Photo Gallery

Water gilded chair gilded in 23 kt gold leaf over yellow and red bole.

This architectural corbel was traditionally water gilded in 23k Italian gold leaf over red and yellow clay bole and custom-mixed crackle gesso, burnished and toned with a heavy raw umber casein wash.

This little table was custom oil gilded in 23k gold leaf for a private client. A solid, modern gild with no antiquing, distress, or rubbing, clearcoated with blonde dewaxed shellac and hand buffed with rottenstone which cuts the shine of the shellac.

This wrought iron table was cleaned and primed with enamel and oil gilded in 24k gold leaf for a private client.

These two custom Vanities were clad in multiple shapes of verre églomisé (reverse gilded glass). Each section was independently gilded in 6k white gold leaf with a traditional weak gelatin size and hand abraded from the back of the glass to later reveal the black enamel paint applied to the reverse.

These two custom Vanities were clad in multiple shapes of verre églomisé (reverse gilded glass). Each section was independently gilded in 6k white gold leaf with a traditional weak gelatin size and hand abraded from the back of the glass to later reveal the black enamel paint applied to the reverse.

These two custom Vanities were clad in multiple shapes of verre églomisé (reverse gilded glass). Each section was independently gilded in 6k white gold leaf with a traditional weak gelatin size and hand abraded from the back of the glass to later reveal the black enamel paint applied to the reverse.

This Hare Krishna altar was oil gilded in 24k gold leaf by Seattle gilder Charles Douglas. By design, only the highlights of the architectural elements were gilded for a sense of balance to this beautiful Sacred altar yet still requiring 1000 leaves of pure gold. Carved in India and measuring 12 feet high x 20 feet long, it can be viewed at the Vedic Cultural Center in Sammamish, WA.

A custom regilded glass table top in 23k gold leaf. A tracing of the original floral design on the glass was drawn to create a photographic silk screen as the original glass painting needed to be removed since the original gilding that was applied over the top of the painting was oil gilded with brass leaf which had tarnished. The solvent required to remove the oil gilding would also interact with the oil painted floral motif on the glass and therefore could not be saved as there was no isolating layer between the two. Once the original paintIng was removed, a new design in the same white color was silk screened to the glass which was then glass gilded in 23k gold leaf with gelatin size and backed up with protective red enamel.

This Period frame profile has a 17c style Dutch Black Finish with a 23kt Water gilded frame Lip.

This frame corner sample was oil gilded with a black oxidized silver leaf from Japan. It has an unusual and beautiful gun-metal tone.

This sculpture is made of a plaster-containing material called Hydrocal which I use in restoration work. Seeing the sensuousness in nature I made a silicone mould of a potato and casted this image in the hydrocal. I then used the traditional water gilding method to gild the image in 12k white gold leaf. I am working on a series of these objects which reflect an image of the nude human body from the form of a vegetable. Further gilded interpretations will be in 23k, Moon Gold, 6kt white gold, and Platinum leaf.

Online classes offered on this ancient gilding technique available through Charles Douglas Gilding Studio.

A cast stone Buddha parcel gilded with 23k gold leaf using various mordants such as ilinocopia (garlic juice), gum ammoniac, propolis, and myrrh.

Students learning the ancient method of Glass Gilding often referred to as Verre Églomisé or Reverse Glass Gilding is a technique of applying gold leaf to glass using a gelatin size. The leaf can be painted on, rubbed away to reveal only certain gilded areas, or etched. It is an ancient Roman method revived by 18thc Designer Jean-Baptiste Glomy.