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Watergild Studios offers specialist gilding services for artists, designers, architects, craftspeople, private clients, and heritage projects. With a deep understanding of traditional and modern gilding techniques, we work with genuine gold leaf, metal leaf, glass gilding, oil gilding, water gilding, and contemporary systems such as Instacoll to create beautiful, lasting finishes. Whether restoring a treasured object, adding luxury detail to interiors, creating bespoke signage, enriching artwork, or advising on a specialist project, our approach is careful, practical, and highly personal. Every commission is treated with respect for the material, the setting, and the client’s vision — bringing warmth, craftsmanship, and the unmistakable brilliance of gold to each piece.

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Welcome to Gilding Education with
Watergild Studios!

Welcome to one of the internet’s leading online resources for gilding tuition. This site has been created to teach, encourage, and preserve the fine art of gilding, offering guidance for learners of all levels.

With traditional gilding skills becoming increasingly rare, there has never been a better time to discover this beautiful and prestigious craft — whether as a hobby, a creative sideline, or the beginning of a professional business.

My name is Richard, and I live and work near the historic city of Portsmouth on the south coast of England. I studied gilding at the University of Portsmouth and have now been practising the craft for nearly thirty years. During my career and in conversations with those who wish to learn the craft, I have realised that clear, easy-to-follow information about gilding was surprisingly difficult to find online. That discovery became the inspiration behind this website: to make gilding more accessible, understandable, and enjoyable for everyone.

Throughout the site, you’ll find step-by-step guidance, practical advice, and detailed images to help you understand each process more clearly. Many of the pictures can be enlarged for closer detail — simply click on them.

So, let’s begin at the beginning — always a good place to start.

The aim of this website is to give you a full introduction to gilding, beginning with the basic techniques and gradually leading you towards more advanced methods and a deeper understanding of the craft. Gilding can be a tricky skill to learn from a book or website alone, so I have worked hard to keep the information as clear, simple, and practical as possible.

Above, you’ll find the main menu, which will guide you to the different areas of the site. It is always available, so you can easily find your way around.

So, please enjoy the site. If you are new to gilding, I recommend starting with GILDING BASICS.