Revitalizing a classic weathervane

A client came to us for refurbishing the gold leaf finish on their series of 3 identical banner weathervanes. The ocean front location of the weathervanes attributed to the deterioration of the original gilding. With the harsh sand wiping around in the area the gold was beginning to wear and expose the aluminum.  Aluminum is a suitable weathervane material because it does not rust. All of the old coatings were removed by sand blasting, the entire weathervane was then primed and painted. The areas to be gilded were prepared with additional coatings specific to the gilding process. Finally the 23.5k gold leaves were hand applied and buffed.