Tamise Gilded Mini Pumpkins

Gilding Pumpkins is a lovely way to highlight Autumn's splendor! This project offers a fun and exciting way to
add the beauty of Tamisé Metal Leaf Flakes to your fall décor. It’s a great project for kids when supervised by
a grown up. Swirling pumpkins in bowls of gorgeous flakes feels like making cotton candy!

Step 1: What You'll Need

Variety of small pumpkins or gourds

Small foam brush for applying size

Mixing bowl or pot to hold flakes

Cotton gilding gloves

Sepp Gilding Workshop Water-Based Gilding Size (glue for leaf)

Sepp Gilding Workshop Tamisé Flakes – Sunshine, Mix Gold and Variegated Red

Step 2: Apply Water-Based Size

Lightly load your foam brush and apply enough SGW Water-Based Size to leave a thin white coating all over the pumpkin. Rest the sized pumpkins on wax paper. The SGW Size will quickly shift from milky white to glossy and clear (in about 20 minutes), then the pumpkin is ready to gild. Check that the glue feels dry but tacky.

Step 3: Gild Your Pumpkins

Pour a generous amount of Tamisé Flakes into your bowl. For this project we used Sunshine, (imitation gold and copper), Mix Gold (imitation gold and aluminum), and Variegated Red (dusky tones of rich reds, violets and copper). There are a dozen colorways to choose from!

For this project, wearing cotton gloves keeps your hands from getting sticky. Hold the pumpkin by its stem and swirl it around in the bowl of flakes (kids love this part!). You can fill in patches by taking a pinch of the flakes and pressing onto the pumpkin. We mixed the Variegated Red with some of the Sunshine to create a new color combination for one of the pumpkins. Return any leftover flakes to their package and repeat the process with a new color.

Step 4: Polishing

Once the pumpkins are completely covered, use your gloved hands to buff down and smooth the flakes of leaf. Your polished pumpkin patch is ready to glow!

Step 5: Display!