Greetings,

I'm working on a project that will require some immitation gold leaf paint. What are some good local sources (i.e., Home Depot, Lowes, etc.)?

Thanks,
Gerald W. Kopiasz

hrrhs@aol.com

Try artists supply stores, restorationist supplies and specialty woodworkers suppliers. Might check out theatrical supply houses - there is a gilding which is used to fake jewelry for costumes. I had a great half pint bottle of gold paint which required very substantial mixing to get the gold mud off the bottom into suspension, used it up, haven't found it since.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Be prepared for bronze based imitation gold leaf to turn green in "x" number of years.


lamontdc@adelphia.net

Get "One-Shot" brand sign painters gold paint.
After you have finished lettering, coat it with spar varnish. I have gotten mixed results using non-yellowing varnish. Depending on your climate, you may get as much as five years life.
In the Mediterranean climate at Western Railway Museum we have one car with ten-year old gold painted stripes that still looks presentable.

Whatever you do, don't use Dutch gold leaf.

fk

fkrock@pacbell.net

> Greetings,

> I'm working on a project that will require
> some immitation gold leaf paint. What are
> some good local sources (i.e., Home Depot,
> Lowes, etc.)?

> Thanks,
> Gerald W. Kopiasz

If you are going to use this as a substitute for a leafing job, don't bother. If cost is a factor, there is imitation gold leaf available (might be called "patent gold" but it's been over 10 years) which comes in a variety of colors, so to speak. All are various alloys of brass and come in books just like real gold leaf. It's like handling cardboard when compared to the real thing. The books I used had sheets 4 times the size of real gold leaf and could be handled with your fingers instead of the special brush and static electricity.

Unless you have some real gold leaf right next to it, the "gold" alloy looks like gold leaf, especially when compared to varnished gold paint. It also *must* be varnished over or it will tarnish very quickly. Real gold leaf should be varnished too in order to protect it from abrasion caused by washing. Try an artists supply house or look under gold leaf in the yellow pages (helps to have a phone book for a very large city like SF, LA or NYC).

> Greetings,

> I'm working on a project that will require
> some immitation gold leaf paint. What are
> some good local sources (i.e., Home Depot,
> Lowes, etc.)?

> Thanks,
> Gerald W. Kopiasz

While we're on the subject, what was the original techinique for gold lettering on metal such as a tender c. 1890? Where can I read more about the process?


wrj494@aol.com

How old a car is this to be applied to? Depending on the age of the paint scheme you're trying to replicate, "imitation gold leaf" might have meant a yellowish-tan paint, sometimes referred to as "Dulux gold." This is not a leaf or metallic paint, but a solid color. The last time I saw a One-Shot catalog, it included this color. This color has about the same brightness as real gold, and from trackside looks more like gold leaf than do metallic paints, which are darker and not always durable.

If your specification is from the late steel-car era, it might have meant Dulux gold (although if I interpret correctly the one color photo I've seen of Pere Marquette steel cars, that road applied gold leaf to its heavyweight coaches).

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867-0665

> How old a car is this to be applied to?
> Depending on the age of the paint scheme
> you're trying to replicate, "imitation
> gold leaf" might have meant a
> yellowish-tan paint, sometimes referred to
> as "Dulux gold." This is not a
> leaf or metallic paint, but a solid color.
> The last time I saw a One-Shot catalog, it
> included this color. This color has about
> the same brightness as real gold, and from
> trackside looks more like gold leaf than do
> metallic paints, which are darker and not
> always durable.

> If your specification is from the late
> steel-car era, it might have meant Dulux
> gold (although if I interpret correctly the
> one color photo I've seen of Pere Marquette
> steel cars, that road applied gold leaf to
> its heavyweight coaches).

> Aarne Frobom
> The Steam Railroading Institute
> P. O. Box 665
> Owosso, MI 48867-0665
Aarne, My interest in this case is tender lettering. The present remains appear to be real gold. Was the 1890's technique to apply a paint containing gold or gold leaf somehow bonded to the steel?


wrj494@aol.com

> Aarne, My interest in this case is tender
> lettering. The present remains appear to be
> real gold. Was the 1890's technique to apply
> a paint containing gold or gold leaf somehow
> bonded to the steel?

Probably real gold leaf, although this depended on the specifications of the railroad. The last order of MP-54s delivered to the PRR in the 40s were lettered in real gold leaf.

As for gold leafing techniques, essentially it consists of painting a type of varnish (called sizing) on the surface to be guilded in the outline of the letters you want to guild, waiting for it to "tack dry" ("dry" but your finger will whistle when drawn quickly across the surface), applying the leaf (the ticky part), burnishing-slightly, and then applying a protective coat of varnish (etc). The trick is in the doing, and you must be prepared to make mistakes. This is a gross simplification of the process.

Look for a book on the subject at an artist's supply house. Look around on e-tailers too.