How to gold leaf Miniatures : Warhammer 40k 

Oh you're most welcome! Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment, means a lot because I know I'm doing something people are actually interested in 😅 definitely like the idea of gold eldar faces!

You're super welcome! I'm glad you like it. I would say I've experimented more and have more experience on the matter but my hyper focusing has stopped that 😅 if and when I make/do more on this topic, I'll let you guys know with something.

@@MichaelHenderson59 I can totally understand that :) If/when you do swing back around to working on it, I'm definitely looking forward to it ❤️

@@thenadefox453 definitely one of the cruxs of a creative is wobbly attention span 😂

I did some of my custodes in it, looked so cool. Check out "michaelhendersonart" on Instagram to see them!

Thanks speaker man :D!

I think if you splashed out and used genuinely real gold leaf (I think even the more expensive black packet one I had in the video was an alloy) then you'd capture more detail as gold is quite flexible where as alloys tent to tear and snap. It takes a long time but it doesn't necessarily take longer than painting so I think it's worth the investment of effort 😊

@@MichaelHenderson59 That's interesting to hear! I actually live in one of the main areas in Japan for gold leaf, so getting it reasonably high quality for a decent price isn't hard at all! More things to consider, I guess! Hahaha

Thank you Cody :D!

@@MichaelHenderson59 I've been wanting to attempt to gild some Custodian models. I was worried the smaller details might not work properly. But seeing how well the helmet took the leaf, I can't imagine it'll be anyworse.

@@hugmynutus I did some custodians on my Instagram, if you look for michaelhendersonart you should find it :)! They actually went pretty well, if you take your time and do it piece by piece then I think it's as time efficient as painting. It just seem slower because it takes so long just do to 1 bit. Although I will reiterate, the camera lways picked up cracks and scars in the leaf that I simply couldn't see. Something to do with with contrast edges or something but honestly in real life they looked sick! I wanted to do a land raider like a solid block of gold and marble but life happens!

Hello there! Thanks for watching. So, the thing is that turns out I was using almost true gold leaf. I thought it was made of pure gold but it was a near pure alloy, this changes its flexibility quite a lot - probably explaining some of the wrinkles seen. You can use what's known as a "burnishing tool" (like a agate stone for example). Although it's not that it would break the miniature (the plastic is actually fairly strong) but its just very difficult to get such a smooth surface rubbing against some of these tiny areas. Although with some burnishing from something like a rubber/silicone tipped sculpting tool with some kind of lubricating powder that could be blown off afterwords, would probably work best.

You're welcome, that sounds awesome! It's totally possible and looks great but just take your time. I did do an eldar wraithguard head once and it looked so cool! They've definitely got the style for gold 👌🏻

Yes m8. Well gold never tarnishes so millions of years in the crypt would still look pretty dapper ;) would love to see a fully gold brick monolith. That'd be sick!

@@MichaelHenderson59 monolith would be really dope the void dragon as well

That's a brilliant bit of inspiration. I believe the issue would be that skewings wouldn't grind fine enough to become a pigment but more a texture and wouldn't lie flat. I did do most of a custode though, if you check out michaelhendersonart on Instagram you'll find a custode I did. It takes a pretty long time but considering how long painting, drying, layering, washing, drybrushing, highlighting etc takes, it's pretty comparable! Happy gilding my guy!

So for varnishing, what I'd recommend is to paint a bit of your available varnishes on a mirror. Just a smear, wait for it to dry and have a look at it. I've glossed over some of it before and it looks slightly less warm but nearly as bright. Think of varnish as a layer you look through to the paint underneath - matte will absolutely flatten the golds sheen but keep it's colour - similar to a "brushed" or "hammered" style finish. With a reflective surface however, the light has to peirce the varnish, bounce off the colour layer (in this case mirror finish gold leaf) and then go through the varnish again - thus doubling its "flattening" effect. So your varnish has to be crystal clear! Although I have found that the "size" (adhesive) holds onto the leaf extremely well and doesn't really flake off with heavy touching. I will say however that unless it's absolutely pure, real gold leaf (which in hindsight I don't think mine was at its value and how it burns when exposed to a flame) then it will tarnish from the acids and oils present in the skin and moisture in the atmosphere. It's why real gold leaf things like statues have been rained on for hundreds of years and still shine brightly, despite not being varnished.

@@MichaelHenderson59 so matte varnish turns the gold leaf effect into metallic paint. Got it

Hmmm, I reckon it is possible, however the leaf has such a thin, glossy, smooth surface that the paint probably wouldn't adhere too well and would likely scratch off very easily. You could apply varnish to the paint you apply but it may dull the gold. Think scratchcard type finish! I haven't tried it though, it'd be worth exploring :)

Seen others use watercolour paint like a ink wash, problem being like all metels its hydroponic so it will pool into droplets.

Quality over quantity my friend, you are a quality person 🙏🏻

Easy, Many people Watched the vídeo but online eighty of them trully liked the vídeo

You can do but the varnish may dull the gold leaf if it's not pure gold. Real genuine gold leaf shouldn't need varnish as it won't tarnish or dull over time and the size adhesive is so strong, it's not going to let the gold flake off. But if you're not sure it'll last and you'll be heavily gaming with the models then a thin coat of the clearest varnish you can find would help protect it :)

@MichaelHenderson59 thanks a lot :) again, beautiful work

Because we live in a cruel cruel world 😉

@@MichaelHenderson59 Nah. I think that's because we live in a very inaccurate, bungler world ;)

Takes a very long time to do a sink e Custodian but it looks unbelievable when it's done!