Meggie Garcelon is a gilder on wood and makes traditional gilding with gold leaf on all types of objects such as frames, mirrors, statuettes, armchairs, sofas, barometers or even canvases. She mainly gilds with gold leaf, even if she happens to use white gold, green gold, copper, silver or even aluminum. She learned her profession by passing a CAP in alternation at the CFA of furnishing "la Bonne Graine" in Paris 11 and at Ardustyl, a house specializing in the framework in Paris 12 from 2002 to 2005. She then worked in various companies where she was able to specialize in gilding patina. It was in 2012 that she created her own workshop in Chelles en Seine et Marne.
The gilder mainly does restoration, although she hopes to be able to develop the creation of frames as well as the gilding on canvas (or wall support). The image below is a frame with a mirror where Meggie Garcelon has asymmetrically engraved stylized flower petals. Once the frame was assembled, Meggie Garcelon filled in the corners, sanded everything, then drew the design freehand in three places on the frame. She then engraved the pattern using her repair iron (the barley grain iron), then leveled the support and then sanded and then gilded the entire frame with gold leaf. She then passed the agate stone over the petals and around the outside of the frame. Everything is gilded with gold leaf in the traditional way (water). Each petal is passed to the agate stone in order to make it shiny and to bring out even more the pattern. It's the contrast that makes the gold leaf gilding interesting: you couldn't get this shade, this glossy / matt play with gold paint on one frame.
The gilding technique used in the image below is the one she uses the most: traditional gilding (tempera, water) with gold leaf. She also makes gilding with water mix and oil mix, but always with the leaf.
She created this framework because she wanted to show that we could do simple, modern and chic things without having too much "bling bling". Indeed, in the minds of people, gilding is often associated with an "old thing", exclusively reserved for people like "Louise XV". This kind of frame can be suitable for different interiors and remains at a reasonable price, which allows the democratization of gilding.
The main sources of inspiration for Meggie Garcelon are flowers, floral designs and leaves. She particularly appreciates everything related to the different cultures of the world such as Polynesian, Celtic or even oriental art.
Photo credit @alainpoully
.jpg)
