Thursday, December 15, 2011

Golden Walnut

Hi guys, and thank you, as always, for your loyalty and love. But now you're back. Because you want to make a golden walnut. And I totally understand! I did too.

These make lovely little gifts.
I believe this is what they call a tutorial, but it is so easy, it hardly needs any explaining. In truth, if you buy a little gold-leafing kit, like this one here at Dick Blick, it will come with instructions, and you'll be like, "Thanks for nothing, Catherine." Fair enough. I think they have that kit at Michael's too, by the way, and if you have a 40% off coupon, well, so much the better. The kit costs around $10.

You'll start with your gold leaf, your gold leaf adhesive, a small screw eye (from the hardware store), a paint brush, a walnut, some thread for hanging, and a piece of wax paper. 


First you'll screw in the screw eye. Like this.


Then you will hold the walnut by the screw eye and paint it with an even coat of the gold-leaf adhesive, which you shook before opening. Lay it on the wax paper to dry for 1/2 an hour or up to 24 hours, as per the instructions on the bottle. I left mine for half an hour.


Now tear a sheet of gold leaf from the little booklet and begin gently wrapping it around the walnut, pressing and rubbing into all the little crevices as you go. Eventually you will get yourself into a bad situation with overlapping gold leaf heading the wrong way, and so you will tear the sheet there and start again in a blank place, tearing and pressing and rubbing until the whole walnut is covered. None of the seams will show, amazingly--the gold leaf will kind of seal up around itself in a lovely way, and it will look perfect, no matter how many little patches you needed to add. I even needed to dab a little more adhesive on a bald patch, wait another half hour, and then leaf just that tiny patch--and this, too, was no big deal.


There's also a sealant in the kit that you can use or not. We've done it both ways. It dulls the finish a little, so we stopped using it--given that these ornaments aren't getting a lot of rigorous use or anything. Tie a thread through the screw eye, and you're done. Or thread a chain through for a totally original necklace that would be what they call "a conversation piece." It is lovely, no? I want to do an acorn too. And a silver nutmeg. I'm not so sure about the pear, though. I can see how Midas got himself into so much trouble. Ben and Birdy would look so cute gold.

13 comments:

  1. O.M.G., my 4-month-old would look freakin *adorable* in gold! All those chubby little folds and creases would catch the light just right.

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  2. dale in denver5:50 PM

    next year's teachers gifts! score! looks like the kits contain 25 sheets - how many walnuts will a gold leaf sheet cover? Two? Almost 2? More than 2?

    Do you wear cotton gloves to press the gold leaf in? Use a brush? Or just your bare fingers?

    i heart you and your creative/crafty/cooking mind!

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  3. Wait. So you post a link to Dick Blick so I can make a gold testicle?

    What kinda blog is this turning into?!

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  4. Dale, I just do it bare-handed. Will I have Alzheimer's by next week? And I would say 3 walnuts for every 2 sheets.

    Lauren A.: I'm still laughing. . . and nothing would it bear, but a golden testicle, and a silver, er. . .

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  5. Anonymous11:12 AM

    Before you gild your nuts, carefully pry them open with a sharp knife, so the shape stays intact. Remove the fruit, and place something special inside: money, a button, a note. Glue it back together with Elmers glue or tacky glue. It should fit perfectly. Then gild it. Surprise the kids by opening one on Christmas morn! They'll perhaps think it was magic?

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  6. I love your blog. I don't comment often but if I did, it would look something like this: I love your blog! I wish there were a "like" button because I like them all.
    I enjoy reading your recipes and projects and I even contemplate doing them. But you could propose jam on toast and I'd read every word. (That's one I could pull off too.) Your photos and descriptions are really my main objective here.

    But since I happen to have gold spray paint I may attempt a much less fancier version of your gold leaf walnut project, and Anonymous's suggestion really would make it special.

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  7. OOh! I love the gold walnuts. We have some "raw" walnuts on our tree that my parents made years ago and some painted to look like strawberries that my in-laws made. The gold would go very well with those!

    Congratulations Ms. Editor! Our Winter Chop Chop came in the mail today. :)

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  8. Would you post a link to Babble's top mom bloggers? I'm trying to google it but can't find it.

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  9. Froilyn - Philippines10:50 PM

    Painting you children gold... that's such a funny thought!

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  10. Froilyn - Philippines10:51 PM

    Painting you children gold... that's such a funny thought!

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  11. I just wanted to tell you thank you for suggesting "The Children of Noisy Village" a couple of years ago. I read the parts about leading into Christmas and Christmas Eve to Soren tonight. He's very taken with the book as a whole, but the way in which they celebrate Christmas is especially entertaining.

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  12. Great tips! Thanks for sharing! I`m gonna tweet about your blog!

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