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I am restoring an old brass bed that has glass inserts on the head and foot boards. There is a rectangular wooden piece with gold leaf under glass on all four sides. The glass is glued to the wood with brass caps on the top and bottom. Each glass piece has 3 red diamonds stacked vertically and bordered by a thin flat gold line. The surrounding area is crinkled gold leaf. Is there a way to reproduce this effect? Would an adhesive be visible through the glass? I could paint the diamonds with nail polish but how can I outline each of them with a small line of flat gold?
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The thin flat gold line around the diamonds is created first. The entire area is gilded either by laying gold leaf or by Angel Gilding. Next you paint over the gold line you want to keep as gold. Then you remove the excess gold around the line with a mild abrasive and cotton wool. Then you paint in the red for the diamonds. The process requires skill and experience - you probably want to talk to a sign painter in your area that specializes in laying gold leaf.