Restoration of a Regency Sofa part 2: Finishing the Parcel Gilding.

At last I was able to finish this rather long term restoration project:- The repair and re-gilding of a beautiful Regency Sofa.
I am pretty pleased with the results and it was worth all the hard work!
Juggling life with two teenage children combined with family life over Christmas meant that the holiday season was; as far as work was concerned put frustratingly on hold!
There is a lot to be said for a studio and workshop that is separate from your home, even if it is just a few hundred meters away! I can see why people like their garden sheds! The only difference is; for me getting work done is crucial for my livelihood!
Thankfully my ever patient customer; a friend and Local Antique Dealer has a good collaborative and altruistic attitude tempered with appreciation and contentment for the quality of work undertaken.
So here are some of the final stages of completion!




A very battered right hand side.
This sofa was sympathetically restored to Museum standards leaving most parts of the original gesso and gilding with exception on both front legs where they combine into the arms. These had been very badly smashed in places due to them being in a place of high stress from wear and tear.I had to rebuild quite a bit of them. A very small percentage of wood had been replaced and joints had been fixed with dowel and traditional hide glue (known also as scotch glue),wherever possible in order for ease of future restorations. Other Synthetic glues; although strong and waterproof are harder to remove and can cause more damage to the original piece during removal. However woodworm treatment is one essential modern product that I would rarely overlook! especially as it can put other customers furniture at risk not to mention anything wooden including bits of your house!?!




The clay Bole Stage.
Clay bole is Mixed from very fine natural pigment clay and rabbit skin glue heated gently in a bain-Marie. I mixed several different clay's together in order to obtain the original Colour which lies underneath the gold.

Sympathetic Restoration:How to decide.
I think one of the primary things to help with the decision on what to save on something old really comes down to its condition and acceptance of natural wear and tear form age being part of its charm. Otherwise presumably you would be buying something new would you not?
From a restorers point of view; stabilizing something in order to preserve it is one of your primary concerns, coupled with the all important task of cleaning it and removing old deteriorated restorations. Usually when the cleaning is done you will get a clearer picture of what is left to preserve because you can see what has actually happened to the piece during its lifetime.




Gilding.
Water gilding was used as opposed to oil gilding because it is was originally used on the sofa. Also it gives a lovely effect. There are different purities and colours of gold you can use, so it is a question of matching gold to the original piece as near as possible. Old gold was thicker and often hand beaten and gives a slightly different look to some of the modern gold leaf available today.
A mixture of weak rabbit skin glue, very strong proof alcohol and water is brushed on whilst thin loose leaf Gold is applied using a gilders tip. The Process is tricky and requires practice as gold floats off even with the slightest of breaths! It also has to be cut into smaller pieces usually on a special pad. it has to then dry for up to 12 hours before lose bits are removed and it is burnished in order to make it really shine.



Burnishing.
The gold is then 'burnished' with a tool that has a highly polished agate stone in it. This not only polishes the gold but also the Red bole clay underneath giving it the effect of being shiny solid gold.



Finishing touches.
The new gilding was 'distressed' (worn a little) to blend it in with the old original gold. It was then waxed polished along with the exposed wooden areas to protect it and give it a final luster. Gilding of this nature where either wooden or painted areas are left showing is known as parcel gilding.
The Sofa has now gone to the upholsterer for it's final touch! And I have my studio space back! So I can continue with my design for an etching 'Flight of the Spoonbill' for Open studio 13. I will be posting about this soon!
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Life Events & Regency Sofas part 1: Stage managing your project!

Not only am I trying to keep my Artistic endeavors going, but also I am restoring antiques again. Art for me is a necessary compulsion and state of being as important as my loved ones and friends. Selling your Art is another matter though. It is also an enigma to me at the moment. I think however perhaps a more ambitious approach might work.
 In order to do this though it helps to have the luxury of time to develop your skill set. Financial support whether it be through a combination of your Job, Arts grants, student grants for further education is all helpful. Also applying for Artists residencies, Exhibitions, Competitions, Public art and arts projects supported by the Arts council also helps allow you to keep your practice going. Above all though you need resilience, vision and imagination.
 I have recently applied for ' Cley13 flight of the spoonbill'. My Idea will take the form of an etch inspired by the sheer beauty of animals in movement and the coast here that I have grown to love. I will know very soon if it has been accepted or not! Either way to make such an etch could be good!

I do wonder where the day goes though, there seems to be little time to do all that I feel I want to and need to, I have learnt though over the years to take it step at a time. So here we have it my first large project on the somewhat cramped operating table!

A Regency Sofa! Probably not originally gilt. I feel that surely you would not make such a thing of beauty in a nice fruit wood in order to cover it in Gesso! what I did deduce though is that the gilding was probably done quite early on no doubt to accommodate a decorative change in Fashion.

Working from home is never easy especially when you have to use your Kitchen facilities! Traditional glues and gilding preparations make my slightly obsessive side come out. For a person who was teased when younger for being scatty I am now the queen of precision and cleanliness:- well almost!

