Gold Leaf Picture Frames FOR sale
Since 1905, we have specialized in gold leaf picture frames for sale. We manufacture over 150 models of gold leaf frames for paintings gilded with genuine gold leaf. We also use yellow and red bole for different kinds of finishings. Find on this page custom gold leaf frames in any size to be realized for major atrtworks. Be aware that our models are reproductions of antique gold leaf frames suitable for museums, private collectors, and antique dealers.
Below, we dive deep into the main features of the gold leaf gilding technique and the manufacturing of real gold leaf frames for paintings. In case you need to buy a reproduction frame gilded by Duth metal leaf click the following link: Antique gold picture frames.
Custom gold leaf frames for paintings
In the 1900s a new type of craftsmanship developed in the field of antiques. It consisted of the replication of antique gold leaf frames for paintings. Why reproductions did become so crucial for the market of antiques? The main reason is due to a significant loss of original authentic frames, which disappeared during the past centuries leaving a lot of masterworks unframed.
The explanation for this can be found in a topic related to the Second World War. It is quite notorious that the nazis stole plenty of masterworks in the occupied countries. During the sack, they would leave behind the frames to gain more space because paintings were much worthier. Another main reason, related to the loss of authentic gold leaf picture frames, can be found in the catastrophes of past centuries, when people would try to save paintings rather than their frames to escape from plagues and famines.
Inevitably, a new form of craftsmanship was necessary to restore the original appeal of many artworks. So, the mastery of reproducing antique gold leaf picture frames was born with a significant focus on ancient techniques. The reproductions indeed, have to look exactly like the lost originals, or at least need to reflect a well-balanced harmony with the painting itself.
Consequently, in many ateliers, you would find carvers and gilders working together to manufacture exclusive replicas of gold leaf picture frames pretty much made with the same skills of the past. The techniques used didn’t differ at all from the ones used by ancient masters. Carvers would carve on wood very complex decorations by hand. Gilders would use rabbit glue, gesso, and bole to prepare the wood surfaces for gilding. Lastly, real gold would be applied to gold leaf picture frames with the same care ancient master gilders did 500 years before. Previuos to apply the thin sheet of gold leaf, there is an excellent work of preparation because any surface and carving have to appear perfectly smooth. See this video to learn more about the gold leaf gilding process.
Reproductions of antique gold leaf picture frames
Our gold leaf picture frames for sale are realized using different techniques. We describe down below a few methods of the gilding process involved in such a classic mastery. Some of them are very traditional methods. Others are quite innovative. Therefore, there is a substantial difference in the time that one needs to realize them. In other words, we give customers the chance to choose among different prices.
Classic techniques for gold leaf frames for paintings
Ancient techniques are extraordinary. Old masters used them with great care, and the result has been astonishing during the centuries. That is the reason why the authentic gold leaf picture frames arrived at us in good condition. Indeed, they were very well made and craftsmen used great materials to realize products that last for a long time.
On the other hand, nowadays, we have to deal with an issue related to the price. In other words, such mastery is today too expensive. That is due to several reasons. The most relevant is the time necessary to manufacture top-quality handicraft objects.
Medium-sized reproductions of gold leaf frames for paintings can need nearly hundreds of hours of manual work to be built. The final result is undoubtedly astonishing, but the price can be quite high. Here in Italy, a mastery like that costs about 40 Euros per hour. In other countries, it could cost less.
With that said, we now want to talk about the solution to solve the problem of the high price. We created a system that allows us to realize custom gold leaf frames for paintings at a very reasonable price. How did we achieve that? With the use of wood pulp for ornates, and the use of adhesive size for gold leaf gilding.
Wood pulp decorations
A few years ago, we discovered a material to create functional and resistant ornates. We discover indeed, the wood pulp, which is made of sawdust mixed with a bit of paint thinner. What you get with that mix is a handy paste made basically of wood. The difference between wood pulp and real wood it’s very subtle. Comparing the two, the only difference you’ll notice is the absence of wood veins on wood pulp.
