Colkett Painting Now Offering Gilding

Philadelphia, PA - Colkett Painting, known as mural painters in Philadelphia, are pleased to announce they are now offering gilding services. The two primary gilding methods Colkett Painting offers are water gilding and oil gilding.

Water gilding is an age-old practice that hasn’t changed much over the years. It requires very special gilding tools and years and years of practice to obtain good results. Water gilding is the art of placing very thin and fragile gold leafs over many thin painted layers of red clay. Water gilding is also called gilding on bole. The bole, or red clay, gives the gold leaf a somewhat reddish reflection as the gold leaf is very thin and somewhat transparent. Water gilding is almost always performed on a wooden surface. 

Oil gilding is much easier than water gliding and can be performed on any object you can paint, however, the most popular surface to oil gild on is metal. Oil gilding is also the method used on an object that is outdoors. Once completed, the object that has been gilded will look like gold (or whatever metal leaf is chosen). Both oil gilding and water gilding take many years of practice and patience. The main visual difference between the two methods is that water gilding will give a much shinier reflective finish than oil gilding.

Colkett Painting offers both water gilding and oil gilding services. Some examples of gilded surfaces are frames, metal handrails, walls, ceilings, artwork, and lamps. Colkett Painting can also gild in fine metals, precious metals, and semi precious metals, such as copper. They also offer many different specialized finishes such as marbling and graining. They can perform these finishes on walls, mantels, cabinetry or anything you wish. Colkett Painting can also paint breathtaking murals in houses, restaurants, offices, or any space desired.