My latest project has again been in the field of artistic creativity and I have spent the last three months. (we are talking about 60+ hours per week) painting some large plaster cornice moulding. A part-time assistant also helped to sealed up the top and bottom border where the gilding was done.
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| Three pieces of finished moulding |
The moulding comes from my friends at Decorator's Supply in Chicago Illinois. They have been producing plaster and compo mouldings and ornaments for more than a century and have some very nice products on offer. This particular plaster moulding was absolutely perfect to begin my project with. I usually do not like buying ready-made products because it means that someone else, somewhere in the world will also have the same product, but with this project, I knew the level of decoration that I was planning would truly make it 100 per cent unique and individual.
The mouldings come completely white, and crated up, six pieces to a crate. (Very heavy to move around) What follows is a picture sequence of most of the steps in decorating them.
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| The first step is to seal the top and bottom borders which will be gilded. After that, the quatrefoils (four "petals" inside a "circle) all have to be filled in, beginning with the middle. Since the piece is a "cove" moulding, it is easier to shift the position to paint the upper and lower areas later |
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| The piece has been shifted so that the lower quatrefoils can be painted |
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| Some pieces had imperfections and bubbles which had to be fixed in the process of doing the work |
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| Once the middle and lower areas are complete the piece is turned upside-down and the upper quatrefoils are then filled in. All of the paint is casein paint; it works beautifully with the plaster. Once the "pink" is finished I move on to a pale yellow and paint all the areas wanting that colour |
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| Painting the "pink" is the most time consuming, taking more than one day for each piece. The next most time is taken up with the mustard yellow... |
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| ...Half is done and then the moulding is turned back "right-side-up" to finish The little knife I made a few years ago by hammering a nail until it had a spring temper to it. It's shape is mostly what came of the hammering process but it turned out to be a wonderful little tool and great for fixing minor slips with the paint. |
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| The green leaves follow. Most of the colours are applied in a wash so that the plaster still shines through as can be observed in porcelain painting |
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| A lighter "russet" wash and then a dark opaque add some colour to the flowers which will remain white |
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| The last step in the painting comes with manipulating a single colour of blue to create an entire spectrum of colour for the remaining flowers (in this picture, the paint is still wet) |
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| For gilding, I used a "slow set" oil size. This meant that in the evening, before going home, I would need to apply it, and on the following day (12 hours later) apply the leaf. |
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| I lay all the leaf on and then press it down on simple reliefs such as this |
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| The top is more complicated so it must be applied and pressed down as I go The drops of size on the paper speak for themselves as to why it is there, but all of these drops occurred in the course of doing 27 sections of moulding |
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| The final product - almost. The flowers do not have as much definition once the paint is dry... |
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| ...so a bit of clear shellac in places gives them back the look that they had when wet |
Quite surprising for myself, was the fact that in the course of three months of painting all of this I really never got burnt out and fed up with doing it. I was afraid that it would become drudgery, but up to the last one I was still actually enjoying painting these. Now I have to get the space ready for the installation...
Stay tuned.
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| A larger section of one piece, showing the entire pattern (This picture was taken before the last phase of enhancing the blue) |
