Gold leafing
Heather Murray
instructor was taking subject requests, and after the folks new to
illumination had got theirs in, I asked about gold leafing. Hepped up on
caffeine, I neglected to ask a few questions, and I'd like more varied
sources of information, though I'll still ask her on our list.
Now, she used a slightly beaten egg for attachment of the gold leaf.
What other options are there? Which are period?
She also spoke of scribing the gold leaf once attached. I believe this
was some form of diapering, but I'm not sure.... Would you continue to
diaper with your gouache on top of the gold? Would artist's watercolors
stay on, or would you have to mix in some egg white or some modern
equivalent for that?
Margaret Northwode
Andy Dingley
<marg...@easaraighexpunge.orgorganizethis> wrote:
>Now, she used a slightly beaten egg for attachment of the gold leaf.
>What other options are there? Which are period?
This was usually known as "glair" (sometimes "glaire"). It can be
improved by the addition of a little fresh earwax ! This is the
period technique for gold on illumination, although it does depend a
little on the base material and its flexibility. If flexibility is
needed, honey and gum arabic were used to improve adhesion.
Glair improves on keeping, even when disgustingly "off" !
>She also spoke of scribing the gold leaf once attached.
First of all, these techniques only work with _gold_ leaf, sometimes
with silver leaf, but they work poorly with brass / dutchmetal /
schlagmetal and they don't work at all with modern anodised aluminium
leaf (which is what nearly everyone is using).
Secondly they don't work (well) over oil size and require either glair
or water gilding techniques.
They're hard techniques to learn, because you have to use the
expensive materials. Learn some basic gilding first, where the
aluminium leaf and an easily-handled oil size are OK.
> I believe this was some form of diapering, but I'm not sure....
There are many techniques for working the surface of applied leaf.
Most of them are based on burnishing. This can be either to make the
whole gilded area equally smooth (typical of later Italian work), or
more interestingly to burnish small areas selectively, so as to
develop contrasts.
Burnishers in period were generally large canine teeth (dog), but most
modern workers use agate. Large areas were burnished with haematite,
although this is a little fragile and needs careful looking after. A
burnisher _must_ be in perfect condition.
The ground beneath the leaf makes a big difference to the burnished
result. This could be almost bare wood, or it could be a thick and
shaped layer of gesso. A softer gesso and a small pointed burnisher
allowed a texture to be worked into the finsihed surface. Some
techniques relied on varying the ground then burnishing equally, with
the ground's influence showing through afterwards.
>Would you continue to diaper with your gouache on top of the gold?
In period, this was carefully avoided. Period paints had poor adhesion
over gold and the artists knew this only too well. In cases were it
was done, the results today are often disastrous. Several saints,
Christs and Madonnas had their faces painted over a gilded halo and
the face has now vanished (there's a Sassetta Madonna in Basciano
that's particularly bad) . Some Orthodox icon painters did this
deliberately and with more success. I believe they used an adhesive
interlayer over the paint and before the gold (maybe some variant on
glair), but don't know the details.
Where gilding was over-painted (or appears to be) the Western approach
was to carefully mark the borders of the gilding. A thick gesso
underneath would have the gilding boundary scribed with a needle.
After gilding the gold could be scratched off back to the line, then
painted up to it, directly onto the gesso.
For books, I suggest these two:
"The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting"
a modern summary and quite readable.
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486203271/codesmiths-20>
and the original "Craftsman's Handbook" by Cennino
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/048620054X/codesmiths-20>
Both of these are available cheaply from Dover
They also offer Theophilus, which is worth having too.
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486237842/codesmiths-20>
An excellent modern book on gilding as applied to picture framing is
P Curson's "Framing & Gilding". Lots of useful stuff on gilding of
carved or moulded relief work. Very hard to find, but you can get it
from the Australian publishers at www.skillspublish.com.au
--
Smert' spamionam
Maitresse Yvianne
>What other options are there? Which are period?
