COMPO AND GILDING
The compo workshop shown below was held at the Tate Britain in London. During the day we were shown how to prepare compo and how to use moulds to prepare mouldings for a frame.
The practice pieces of gilding I made during the BSc Conservation & Restoratin course. They are examples of both water and oil gilding.
The third part of this section shows the restoration of a mirror frame using techniques learnt during both the compo workshop and while preparing the gilding samples.
COMPO WORKSHOP
Moulds used for making mouldings for decorated frames.
Compo being rolled out before being pressed into a mould.
The compo filled mould is pressed against a wooden board to make sure the moulding sticks to it.
After it has been allowed to cure for a while the finished moulding is cut away from the excess.
And done!
GILDING
An example of oil gilding. The gilding was done using transfer leaf.
Examples of water gilding. A raised decoration was made on the panel with gesso before gilding with loose leaf.
RESTORATION OF A MIRROR FRAME
The missing wood on the frame needed to be replaced first.
A lot of the compo mouldings were missing from the corners of the frame.
A mould was made using an intact section of the frame. This was used to make replacements for the missing mouldings.
The mouldings were painted to match the original surface and the gilded decorations added.
The new gilding was toned with water colours and varnished to better match the original gilding.