Burnish 101

To burnish, or not to burnish, that is the question.

To burnish is to shine up the gold so it is radiant!

It gives a look to the gold that can only be achieved

through water gilding.

In the begining, everyone want to burnish, it's amazing

to watch the gold begin to shine.

However, not all art needs or looks good against a

shiney gold frame. Infact, for a picture frame , you

want to tone down the gold.

You don't want it to fight the art, you want it to

present the art.

For gilding to be successful, it's all about presenting,

or introducing the art work.

Yes, a spark or sheem is nice, but moderation is the key.

Anyway, to burnish, I use polished agates in contours

to fit the profile of the frame. (shown in picture)

I scrape it along the gold with medium presure. As I

do this the gold begins to shine. More presure, more

shine.

Some frames get a high burnish, or shine, along with

other areas of the frame that will remain unburnished.

Unbunished gold looks bright, yet matt, or satin.

Burnished gold looks shiney and mirror like.

So depending on the desired look, I gild with an end

result in mind. Hence, many corner samples!

This frame gets one final step.

Tomorrow's class will be: Rub, Tone, & Finish 101