Gold Leaf Gilding in Mayfair
Gold LeafKensington Gilders were commissioned to carry out gold leaf gilding work in a prestigious Mayfair property on Charles Street, one of the area's most sought-after residential addresses. The project involved gilding architectural details throughout several principal rooms, including cornice work, ceiling roses, door surrounds and fireplace mouldings.
Mayfair properties of this calibre typically date from the Georgian and early Victorian periods, and the plasterwork in this house was original in many areas. Before any gilding could begin, our team carried out careful assessment and repair of the existing decorative plaster, filling minor cracks and ensuring all surfaces were stable and properly prepared. Gilding will expose every imperfection in a surface, so preparation is where the real work lies.
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We used 23.5 carat gold loose leaf for the principal reception rooms, applied using the traditional water gilding method. Water gilding is the older and more labour-intensive of the two main gilding techniques, but it produces a finish that can be burnished to a brilliant mirror-like shine using an agate burnisher. The process involves laying gesso, applying multiple coats of bole (a clay-based preparation, in this case a warm red tone that gives depth to the gold), and then floating the gold leaf onto the dampened surface using a gilder's tip.
The advantage of water gilding in a residential setting is the burnished finish. It catches and reflects light in a way that oil gilding simply cannot replicate. For the less prominent architectural details in secondary rooms, we used oil gilding with transfer leaf, which is more practical for areas that don't require the same level of reflective brilliance.
Working in a live Mayfair residence required careful coordination with the client and their interior designer. Dust management was a constant concern, as gilding preparation generates fine particles that could affect furnishings in adjacent rooms. We sealed off each work area with protective sheeting and maintained clean working conditions throughout the project.
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