Gilded Christmas Tree Decoration

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I know, I know—Halloween isn't even here and I'm posting about Christmas. But, it's not too early to start making decorations. For this piece I used the Christmas Tree mold from Arnold Grummer's. These molds are great for paper pulp, but this time I used Creative PaperClay. I kneaded the clay and then pressed it into the mold, taking care to press the clay into all the intricate design areas. 

Christmas Tree mold

I removed the casting from the mold before it was completely dry, and set in right side up on a flat surface to finish drying. Then, I trimmed the casting with a craft knife and filed any rough edges.
Trimmed casting
Next, I sealed the piece with PPA from USArtQuest. After the PPA dried I covered the piece with USArtQuest's Duo Adhesive. This unique adhesive goes on white, but its real magic happens when it dries clear. It becomes tacky enough for gilding, powdered mica pigments, foiling or even glitter. I chose to cover the tree with silver gilding leaf. Here is a picture of the first gilding step—the piece is covered with gilding leaf that I laid on and gently pushed into place with a soft brush.

Christmas tree with gilding

 Next step is burnishing the gliding with a texture sponge to coat all the intricate design area. Here you can see that I've burnished the top of the tree.

Partially burnished tree
After I finished burnishing the entire piece, I polished it with a cotton puff to bring out the luster of the gilding. Here's the finished Christmas tree. I can't wait to display it during the holidays.

Finished gilded tree from Arnold Grummer's Christmas Tree mold
You can see more of my project on the Create & Craft blog.

Carole












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