How To Easily Apply Gold Leaf To Your Artwork!

Jen demonstrates how to easily apply gold leaf to acrylic for an amazing reverse gilding effect that she first showed off in her vintage hand-painted signmaking build. Follow along this tutorial as Jen shows how to brush on gilding adhesive and place the faux gold leaf using cost-effective materials and tools!
How to Make Vintage Hand-Painted Signs: • How to Make Vintage Ha...
Find out more about Jen's sign art and availability of her painted signs here: www.jenschachter.com/sign-shop
Imitation Gold Leaf: amzn.to/3uCRDiS
Gold Leaf adhesive: amzn.to/3PjuhXO
Gilder's tip brush: amzn.to/3ySnz5A
Gilding adhesive and varnish: amzn.to/3nQjLvg
Disclaimer: Tested may earn an affiliate commission when you buy through the links here.
Shot and edited by Josh Self
Music by Jinglepunks
Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks:
/ @tested
Tested Ts, stickers, mugs and more: tested-store.com
Subscribe for more videos (and click the bell for notifications): kzbin.info_c...
Twitter: / testedcom
Facebook: / testedcom
Instagram: / testedcom
Discord: / discord
Amazon Storefront: www.amazon.com/shop/adamsavage...
Savage Industries T-shirts: cottonbureau.com/stores/savag...
Tested is:
Adam Savage / donttrythis
Norman Chan / nchan
Joey Fameli www.joeyfameli.com
Ryan Kiser / ryan.kiser
Josh Self / puppetflesh
Kristen Lomasney / krystynlo
Jen Schachter www.jenschachter.com
Kishore Hari / sciencequiche
Sean Charlesworth / cworthdynamics
Kayte Sabicer / kaytesabicer
Bill Doran / chinbeard
Ariel Waldman / arielwaldman
Darrell Maloney / brokennerd
Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman
Thanks for watching!

[@tested]

Imitation Gold Leaf: amzn.to/3uCRDiS Gold Leaf adhesive: amzn.to/3PjuhXO Gilder's tip brush: amzn.to/3ySnz5A Gilding adhesive and varnish: amzn.to/3nQjLvg Disclaimer: Tested may earn an affiliate commission when you buy through the links here. How to Make Vintage Hand-Painted Signs: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqibdXakqquqoac Find out more about Jen's sign art and availability of her painted signs here: www.jenschachter.com/sign-shop

[@IBIScnc]

Can we please get more Jen on the channel, she always brings great insights and a joy to whatever project she is working on.

[@ajjones8013]

Those unintended gaps are called holidays because it is a joke - the guilding (or paint) that was supposed to be in that spot didn't show up for work and thus took a vacation. Loved this video - I hope Jen shows up a bit more often here on Tested. I always learn so much from her videos! Thanks Jen!

[@peterkelley6344]

Jen goes off the deep-end to try gold leaf; with pretty decent results. Good job Jen.

[@danielwendt3927]

Jen, Awesome video! love how you've gathered new and old techniques together for your own creative take. Excellent work!

[@llllllllllllllllllllllllIIIIl1]

she keeps referring to how the pros do it but YOURE A PRO YOURSELF JEN! the signs are beautifuuuul

[@gregfeneis609]

Very cool, Jen! My grandma kept a reel to reel audio library and marked the spines of all the reel albums with gold leaf. She showed me how she did it once when I was very young.

[@Aleph-Noll]

thats really cool!

[@Bobby82568]

This is absolutely maker asmr 😃, nice work!

[@4422011]

There are metal leaf sheets out there which are sold with a thin, see-through plastic backing. It's sturdy enough to let you cut the sheet with scissors, but it slides off without tearing the metal once you've applied it. I know Speedball's "Mona Lisa" imitation gold leaf is like that. It's more expensive though, so once again you have the cost vs. convenience tradeoff to make. Being good at this stuff is really tricky -- Jen did a fantastic job showing how it's done!

[@ledzep331]

I tried this a few years back just to try it out and was blown away by the results. I made my own size from gelatine leaf and water, As I remember this form of size shrinks and pulls the gold leaf flat as it dries and this resulted in the mirror like finish you mentioned, so slower drying may have an advantage. It's also important to apply some sort of protective finish on the reverse before the mask is removed to protect the gilding from getting scratched, such as varnish, lacquer or spray paint (If you use a gold or even yellow paint it hides any small holes or gaps too).

[@mezmarionybarra]

Bravo ❣️ Wonderful❣️ thank you so much and how lovely and relaxing is your voice❣️

[@psaldorn69]

Got some nice ideas for a keychain from this!

[@Nilboggen]

I use wax paper to pick up the gold leaf and smooth it with my fingers while it's still under the wax paper. You will have a much smoother result that way.

[@diggysoze2897]

Fantastic suggestion

[@nathkrupa3463]

Nice one ma'm thanks for sharing this video.

[@platipuss777]

great work Jen!

[@Y2KFrench]

Always wondered how to do this

[@GregDravenActor]

Please may I have that Keeper of the Keys sign once giled? I'm one of the actors that's played Hagrid for Warner Bros. 🙏🏻

[@reyesjnj]

Ahhh this was the so easy to follow and she did an awesome tutorial this was cool

[@sabertoothanimations2912]

As someone who Decorates in Western-styled stuff a lot I will most certainly be trying this at some point

[@digitaldobbie]

Thank you for this vid.

