Gilding Glass Vessels With Sepp Leaf

Looking to add some sparkle to your Mother's Day celebration? Our friends at Sepp Leaf have us covered! Keep reading for their easy DIY showing us the ins and outs of gilding vases, milk bottles, mason jars and more for an elegant touch in your Mother’s Day centerpiece. All it takes is a little gold or silver leaf for these to become polished posy holders. Want to include the little ones? This is a fun and easy project for kids too!

Supplies:

Foam Brushes

Water-Based Gilding Size or Oil-Based Leaf Adhesive

Gold Leaf or Tamise Flakes

Stencils

Drafting Tape

Applying Gilding Size

Apply Sepp Gilding Workshop water-based Gilding Size with a foam brush. You can free-hand, use a stencil, or create borders with decoratively trimmed drafting tape. Make sure to load the foam brush lightly with the glue to avoid any drips or seepage. Apply the size using the stipple method (marking with numerous small dots or specks). We flipped our vessels over, so we could easily size and gild the bottoms to create an even richer effect.

Applying Gold Leaf

Once the glue turns from white to clear, you’re ready to go! You can gild by pressing on any combination of 22kt patent gold leaf, imitation silver or imitation gold, or even the multicolor Tamise flakes.

Pro Tip: wear cotton gloves when gilding with imitation gold and copper leaf to avoid staining and tarnishing the leaf with the oil from your fingertips.

Finishing Touches

Clean up drips with a cotton swab and alcohol. We created a lightly textured surface using this water-based size, for a smoother finish you can use oil size applied with a brush and allowed to come to tack (usually in an hour). The gold leaf will shine long after the blooms have faded!

Voila! A huge thanks to Sepp Leaf for showing us how to get the perfect centerpiece for any table, any time. Now lets celebrate all the moms and mother-figures out there!