silver leaf lamp + tutorial

Last week I found a silver leaf candidate at the thrift store.  Meet Mr. Lamp!  I have seriously been looking for a decent lamp at Goodwill for only a year now.  I loved the shape and lines of this guy so I took him home with me.

And I turned him into this!!

In case anyone is interested I thought I would share how I transformed my lamp using silver leaf. 

To prep my lamp I wrapped a small piece of tin foil around the top part of the lamp.  I also wrapped up the majority of the cord in foil and then use two small strips of painters tape to cover the rest of the cord where it attached to the lamp.  I wasn't planning on painting my lamp but decided at the last minute to give it a quick once over with some white satin spray paint that I had on hand. I knew that it was possible for some of the underneath color to show through some of the small cracks in the silver leaf and I decided I would rather have white underneath just in case.

Next I used a small foam brush to coat my lamp with metal leaf adhesive size.  The size will go from milky looking to clear when it becomes tacky. The packaging said it takes about 20-60 minutes before it is ready but I found that 20 minutes was the magic number.  I made the rookie mistake of applying the size all over the lamp.  If the object you are silver leafing has any curves or very much detailing I would highly suggest you apply the size to small sections at a time.  It was definitely better for me to apply the size and silver leaf to one area of my lamp and then repeat the process working down the base of my lamp.

The silver leaf that was available at my local craft store came attached to a tissue-like paper.  I cut my silver leaf into strips and small squares since I knew I wouldn't be able to attach a whole piece of silver leaf at once.  I took the silver leaf and placed it on my lamp shiny side down and pressed lightly with a cloth on the tissue paper backing to ensure that the silver leaf attached.  Then I gently peeled back the paper.  At this point you may have some little pieces of silver leaf sticking up so take a soft cloth or a piece of velvet and dust away the excess leaf.

Once I had most of my lamp covered in silver leaf I had to go back through and touch up any spots where the silver leaf didn't adhere.  I just re-applied the size to the spots that were bare and started the process over again.  I wasn't going for a super smooth and polished look so I just covered as much of the lamp as I could and didn't worry about little imperfections.

I liked how my lamp looked after I had applied the silver leaf but it was looking a little too shiny for my taste.  I decided to use some stain I had on hand {Miniwax English Chestnut} to slightly antique my lamp.  Using a small foam brush I applied stain to a small section of the lamp at a time and then I quickly wiped it of with a dry cloth.  Does this sound familiar?  This was the same process I used on the frame of my yard sale mirror a few months ago.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture but now the lamp is looking a little less like tin foil after the stain application.  The stain really helped to tone down the shine factor and it also settled into some of the cracks in the silver leaf giving my lamp a little character!

Once I was happy with the finish on my lamp I applied two coats of metal leaf sealer.  Since we move every few years I thought it would be a good idea to seal my lamp to ensure that none of the silver leaf comes off. 

I had so much fun trying my hand at silver leaf and I absolutely love how my lamp turned out!  I think I will definitely be using metal leaf for some more projects in the future.