Do we need wood veins to create carving decorations for gold leaf picture frames? I don’t think so. We don’t need them because they don’t apport any vantage. Wood pulp ornaments are as much resistant as if they were of wood. What matters in fact, is the final look of the artwork and its price. About the ladder, you will find a huge difference.
When we use wood pulp, we’re using molds to create the ornates. In other words, molds allow us to speed up the decoration process. As the wood pulp needs to dry before getting carved, it is convenient to let it rest for a couple of days. When it gets dry you can then proceed with the carving and the final touch of the master doesn’t require such a long time because the forms of decorations were made from molds. That is why you’re going to save a bunch of money. See on our YouTube channel our carving system to create gold leaf picture frames for paintings: wood pulp decorations.
Gold leaf picture frames gilded by water based adhesive size
We use water-based adhesives to gild genuine gold leaf frames for paintings because it is an excellent idea to get a good result with minimum effort. Gold leaf gilding is quite complicated by itself and if you do it using the water gilding method, it’s going to be even more complicated.
Fortunately, the use of adhesive facilitates quite a lot the technique. First, you have to apply it to the smooth surface of the frame with a brush. After a while, you apply the gold leaves on top of it. Gilding gold leaf picture frames becomes quicker because you don’t need to wet the bole with water along the process. In fact, the adhesive size is already sticky by itself and doesn’t need to be wet. For more clarity, check out a video on our YouTube channel showing the gold leaf gilding technique with adhesive size.
Gold leaf picture frames made by water gilding
If you want to know more about the difference between the water-based adhesive size technique and the more traditional water gilding, watch the following video: water gilding. You will notice how sophisticated is the latter technique. The use of water and bole makes the overall process significantly difficult to accomplish because if you don’t wet the bole properly, you’ll lose the gold leaves, and that’s a loss of money. If you have seen the above video, you learned a lot about the technique. Also, you are now aware of how light and delicate the gold leaves are. You surely have seen them fly away from the frame just because the red bole wasn’t enough wet.
Easier techniques to reach a lower price
Why we would go for the wood pulp and water-based size? We think that creating gold leaf frames for paintings doesn’t have to be too expensive. Among our important goals, there is always been trying to diminish the time to realize our products. Indeed, we managed to manufacture custom gold leaf picture frames for a compelling price.
On the one hand, we’re sad to skip old traditions, which have been used for centuries. But, unfortunately, nowadays, they are too costly. The good news is that we are still able to realize them and, you know, in certain cases, they become mandatory. On the other hand, our innovative methods, allow the recycling of scarce materials, and the impact on the environment is maintained at a lower level.
Last, but not least, our innovative techniques allow us to engage a greater number of customers. Remember that our gold leaf picture frames at the end of the work are astonishing whatever materials we have used to realize them. Nobody can tell them apart from authentic antique gold leaf picture frames.
We know our techniques are good. Even museums like them because they know that what matters about replicas is the final outlook. Thus, museums buy our gold leaf picture frames for their masterworks. That is due mainly to the high quality of the patina, which substantially covers the shiny gold with a layer of dark that makes the reproduction seem like an authentic antique frame.
Museums love our gold leaf frames for paintings
We realize gold leaf frames for paintings aging them properly. First, we apply several hands of dark shellac on the shiny gilded surfaces. And as a second step, we hit the frames with stones to create micro-breaks. Lastly, we fake wormholes using a punch. Those and a few other tricks make look our gold leaf picture frames authentic. Follow the links below to learn more about our techniques.
Distressing the gold surface
Rubbing out the gilded surface
How shellac is made
Applying the dark shellac
AFFORDABLE ANTIQUE GOLD LEAF PICTURE FRAMES
Our reproductions of custom gold leaf picture frames for sale have a reasonable price. As we want to reach more than just exclusive clients, we spent the last twenty years studying new ways to lower costs. We accomplished that task and nowadays we realize about 150 models that customers can buy selecting between different types of gildings. Thus, we offer them the chance to choose among three different prices.
