ETCETERAS: Gold Leaf Elephant Trinket Dish with Heart Footsteps

I jumped on the gold leaf trinket dish train and also borrowed some inspiration from the painted animal trend. Combine the two and you you get a Gold Leaf Elephant Trinket Dish complete with little heart footsteps for Valentine’s Day.

Let me tell you, I think it would have been easier to paint this little guy. Gold leaf is tricky to use on a flat surface let alone a 3D surface like this little plastic elephant. But I persevered and got him covered.

The first step was to glue him to the dish. I used E-6000 glue so that he would hold tight. Once he was stuck on I covered him in  coat of tacky glue and then let the glue almost dry. Using small pieces of the gold leaf sheets, I carefully covered him using a tiny paint brush to press the pieces on. I used another small soft paint brush to brush away the extra flecks of gold leaf.

The heart shaped footprints were easy to make. I used double stick tape cut into heart shapes, pressed them onto the dish and then applied the gold leaf. The soft paint brush removed the excess gold leaf where there wasn’t any tape.

The final step was a coat of clear sealer. Once dried, I tested out the dish with my husband’s wedding band. Perfect!  He can use the rest of the dish for other small objects.