here is something I just gold leafed. I wanted it in gold but looks a little gold and silver, so I thought why no use the gold leaf. I used Martha Stewarts gold leaf at Michael’s 50% coupon. They have cooper and a couple shades of gold.
Catherine Kung says
Thank you SO much for such a perfect tutorial! I had to share it with my readers! xoxo
Catherine
http://gildedmaven.com
Gina Luker says
Thank you Catherine!
Gracie says
Okay this is funny. I just bought a target clearance lamp this morning and thought to myself, ” This is cute, but what if I gold leafed it!?!” Then I brought it home and tried to hide it from my husband. I was looking on amazon for different gold leaf brands, I haven’t used it before and I figured I should check Pinterest for recommendations too. Which brought me to your post, that came full circle when I discovered it was a tutorial specifically of leafing your target clearance lamps! Great minds think alike. Thanks!
Gina Luker says
That is an awesome story Gracie, I love it! Good luck!!
Wer ruft An says
Thank you for that inspiration. I hope you will show us more. Maby something with a wallpaper?:)))