Whilst we are on that subject of; well being younger, there is a big difference to now and back then, I now know that I can do it. If I could have told my younger self to trust in my own judgement and not be afraid to make mistakes when I was in my twenties, who knows where I could be!?!. Hindsight I am told is a wonderful thing but I have to say I am pretty content with my lot now!

However having children in my thirties also seemed to change a lot. In fact I completely felt that I had lost my skills and was not really employable. I was also diagnosed before and after my daughter was born with prenatal and postnatal depression (at least that is my excuse). My unfortunate circumstances at the time propelled it along but luckily I was able to get the help I wanted. I badly wanted to work at that time and have been over the past thirteen years; First as an art tutor to students with special needs and now here I am. My website shows some of that journey: www.louisemaclaren.com and www.notfromtheattic.co.uk. Follow @neat_tweet_art

Life Events & Regency Sofas part 1: Stage managing your project!

Not only am I trying to keep my Artistic endeavors going, but also I am restoring antiques again. Art for me is a necessary compulsion and state of being as important as my loved ones and friends. Selling your Art is another matter though. It is also an enigma to me at the moment. I think however perhaps a more ambitious approach might work.
 In order to do this though it helps to have the luxury of time to develop your skill set. Financial support whether it be through a combination of your Job, Arts grants, student grants for further education is all helpful. Also applying for Artists residencies, Exhibitions, Competitions, Public art and arts projects supported by the Arts council also helps allow you to keep your practice going. Above all though you need resilience, vision and imagination.
 I have recently applied for ' Cley13 flight of the spoonbill'. My Idea will take the form of an etch inspired by the sheer beauty of animals in movement and the coast here that I have grown to love. I will know very soon if it has been accepted or not! Either way to make such an etch could be good!

I do wonder where the day goes though, there seems to be little time to do all that I feel I want to and need to, I have learnt though over the years to take it step at a time. So here we have it my first large project on the somewhat cramped operating table!

A Regency Sofa! Probably not originally gilt. I feel that surely you would not make such a thing of beauty in a nice fruit wood in order to cover it in Gesso! what I did deduce though is that the gilding was probably done quite early on no doubt to accommodate a decorative change in Fashion.

Working from home is never easy especially when you have to use your Kitchen facilities! Traditional glues and gilding preparations make my slightly obsessive side come out. For a person who was teased when younger for being scatty I am now the queen of precision and cleanliness:- well almost!

Whilst we are on that subject of; well being younger, there is a big difference to now and back then, I now know that I can do it. If I could have told my younger self to trust in my own judgement and not be afraid to make mistakes when I was in my twenties, who knows where I could be!?!. Hindsight I am told is a wonderful thing but I have to say I am pretty content with my lot now!

However having children in my thirties also seemed to change a lot. In fact I completely felt that I had lost my skills and was not really employable. I was also diagnosed before and after my daughter was born with prenatal and postnatal depression (at least that is my excuse). My unfortunate circumstances at the time propelled it along but luckily I was able to get the help I wanted. I badly wanted to work at that time and have been over the past thirteen years; First as an art tutor to students with special needs and now here I am. My website shows some of that journey: www.louisemaclaren.com and www.notfromtheattic.co.uk. Follow @neat_tweet_art

This is My second attempt at Etching and Aquatint and is called 'hex 1' it is a genuine number plate on this old motor home, it was very local to me so I took plenty of pictures with my Nikon

D300 first and than made a drawing bearing in mind that some things will stand out better in Etching than others.

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These are my first attempts at etching and Aquatint with Colin Bygrave. To start with you think you have forgotten how to draw and I spent ages trying to mark out my idea accurately! Until

that is I realized it was better just to go for it. So I did!
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Hare today gone tomorrow.....but back for another day, re-used polystyrene block printing technique results for Art workshop with Salthouse Exhibition10- I shall be running two clients and Carers print Workshops

 
 
 
 

Whatch this space for More details:http://www.northnorfolk.org/salthouseartandevents/

Hare today gone tomorrow.....

http://tweetmeme.com/story/1062991649/weebly-weaze-home
Exhibition Page is now updated: this site did get finished before Open Studio! I shall be doing it next time too!
My thanks to all those who were brave enough to Step through My Door! And to those who brought Prints,a pleasant surprise! And my oppologies to Lord and Lady Walpole who sweetley visited and brought one of my Boxing hare Prints- for not realizing who they were at First! perhaps they prefered it that way and it was certainly less daunting for me!
Incidently a friend first told me that contrary to popular belief, BBC wildlife Finder on Hares says; 'observation has revealed that it is usually a Female hitting a Male, either to Show that she is not yet ready to mate or as a test of his determination' (the latter being my favorite thoughts on the subject!)
Not forgeting a Special thank you to Saffron Paffron for a truly joint effort on publicising our Open Studio, it was a pleasure to work with you!
http://www.bluejacketworkshop.co.uk/