Gilding

I have made a hand carved mirror frame and gilded it with Dutch gold metal sheets. Unfortunately I put a coat of shellac over the final coat as a preservative and to give it a particular patina. It looks fine, but in some areas I put too much shellac on and it has run and caused unsightly runs. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get this off without disturbing the gilding and having to replace the guilding?
Charles Castle

G'day Charles

Try a soft cloth or cotton wool soaked with metho wiping off regularly with a clean, soft, lint free rag. Should do the trick with no damage to the gilding.

Cheers
Neil

Another technique you could try is to dip a 2 or 3" brush into the Alco, and work the "tip" of the brush across the runs, (kind of like a fan, going from right to left and back) this should flow out the Shellac.

Do not apply to much pressure on the brush.

This is called "Tipping Off" and was commonly used on Shellac finishes.

MacS