Gold Gilded Bird Art

This gold gilded bird art was easy and inexpensive to make. A simple and beautiful DIY art project to dress up any space in your home!

I was really impressed with the fabric paint projects the gals came up with last week. You? I’m certain this round of the One Item Project Challenge will be no different. 

This time I chose gold gilding or leafing as the supply we had to work with. I’ve been wanting to introduce a bit of gold into our home for a while now, and thought this was the perfect opportunity. After working with silver leafing in the past, I thought it would be fun to give something new a try, so I picked up Martha Stewart’s liquid gilding on one of my trips to Michaels.

After pondering what I could do with it for a couple weeks, I remembered a beautiful bird tray I saw at Pier 1 Imports in the spring, and decided to use it as a source of inspiration for an art project.

DIY Gold Gilded Bird Art

To create your own gold gilded bird art, you will need:

• cardstock (I used a 12″ x 12″ piece of glossy linen-look called glass slipper from the scrapbooking section of Michaels)
• small paint brushes
• gold gilding
• bird graphic (I found mine HERE)
• fine pencil
• scissors
• frame

To start with, I printed the bird graphic, cut it out and traced it in pencil onto the cardstock. (Note: next time I would print it out onto cardstock so it doesn’t curl up and stays in place better while tracing.)

Next, I shook the gilding bottle really well, dipped the larger paint brush into the gold, and began to fill in the drawing, starting with the bird, working down, and then left to right on the branch. I switched between the very fine brush and larger angled brush as needed.

After the first coat dried for an hour or so, I went back and touched up the fine detail areas, making sure everything was covered. I also used the smaller brush to give the bird and leaves a little definition.

To finish it off, I used an inexpensive frame I found at a big box store. I like how the white keeps it looking fresh.

I leaned the bird art on our bedroom dresser against a hanging mirror for now, but I’d like to create one more piece so I can hang them above our nightstands on either side. I love how the light bounces off the gold and adds a subtle touch of sparkle.

Now, head over to Simple Details and check out Pam’s DIY Gold Accents.

Be sure to come back next Wednesday to find out what the final craft supply was on our One Item Project Challenge list and see what we all did with it. Oh, and there’s also a fantastic giveaway you won’t want to miss (hint: it’s the related to today’s craft item)! Update: See that post HERE.

For more ideas similar to this one, check out the Craft Gallery!

xo,