More Pinstripe Practice

I swear I have a regular job with many many many hours every week devoted to my jobs. However, in order to maintain my sanity and keep up with practice, I try to as frequently as possible break out a blank panel and experiment on it. Today's experiment was a combination of things. Not all panels make it to the end like this, but this one did. So I started with a panel painted really bright orange. Next, I used a stabilo pencil to draw out the design I wanted to fill with gold leaf (faux). After the design is done, I brush in a mix of Sepp brand Gold Leaf Adhesive, a little 1 Shot Imitation Gold (for tint), and a drop or 2 of Mineral Spirits, using a Mack 10 series #1. I brush it in freehand instead of using tape to outline the design- I find that in each subsequent step not having the tape edge helps a lot. Now the gold leaf adhesive (or "size") has to setup to its tacky point... with this stuff it takes between 3-4 hours. After the adhesive is at its proper tack, I applied loose leaf gold leaf over the entire design. With loose leaf there is a bit more mess, but I feel like the leaf lays smoother. Once the leaf is well pressed into the adhesive, I clean off the excess with a make-up brush and careful rubbing. As soon as I was done I took a drill equipped with a velvet end and turned the leaf. Faux gold leaf doesn't turn really great, but it turns Ok. Even this isn't the best example. Once the engine turning is done, I use the same Mack 10 series #1 to brush clear coat over all the leaf. The brushed clear will go a little past the leaf, but with no tape edge leaves no built up edge to outline. After the clear was set-up I outlined everything with 1 Shot Process Blue and added a little to the design as I went along including some floating borders using a Mack 10 series #00. Once the blue was dry, I went back in with 1 Shot Aqua and added a little more to the design and to the straight lines using the same brush. Even tho the gold leaf didn't come out exactly the way I wanted, everything else came out great. Outside the colors really jumped. So here's a panel that made it alllllllllll the way to the end!