How to use Silver leafing

Silver leafing…. that word brings up delightful memories of when I tried my had at leafing eggs about 15 years ago.  I thought my little 5 and 3 year old would think it would be fun!!  No not fun.  the glue was sticky and they were covered in gold leaf!!!  However i loved the process and as soon as they went down for a nap I promptly covered a dozen eggs.

Fast forward a few years and I’m still enamored with the stuff.  I have used it to cover books, bottles, and countless crafts.  I was dying to do leaf my new clock but was nervous because the clock was rough and rusty and bumpy. But as you will see it turned out fabulous, you should see the stack of things waiting in line to be covered in silver leaf.

Now this is not real silver leaf, that cost a fortune, although I do have some and it does look a bit better than the aluminum sheets.  But I’m wanting to do my bed (you heard me right)  and i needed a ton this was only 60$ on Amazon for a thousand sheets!! Bargain of the century.

first I painted the clock cream….  that didn’t look right so I  resprayed it white.  After it was dry I painted a thin coat of metal adhesive.  Just so you know this stuff is runny and sticky, you might be tempted to put a lot on but don’t.  just brush on a thin coat you can always touch up later.

Then comes the fun part.  You have to wait about an hour for it to cure depending on your adhesion.  Then carefully lay the sheets on the parts that you have glue.

After you have a few pieces down i used an old makeup brush to  really adhere the leafing.  Now a little word of warning.  I did this on my kitchen floor and its Messy (yes with a capital M)  and the vacuum does pick it up, but I’m still finding sliver on the bottom of my socks and in my dogs fur two days later.