Choose the price
REMEMBER THAT GENUINE GOLD LEAF IS USED ONLY UNDER REQUEST AND ALL THE PRICES YOU’LL GET FROM THE CALCULATOR ARE FOR DUTCH METAL LEAF! TO BUY GENUINE GOLD LEAF PICTURE FRAMES YOU MUST ADD TO THE TOTAL PRICE THE PERCENTAGES DESCRIBED ABOVE!
Click on our FAQ to learn more about order details.
CUSTOM made GOLD LEAF FRAMES FOR PAINTINGS
We specialize in custom-made gold leaf frames for paintings realized in any size and shape. As you will notice, we offer several models split into two main categories. They are labeled as affordable and expensive frames but both can be finished with real gold leaf. Find the links below.
EXPENSIVE FRAMES
AFFORDABLE FRAMES
On any product page, there is a link to a calculator page from which you’ll get an instant quote based on your painting size. Remember that flexibility is our main strength: we can frame painting with any measures.
Personalized antique gold leaf frames for sale
Even though you see the profile of our antique gold leaf frames with fixed dimensions, you can change them anytime. For instance, you could buy a frame with a deeper rabbet. There is no problem in modifying any measure, though. Just tell us the depth of your painting, and we will customize the perfect rabbet depth maintaining the right proportion of the overall structure.
Also, if you need a smaller or a larger overlap, we can do it. Maybe you need to frame a TV, or you want to let visible the sign of the painter which could be to near to the low edge. If that is the case, we’ll let the sign appear by applying simple tricks. Solving any one of these issues is a normal routine for us. In addition, choosing our antique gold leaf frames, you will be able to personalize anything. Measures, structures of the profile, and finishings are the main concern of who wants to buy antique gold leaf frames for masterworks. Stay with us and we will solve any problem you might face to realize your purchase.
GENUINE gold leaf picture frames with bole
For the clients who want to buy the most expensive products, we recommend the red bole and water gilding. The bole is indispensable to make the gold shine. Indeed, the bole is a soft fine clay mixed with rabbit skin glue. And when you brush the gold on top of the bole with an agate stone, you’ll obtain a shiny surface. Keep reading if you want to know more about the traditional water gilding technique.
How we prepare the red bole
The first step to preparing the red bole is preparing the rabbit glue. The latter comes in a granular form, and you have to transform it into a liquid solution. For this purpose, you need to soak its granules in water and wait for about a couple of hours until the water almost disappears. The pellets will absorb the water and become jelly. You then can worm the jelly on a stove, and finally obtain a liquid with a typical yellow color.
The second step is to mix the red clay bole with the liquid rabbit glue to obtain a moist bole. At this point, the bole melts in worm rabbit glue very quickly. When we’ve got the right density, we can apply it to our gold leaf picture frames. Maintaining the bole wormed is necessary because when it gets cold, it starts solidifying, and it can’t be used any further until is wormed again.
Water gilding for antique gold leaf frames
For the purpose of gilding gold leaf picture frames, you need to have a completly dry red bole on top of the gesso. You can not start the gilding process right after the preparation of bole because the bole would flow away. So, probably the day after, you can proceed with the applying of the gold leaves.
First, the frame has to be fixed in a vertical position. For this purpose, we usually use a painter’s easel. This way, the water can flow down any time you wet the bole with the brush. In other words, you are preventing water from accumulating on the frame surface causing damage to the gesso underneath.
Any gold leaf measures 9 x 9 cm. Usually, one needs to cut the sheet into three parts before applying it to the wet bole of antique gold leaf frames. If you don’t cut it, the gold could get cracked, and you will lose time and money. Also, be aware that before applying any part of gold, the bole has to be well wet. Remember, that the procedure must be done continuously, and you must get a steady rhythm to do it properly. Check a video on our YouTube channel to learn more about the gilding technique of gold leaf frames for paintings: water gilding
Dark antique gold leaf frames for paintings
To wrap up, what would be the difference between water gilding and gilding with adhesive size? Frankly, the difference is not that evident. The observer has to be quite expert to realize which kind of gilding there is under the patina (dark color) of our antique gold leaf frames for paintings because after gilding, to achieve an old look, we need to apply several hands of dark shellac on the gilded surfaces.
