Is it really 2017

Already? 

 Happy New Year! Now that its past Christmas I can share one of my favorite slate frames with you all~ nothing brings in a New Year like some gold! I had a special customer that ordered a frame for Christmas~ all she said was to base it on my Flemish Box that I worked a bit ago~

 There is a lot of gold on that box and my following Christmas ornament

 I wanted to make the frame extra special for her for Christmas, so I used real liquid gold for the scrolls and hilites and boy oh boy does it ever sparkle!

 Here I am just starting to add the gold~ in addition to the scrolls, there is gold on the petals and leaves as well~ just like how I embroidered the originals

 One thing I really love about using the liquid gold is how subtle it is....at first you may not even realize there is gold on the piece, but then when you look closer, or move it a certain direction~ the light just dances off in all sorts of directions and makes the surface glow~ soooooo pretty!

 The gold on the top of the trees looks like sunshine

 Scrolling Dutch tulips are perfectly suited for a horizontal slate frame

 I cant wait to paint myself a frame like this~ at the rate I'm going, it may be a few years before I get one~

I couldn't think of a better way to bring in the New Year than working with some 24k gold leaf~ maybe thats how this year will be for everyone~ I hope so! I am gilding casket and mirror case feet this week~ these pictured are mirror case feet that havent been burnished yet. An embroidered casket is special~ if you use the best hardware and the best real gold threads available~ why not give it the best feet available? My casket feet are fr sale in my Diamond K Folk Art blog shop~ link & more info to the right~  cause a girl's just got to have some pretty shoes....