Located in the heart of downtown Raleigh, Golden Mean offers a curated collection of new and vintage home decor items, stunning jewelry and artful gifts. From natural-dyed goods to hand-cut stencil prints, the shop carries a wide array of unique handmade treasures.
This watercolor portrait of a Golden Retriever makes a thoughtful personalized gift for the dog owner in your life. It’s framed with gold accents and a certificate of authenticity.
Mosaic Wall Decor
The perfect holiday gift for the artisan on your list, this mosaic wall art uses a no-mess glitter print to eliminate glitter flake while maximizing bling. This piece is handcrafted by Mosaic Art Gallery, a family-owned and operated workshop that relies on long traditions, sophisticated skills and advanced techniques to create artistic mosaic gifts to accent interiors.
Shop Local – Golden Mean only opened its doors in March of this year, but owner Grace Milligan had been dreaming of creating her artist-focused shop for years before. Get your hands on some handmade artisan goodies and support a local business at the Foothills Art Center’s Holiday Art Market or Golden High School’s Holiday Bazaar.
The best gifts don’t have to be a thing, so treat the loved ones on your list to an experience in Golden! Gift a restaurant gift card from a favorite lunch spot or package one with tickets to a museum tour or performance for an afternoon of fun.
Gilded Ceramic Pottery Gifts
For pottery enthusiasts, a set of refined trimming tools by Xiem is the perfect gift for those who love to refine and add intricate details to their handmade ceramics. These tools use luster overglaze to create shiny golden accents on ceramic pieces.
This artisan pottery ring dish is the ideal gift for newly engaged couples, or anyone who appreciates both beauty and utility. Each artisan ceramic plate is personalized with your choice of monogram letters, the word “engaged,” and the date, for a truly unique gift.
Chinese porcelain had an indelible influence on Iranian pottery throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the Safavid dynasty treated ceramics as prized luxury gifts to be presented at official occasions. This Persian celadon jug is both a work of art and an impressive piece of functional homeware, with its striking blue glaze and rustic shape.
Gold Embellished Portrait Paintings
Whether you want to commemorate a loved one or just capture the soft sepia tones of a family photo, gold embellished portrait paintings are a wonderful way to cherish memories. Artist Heather Chatmon recreates real mementos in her art, such as the delicate patterns of an antique teacup or the faded fur of a beloved Teddy bear, then enhances the work with washes of watercolour and hints of gold leaf to make it truly special.
In the past, artists would use a complicated process of water-gilding to apply gold leaf to wooden panel paintings. Gustav Klimt’s ethereal portrait of his lover Adele Bloch-Bauer is an example, immortalising the beauty of his golden era with his shimmering dress.
To gild your own painting, start with patent or loose leaf (patent leaves have tissue paper backing and loose leaf requires a gilder’s tip). Gently rub the leaf to cause friction and then place it over your painting. Let it sit for three to seven days to adhere before you seal it. If you prefer, you can gild the Qua tang doanh nghiep entire canvas first, which may take more sheets but will create a more dramatic effect.
