High gloss silver leaf finish.

  mirror frame with silver leaf finish

The "high gloss silver leaf finish" is very special. It brings the: nice, luxury and elegant appearance which is very attractive. The high gloss finish will make the "high end" and expensive looked product.  To make the high gloss silver finish, the tough work and long time process is needed. The high precision process is required from the unfinished preparation to the last process of finishing to be success in the high gloss finishing. The presence imperfectness and untidiness will very clearly visible and ruin the finishing appearance.Now we want to share how to make the high gloss silver finish.

The process to make the high gloss silver finish.

• Preparation of unfinished product

The  unfinished wood preparation is the important key to produce the high gloss finish. We need the perfect unfinished product to make the good looked high gloss finished product. The imperfection in the unfinished product will clearly visible in the high gloss finish.  Do the good working since the component and assembling process, make sure we make the precise component and fit well in the assembling time. Check the precision of the component, the size, shape, etc and make sure it right. Make sure the flat surface parts are already flat and even before assembled. Fill up every dent, hole, gap or dent if there any. Check the moisture content of the wood and make sure it fulfill the standard moisture content for furniture product.

 gesso for gilt finish

• Application of gesso

Gesso is a mixture of white pigment, glue and chalks that is mostly used as the underneath surface before paint finish. Gesso is a good option material for coating wood surfaces prior to the application of silver leaf to make high gloss finish. Gesso can cover the wood grain, pores and even small dents or gaps to produce a flat and smooth surface. Gesso can be purchased from the paint shop or can be made.

We can make  gesso by this way:

1. mix: 5 parts of hide glue, 1 part of calcite (calcium carbonate), 1 part of talc and 5 parts of water.

2. Boiled and agitate the mixture until the hide glue is melted and result a thick liquid (paste)  mix. The liquid mix will hard and dry when it is cold, then it should be applied when it still warm.  

Apply the "gesso" mixture when it is still warm to the entire surface of the wood with a brush. The gesso from the paint shop is usually in a thick liquid  form and can be applied on directly to the surface. Wait until the material is dry and harden. It takes quite long (about 1 day) to let this layer dry.

Then after this layer dry, we need to sand the gesso to make smooth and even surface. Use  the fine sandpaper to produce the flat, smooth and even surface layer.  

• Applications of silver leaf.

Silver leaf can be directly applied to the gesso surface after it is smooth and flat. Apply the glue evenly to the surface by brush or spray and wait for awhile to let the glue dry. Then paste the silver leaf to entire surface with a brush. see our previous article: silver leaf finish
There are some type of silver leaf which can be used to make a silver leaf finish. But for a high gloss finish we should use glue and silver leaf with the best quality. The thick leaf and high carat is the best suit for the high gloss finish. The thick silver is easy to be applied, the thin leaf is very easy to break and difficult to be applied to make even finish leaf. The high carat silver will display the appearance of luxury and expensive looked. While the low carat silver leaf will look cheap and are not suitable for high gloss finish, it is more applicable for the antique silver finish.

• Sealer application.

The application of sealer on the surface of silver leaf is needed to prepare the surface before the top coat application. Apply the sealer evenly on the leaf with a spray gun with medium wet spray technique. Avoid "too wet" sealer spray because of the risk sagging; the silver leaf layer act as metal surface that cannot absorb to much finishing materials.

Wait the sealer to dry and then do a light sanding.

 high gloss silver leaf finish

• Application of top coat

The last process is the top coat application. We need  a high gloss top coat to make high gloss finish. The application of top coat should be done carefully. Apply the top coat evenly onto the surface by wet spray technique. The high gloss finish is sensitive to the dust, so we need a clean finishing and drying room. The existence of dirt or dust on the surface will be seem clearly and ruin the appearance of finishing.