This process, called Patina, partially cancels the brightness of water gilding. That is why you can’t see much difference between the two gilding techniques. On the contrary, you will notice a significant difference between the two gildings if you don’t apply any patina. That is, if the gold leaf picture frames have to be shiny, the water gilding makes them much brighter because there is one more step to accomplish with the water gilding. That is to brighten the gold on top of the bole with an agate burnisher, which will make the gilding seem like a gold bar.
How will the gold leaves look like a gold bar just by the use of a simple tool? The agate compresses the bole surface and makes it super smooth. Therefore, the gold becomes translucent. But there is no way to go through this process with adhesive-size gilding because the adhesive never gets hard enough to be pressed against the wood. It remains kind of rubbery, instead, and the gilding remains opaque. But again, after the patina is above the gold, you won’t know what is the type of gilding of our gold leaf picture frames.
On the contrary, you will certainly notice a considerable difference in price between the two gilding techniques. That is due to a primary reason: Water gilding takes a longer time to be done and requires more skills and resources to be accomplished.
shiny gold leaf picture frames for paintings
We strongly recommend choosing the kind of gilding thinking on the final result. Go for real gold leaf picture frames if you have a masterpiece. Otherwise, it’s better to go for a Dutch gold leaf finish. That way you are going to save a lot of money.
As already discussed previously, the final look is the most important thing concerning antique gold leaf picture frames. We know you won’t see much difference between Dutch leaf and real gold because the leaves in themselves are similar. What matters, in our opinion, is the patina above. In other words, what matters is the mastery touch of the gilder.
Remember that a good patina can improve even a bad frame. Yes, we’ve seen a lot of poor gold leaf frames for paintings made with a good patina being quite acceptable. And with the word poor we mean mediocre structures and profiles. However, they might even look more antique of richer reproductions because of the patina itself. Maybe not the best models, but with a very old look. With that said, be aware that the patina always covers the gilding.
In a perfect world, the reproductions of antique gold leaf picture frames should be gilded with real gold. Of course, the use of water gilding will be even better. However, after any kind of gilding, the frame needs a great patina and the gilder must go through any tricky step of the process of aging the gold. Consequently, if one wants to obtain an old look, many of the good qualities of genuine gold are going to be lost. Because the patina will partially cover the benefits of the red bole and its bright effect.
Bright gold leaf frames for paintings
Things change a lot when you need shiny and bright gold leaf frames for paintings. Indeed, if the frame has to look new, you might want to use genuine gold. Without patina, the Dutch gold leaf applied with the adhesive size is not very compelling because its look is kind of dull and fake.
On the other hand, real gold has an astonishing brightness, especially if it is applied with water gilding. If you let it shine as it is, there is no way to find something comparable to it. But in this case, maybe the question would be: Why would I need bright gold leaf picture frames in the first place? I can’t answer this question for you because tastes are different from person to person.
Some customers ask for bright gold. For instance, we did several works for hotels that were looking for gold leaf picture frames with a taste of new, recalling the same taste they would have had if would had been created centuries ago. That is because the replication of a patina is a modern technique. It did not exist in ancient times. Gold leaf picture frames become dark during the centuries. Therefore, these types of customers mostly need gold leaf picture frames for mirrors and other kinds of complementary decorations in shiny gold. We’re talking about luxury hotels, the ones you never want to leave.
In conclusion, if you seek out items that have to look like gold bars, go on with real gold leaf. Ask for 22 or even 23 carats of gold leaf. On the other hand, if you need reproductions of antique gold leaf frames for paintings, go for the more affordable materials and techniques. The final result is going to impress you in any aspect either way.