The first thing to remember about reverse gilded glass is that everything needs to be done in reverse. This is easier to remember when working on a window pane where it is obvious which side is the front and which is the back.
The first image is an example of a glass coaster where I was so excited to try out the technique that I forged ahead without giving it much thought. I painted the black outline, then I painted a varnish pattern within the letter to give some variation to the gold applied to it. The gilding went quite well, but could do with having an extra layer of gold to help fill in any gaps. The finish of the gold isn't quite as smooth or mirrored as I would like and I think this might be down to the amount of gelatine I used to apply the gold, I think more gelatine would have given a better finish. I'm hoping to create a post in the future that explains the process in detail.
I decided to abandon this piece when I realised that I had not reversed the template for the letter, and as a result the letter is backwards when viewed from the correct side.
The second time I attempted this method of applying gold to glass I remembered to print my template in reverse, and attached it to the front of the glass with masking tape. I flooded the glass with my water solution and applied the gold leaf. I used another version of my template as a pounce pattern and applied some chalk dust over it to give me a guide so I could paint over the outline of the letter. When the paint was dried I removed the excess gold. From the front of the glass it looks pretty good, but I decided to try applying a different type of gold in the centre. This time I could see the painted outline showing through the gold, so I was able to paint over all of it without the need for a template. When I finish this piece up I will upload some more pictures.
