What Are Gilding Grounds ?

Gilding grounds serve a two fold purpose, they act as filler if working on bare wood, and as imitation gold leaf, or genuine gold leaf is so thin, they  serve to give gold a warmer colour.

If you are creating an aged finish the deep red colour will show through the gold giving a very authentic appearance of antique gold, as the picture on the right shows.

Armenian bole, a refined clay, is generally used for this. But I have found that a good red ochre pigment works just as well.

The gilding ground is simply mixed with water if working with a wood or porous surface, or it may be mixed with an oil based size if you are thinking of working on a non porous surface such as glass or metal.

You can purchase a red ochre ground from the gilding supplies page.

One of the most popular finishes is the crackle glaze, lets go on to see now how the crackle glaze is obtained.

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