[@jasnmar]

This was completely outside of my wheelhouse, but was interesting to watch. I really enjoyed the "this isn't the right tool" and the "this isn't the proper way" things, but it was a way to get to an outcome. "Without totally wrinkling the crap out of it" lol.

[@T1g3rch3n]

My Restoration class included a Visit at a Gilders Workshop He was... 60+ back in 2011 His Face was all sparkly because a trick he used was wiping the Gildingbrush on his cheeks to pickup some skin-oil so the leafgold sticks better, his theory was it 'does double duty, picking up oil and slightly charge the hairs staticly' and you can see it If he hovered the brush a few mm over the leaf it started to move

[@user-gl5ld9vm7i]

Yea Jen is on today!!!!! I'm tired of seeing Norm. Lol.

[@Rahl99]

As far as I can tell, Stuart Semple Stick is still in production and available on his online art supplies store, Culture Hustle. Maybe looked when it was out of stock as some of his supplies seem to come in and out.

[@MyNameIsBVD]

Yeah on-top of a lot of logistics in the world is realing from all the shutdowns

[@harrisgraves592]

watched this outside on the windy porch kinda trippy

[@GHILLIESARCADEANDMORE]

Cool

[@xbreezybx8403]

The term "holidays" implies that the section that is missing went on vacation, and is therefore missing. The same term is common in scenic painting. Thank you for the cool tutorial!

[@easygoingdude9990]

This would be a super cool way to mod a fightstick

[@menty6666]

I wonder, if you're using a sacrificial back mask anyway, could you just drag the sizing over the target area with a vinyl playing card, sort of like applying ink to a screen print mesh? You could drag it thin and avoid brush strokes that way. Loved the video, nice outcome!!

[@fourtwonetly]

Dr Phil should be proud of you. #CashmeOutside

[@jamesbarisitz4794]

Would a foam brush help with applying a less streaky base? Maybe a fan brush? Cool project! 👍 😃

[@xliquidflames]

This video could benefit from some chapter labels. The application techniques start around 8:50 if you already know what adhesive and leaf you like using. It is a really neat technique, though, and a great video.

[@nova20yt]

A holiday usually calls for a break from work (as in your job)... so it's fitting that a break *in* a work (of art) would be referred to as a holiday.

[@lumienero5105]

in french "vacance" the translation for holiday, have an other meaning. In fact we use vacances to refer to holes and losing (manquement). it comes after the word vacum or vide in french.I presume it was a mistranslation of our word (i m french by the way and my american is rusty)

[@ffanddcondragh2911]

Not sure why either, but in tattooing I have heard my artists call the little areas that the color didn't set/take as holidays.

[@honoredsage4946]

Lol her shirt.

[@brunobrauer6301]

30 blades of 24 carat gold (goes a long way) cost under $15 at Amazon.

[@peterkelley6344]

+500 years ago only the church; or a ruler could afford gold leaf. Is it this sort of amazing.

[@alexlail7481]

I'm not sure what or if there is a specific name for the effect produced by the velvet for gilding, but the generic name would be 'engine turning ' it has been a popular effect at various times on custom/ bespoke items especially techie stuff from the 1920's and 1930's.

[@nrok113]

yeah it's common in gold on fire engines too, which I thought where the name was from. but I guess the name is older than that, possibly from the rose engine lathe, or the general concept of using any type of machine to make the pattern

[@eegleweege]

what's the shirt mean?

[@T1g3rch3n]

The original goes 'Measure twice, cut once' So make sure your part is on size if it is to big you still can recut it shorter. The joke goes 'Measure once, cut $*&!#' Because the Person cut it short the first time, hens has to start from scratch

[@cougarten]

For most of the video I was subconsciously convinced it read "WANKER". I'm feeling a bit let down it doesn't.

[@aldantler]

Wumbo size bottle of Wunda Size.

[@joeselzer850]

the only guilty and I want to be doing is being in the Fairy Tail Guild lol

[@CHIEF_420]

#ladies

[@karenglenn6707]

Love gold leafing but am in no way an expert.

[@rajkumargangwani8421]

Raw. Material... details........

[@HazyIndustries]

This video really stressed me. good effort!

[@mikedixonphoto]

Why would you not measure it so that it would cover then entire letter in one go? Or, just put the entire width in one go? Seems like a lot of extra work.

[@mattshaffer5935]

“Maker” is an old and abused term. It’s time for something new.

[@Future_Relics]

I am short of disappointed, you are so into craftmanship, and when it comes to this you make this "hobby girl" pass as a professional. This is a serious craft that we (myself and my fellow artists) take real serious. Why not ask your former neighbour Sean Star or an other true professional? I dint want to offend Jen in anyway, but this kinda hurts to see the art of goldleaf in this way. Hope you understand Greets From Holland

[@damionlee7658]

It's a good idea for a video, but far too wordy. Kept repeating information already given. I'm surprised the editor didn't take care of this by removing the superfluous chatter. A shame, because other than that the video was quite engaging.

[@kamalrostov2363]

No disrespect to you, but you’re repeating over and over again…

[@wheeliemchaggis]

Hi Adam please don't use theaker again at the start she was airing her tonsillitis to much before starting and even after starting on talking to much before continuing doing what she was ment to be doing doing gold leaf applying, she is definitely not you in fact I would have to say very boring, you Goulding have done a better job, sorry that's just my opinion, I had to switch you off sorry Adam