Sliver leafing my table

What the heck I know I know another silver leafing project???  I just can’t help myself  I have silver leaf floating in the air at my house.  My cute dog is covered in little specks of shinny silver stuff. My husband is often told he has glitter on his forehead or sweater, seriously its a sickness!!!

I have been silver leafing several things these past few weeks but today I’m going to show you step by step how to leaf a little bench. I got this cute little number from the Gap when they were moving out of the South Town Mall.

First clean clean clean with heavy duty 409 or something that has a strong degreaser. Then give it a light sanding.   Now comes the fun part.  Paint a thin coat of a leafing adhesive  to the surface and let dry for an hour.  This is a must!!!  There can not be any wet parts left on the bench.  If there is the leafing wont adhere properly and will disintegrate and be a mess,  trust me I know, I’ve done it about three times.  You would think I’d learn….

 This part might drive you crazy but I think its the best part!  You will need to lay the sheets of sliver on top of the tacky glue. There is no need to make it even or line them up, its  not going to happen.  If you have a space in between or cracks that’s ok  you will be able to fill it in with the extra leafing floating around you.

 After you cover an area then you are going to burnish it.  I use an old makeup brush and it works like a charm.   just swirl it lightly in a circle until  all the wrinkles are smoothed out and it is full adhered to the surface of the bench.  This is where your piece begins to shine and look like a million bucks.  It also gives it character where as spray paint kinda gives wood a flat, show every dent and scratch kinda look.

 Awe now doesn’t that look nice?  shinny and modern and ready for the next step.  Do you see the vacuum waiting to suck up all the leafing?  lol 

 Now we need to wax it.  there are several kinds of waxes out there and you only need a smidgen.  (Annie Sloan has a great one.)  use a paint brush  with a just a bit of wax on it, then I  drag it along the silver in long strokes.  If you want that aged silver look like Z gallery’s silver furniture you will have to be very heavy handed. 

 After that dries, and really its pretty much dry once you put it on. I tipped it over and put a mint green paint on the inside of the legs.   Oh I love it!!!! a little pop of color where you least expect it.  Last but not least you will want to polish the top with a fluffy dust cloth just to make the wax shine.   I’d give this little bench an A+ now where to put it???