mini-project: gilding large stones for table-top book weights

Grace's mini-guide to paperweights excited me way more than is probably normal and/or healthy.

This particular knobbly gold nugget paperweight, priced at around $140, got me thinking... how difficult would it be to apply gold leaf to stones? and how beautiful and easy wouldn't that be?

One could do big, melon-sized stones and place them on books on a coffee table...! definitely my next project: headed off to Michaels this week for some gold leaf.



[By the request of Ms. Johnson, the images of her gilded stones, which I had cropped in such a way as to conceal her cherry-on-top addition of opalescent snail shells, have been removed.]

why don't you... carve out a gallery space with painted stripes?

Spotting this image of built-in display shelves, (designed by Todd Romano, Jan '07 Elle Decor), I was suddenly inspired. One doesn't need built-ins to create a graphic display to showcase a collection -- probably not platters, but hats; mirrors; or prints/ photos.... It would be fairly simple to 1) put up some molding to frame a blank section of wall; 2) paint three wide stripes, and 3) display your pieces in 3 x 6 grid. Optional, 4) Take a cue from Romano, and center the largest pieces.

It would be really beautiful to paint light stripes on dark walls. . .