Using glair (egg whites) was one of the first methods for attaching gold leaf
to parchment. As time evolved, so did the methods and materials. There are many
different recipes. Some of the more common period ones contain at least one of
the following - fish glue, rabbit skin glue, hide glue, garlic juice, gum
ammoniac,white lead, honey, bole or slaked plaster (which is not plaster of
paris)
My first attempt at gilding was done on glair ... and things have only gotten
easier as I discovered what works best for me. The gesso recipe I use is based
on period recipes and is available at:
http://www.angelfire.com/pa/allthat2/gesso.html
>She also spoke of scribing the gold leaf once attached. I believe this
>was some form of diapering, but I'm not sure....
Period illuminations are full of examples. Newer books show them a little
better than older ones, in which it often appears that a darker gold paint has
been used to make the designs, but really it's a trick of the lighting. The
designs are usually pressed into the gold.
I have used a variety of tools to make designs on top of gildied areas:
a yarn needle
mechanical pencil with the lead removed
decorative rivets
leather tooling stamps
The technique works better with real gold leaf because modern composite leaf
will often break instead of stretch... that being said as an experiment I have
tooled on top of composite leaf... I have also embossed paper painted with gold
gouache. Nothing gives as beautiful results as using real gold on a gesso
ground. :-)
The gesso doesn't have to be very thick for this technique to work. It should
never be any thicker than the paper or parchment you are putting it on and
rarely does it need to be even that thick. All you really need is a smooth
surface to start with.
The longer the gesso sets up, the more likely it is that it won't accept an
impression or crack in the process, so I'd suggest not doing it more than a
week after the gilding... or be willing to risk it.
You'll learn the most from actually sitting down and playing with gilding. It
really isn't expensive.The costs can be a bit deceptive since a packet of gold
leaf isn't cheap ... but you get a lot out of it. Aside from the gold most of
the materials you need can be found in a local hardware or grocery store.
Happy gilding :-)
Maitresse Yvianne
AEthelmearc
Andy Dingley
wrote:
>The gesso recipe I use is based
>on period recipes and is available at:
>http://www.angelfire.com/pa/allthat2/gesso.html
I'm surprised to see hide glue in that recipe, especially for
manuscript illumination. Rabbit skin glue is much more flexible. I'd
use hide on wood, but not paper, leather or vellum.
The cold liquid hide glues (like Titebond) will also cause problems if
you try to store gesso for later - they're not as capable of being
reconstituted, like a hot hide glue. Although hide glue gessos (and
related compo recipes, for mouldings) do need a little warmth to
reactivate them, this just needs to be sitting in a teacup in a bowl
of hot water for a few minutes. With the rhodamate-base recipes, you
never know when they're going to decide they've had enough and refuse
to co-operate further.
re the plaster recipes.
"Gesso grosso" is a coarse gesso used for mouldings (and sometimes for
preparing wood panels). It's always overcoated with "gesso sottile", a
fine gesso.
"Gesso grosso" is a mixture of some whiting _and_ size. Although you
can use plaster of paris as the whiting here, it's not gesso until it
has size added to it.
I also disagree that you can make slaked plaster in less than a month
or so. It's not just a question of washing it until the pH is neutral.
And for that matter, when did litmus paper ever give a reading for
"neutral" ?
--
Smert' spamionam
Margaret Northwode
>>Now, she used a slightly beaten egg for attachment of the gold leaf.
>>What other options are there? Which are period?
>
>
> Using glair (egg whites) was one of the first methods for attaching gold leaf
> to parchment. As time evolved, so did the methods and materials. There are many
> different recipes. Some of the more common period ones contain at least one of
> the following - fish glue, rabbit skin glue, hide glue, garlic juice, gum
> ammoniac,white lead, honey, bole or slaked plaster (which is not plaster of
> paris)
Garlic juice - I know an easy source for the pre-squeezed garlic juice.
I may try that. What is bole? I know I should feel not even mildly
grossed out, considering some of the things people would put their hands
in while dyeing, but some of these things are pure gross to my modern
(ostensibly more sanitary) sense of that sort of thing.
