About Gilder Charles Douglas
It all started when…
Charles Douglas has 40 years experience (and counting!) as a gilder specializing in traditional water gilding, oil gilding, and glass gilding for custom gilded frames and artist’s panels, furniture, architectural elements, and the restoration of gilded antiques.
Originally from New York, Charles traveled extensively for Saks Fifth Avenue early in his gilding career, providing glass gilding in 28 cities nationwide. In 1988 he relocated to Seattle, accepting private gilding commissions while continuing to provide gilding for Saks for another ten years until assuming the position as lead gilder for Artech Fine Art Services. In 2004 he branched off once again on his own as owner of Charles Douglas Gilding Studio with Artech as a major client. His projects ranged from custom water gilded frames for eigtheenth to twentieth century works of art and frame restoration to gilded period furnishings and verre églomisé mirrors.
Charles now resides in the small seaside village of Coupeville on Whidbey Island outside of Seattle where he has his new studio focusing solely on teaching his gilding courses and Online Masterclasses as well as conducting gilding research and writing. He is a patient and thoughtful gilding instructor who teaches classes in traditional water gilding, oil gilding, glass gilding, pastiglia, sgraffito, and restoration both online on Zoom as well as in-person in such cities as New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Kalamazoo, and Owen Sound, Ontario. He has also conducted classes and demonstrations through various organizations including the Seattle Art Museum, Cornish College of the Arts, Bellevue Art Museum, the PPFA, Pacific Science Center, and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. His specialty classes are among the most popular including Gilding for Works of Art…a Study for Fine Artists, Traditional Water Gilded Panels, and Masterclasses in Sgraffito, Pastiglia, Copper Leafing, and the new Gold Leaf Course: Traditional Water Gilding for Plaster Casts, sure to attract the attention of Plaster Sculptors!
Responding to the challenges of teaching gold leafing during the COVID-19 pandemic Charles expanded his educational offerings in 2020 to include an Online version of his popular in-studio gilding classes. Due to the instant success of this form of gilding education and which hundreds of students online from over 22 different countries attending, his Online gold leaf classes are now a standard form of instruction in gold and silver leafing and will extend well into the future along with select In-Person classes in various locations to help meet the educational needs of students in the gilding arts.