Gold and Silver Powder for Art
- admin
- January 3, 2016
So having had a few enquiries about my gold and silver powder that I use in my textured paintings (and in fact in my fluid abstract paintings), I’ve done a bit more investigating as to where you can get hold of something at least similar to what I have.
I got my gold, silver and bronze powder deep in the industrial area of Dubai! I have no idea what it was intended to be used for but myself and a few other artists over there started using it and loved it!
You only need the smallest amount possible on your paintings so it lasts pretty much forever. As I had 3 or 4 1 litre pots of the stuff I still have loads of it left.
I find the best use for it is to use it to rub into paintings that have a lot of texture on. You can either rub it into the cracks and crevices on a painting or you can use a sponge to pretty much dry brush it onto the top of bits of texture. If you don’t like what you have done then you can wipe it off with some water although his becomes difficult if you have put a lot on.
You can also add it to a painting medium so that it is effectively in liquid form and you can apply it like that.
In my fluid paintings I put the smallest amount onto the end of a stick or sponge (and I mean the smallest amount – I put some on then knock most of it back into the pot) before applying a dusting to the painting. If the painting is still liquid then the powder will move around and form nice organic patterns.
With the textured paintings I like to combine using the powder with also using gold or silver paint and maybe some gold leaf too as they come up with different effects. To be honest I’m a bit of a gold addict!
So I’ll try and attach a close up of a painting or two where I have used the gold powder so that you can see what kind of effect you can get…
OK so the above painting has a fair bit of gold powder on it – in particular you can see where I have rubbed it onto the squares in positions 4, 8, 23, 27 and 32 (although I think there is some on other squares too).
You can also see in the painting above that I have used the gold powder to rub into high pieces of texture at the top as well as some silver powder on the bottom right and more gold powder on the left bottom below the gold leaf.
OK so here are the examples of what looks to be a similar gold powder on Amazon both in the UK and US. I haven’t tried and tested these so I don’t know if they will perform in the same way but they look pretty similar to what I have and for the price they are probably worth a try:
And these look very much like the silver powder that I have been using although the UK product is more of a cosmetic one but looks like it might still do the job:
Please note that I am an Amazon affiliate and may earn a commission from any items bought through links on my website 🙂
Comments List
adminNovember 9, 2019 1:38 pm /
Hi Russ, yes that is an option. I have used the gold powder with medium added to rub onto a painting. However, it is not the same effect as gilding with leaf so I guess you have to decide if it looks like you want it to. There are also some really strong gold paints around that could be used instead. I have one that I bought in Dubai but I can't find it for sale elsewhere. It is a gilding and decorative gold paint and is oil based which is fine if you want a solid gold appearance with no breaks in the gold colour, i.e. like you would get with a paint. I couldn't really find something similar in the US (assuming that is where you are!) but I wonder if something like this might work: https://amzn.to/32CpKac
Rebecca PictonDecember 15, 2017 4:24 pm /
Hi, can you help I’ve been given real gold powder and I’ve no idea what to mix it with to use on paintings or for calligraphy writing Could you please give me any help or advice Thank you Rebecca PictonadminDecember 16, 2017 11:06 am /
Hi Rebecca, I use it by rubbing it on dry or wet paintings but that is with acrylics. I also use it mixed with water or a painting medium (just needs a very small amount) so you could probably use it with an oil painting medium. Not sure about calligraphy though, sorry.Rebecca PictonDecember 17, 2017 6:06 pm /
Thank you for the information I’ll try it out
MikailJanuary 29, 2018 4:21 pm /
Hi, I have been searching all day for gold powder and could not find any :( could you pls send on my email contacts or location if you have , thank You :)
RussNovember 9, 2019 1:20 am /
I am in the process of gilding and I noticed that leafing is very time consuming and there is waste. I was thinking about making a paint instead. Someone suggested getting gold powder and mixing it into a medium in order to create a gold paint. Is this a viable option? Would it stretch the gold further than with leafing? If this is a viable option, how much powder would I need per quantity of medium? I think this method would be easier and better in general than leafing. Please help if you can.