Sometimes with Verre Eglomise you want the gold to look antiqued. If you want a perfectly clean look then I really recommend The Smith Tip (Dave Smith invented it) it's wonderful for giving you a very smooth wrinkle free surface to your leaf. But if you want something that looks a little worn then it's good to use an old fashioned gilder's tip and add depth to the gold with washes or clouding. This little fern really stands out because of the marks in the leaf. I tried it initially with a clean gold and it didn't look as striking. Of course you can always use steel wool to distress the leaf, but if you want it to be solid but marked in certain areas I think clouding is the way to go.