>
> My first attempt at gilding was done on glair ... and things have only gotten
> easier as I discovered what works best for me. The gesso recipe I use is based
> on period recipes and is available at:
> http://www.angelfire.com/pa/allthat2/gesso.html
Col! Thanks!
>>She also spoke of scribing the gold leaf once attached. I believe this
>>was some form of diapering, but I'm not sure....
>
> Period illuminations are full of examples. Newer books show them a little
> better than older ones, in which it often appears that a darker gold paint has
> been used to make the designs, but really it's a trick of the lighting. The
> designs are usually pressed into the gold.
>
> I have used a variety of tools to make designs on top of gildied areas:
> a yarn needle
> mechanical pencil with the lead removed
> decorative rivets
> leather tooling stamps
::nods:: She talked a little of the tools and the method. Knowing the
basic method, I can think of many things around my house that'd be useful.
> The technique works better with real gold leaf because modern composite leaf
> will often break instead of stretch... that being said as an experiment I have
> tooled on top of composite leaf... I have also embossed paper painted with gold
> gouache. Nothing gives as beautiful results as using real gold on a gesso
> ground. :-)
That's another thing - what is your view on using ungessoed bristol
vellum paper for gilding?
> The longer the gesso sets up, the more likely it is that it won't accept an
> impression or crack in the process, so I'd suggest not doing it more than a
> week after the gilding... or be willing to risk it.
> You'll learn the most from actually sitting down and playing with gilding. It
> really isn't expensive.The costs can be a bit deceptive since a packet of gold
> leaf isn't cheap ... but you get a lot out of it. Aside from the gold most of
> the materials you need can be found in a local hardware or grocery store.
>
> Happy gilding :-)
>
> Maitresse Yvianne
> AEthelmearc
So, where do you find your gold leaf? Dick Blick art supplies? Inquiring
minds....
Thanks again,
Margaret
Margaret Northwode
> improved by the addition of a little fresh earwax ! This is the
> period technique for gold on illumination, although it does depend a
> little on the base material and its flexibility. If flexibility is
> needed, honey and gum arabic were used to improve adhesion.
Honey, I got. Gum arabic, not so much.... But I can easily find it.
>
> Glair improves on keeping, even when disgustingly "off" !
See, now I cook a lot, and that's just.... something to be kept far, far
away from my kitchen.
> First of all, these techniques only work with _gold_ leaf, sometimes
> with silver leaf, but they work poorly with brass / dutchmetal /
> schlagmetal and they don't work at all with modern anodised aluminium
> leaf (which is what nearly everyone is using).
>
> Secondly they don't work (well) over oil size and require either glair
> or water gilding techniques.
Water gilding?
<snip>> Burnishers in period were generally large canine teeth (dog),
but most
> modern workers use agate. Large areas were burnished with haematite,
> although this is a little fragile and needs careful looking after. A
> burnisher _must_ be in perfect condition.
There's a woman with a shop here that sells interesting hematite rings
and they're very *smooth.*
>
> The ground beneath the leaf makes a big difference to the burnished
> result. This could be almost bare wood, or it could be a thick and
> shaped layer of gesso. A softer gesso and a small pointed burnisher
> allowed a texture to be worked into the finsihed surface. Some
> techniques relied on varying the ground then burnishing equally, with
> the ground's influence showing through afterwards.
She showed just adding layered egg "dots" to achieve a textured look on
the surface, and mentioned that she'd seen it in some German museums.
>
>
>
>>Would you continue to diaper with your gouache on top of the gold?
>
>
> In period, this was carefully avoided. Period paints had poor adhesion
> over gold and the artists knew this only too well. In cases were it
> was done, the results today are often disastrous. Several saints,
> Christs and Madonnas had their faces painted over a gilded halo and
> the face has now vanished (there's a Sassetta Madonna in Basciano
> that's particularly bad) .
I think I need to Google that one.
<snip>
> For books, I suggest these two:
<snip>
I believe she may already own the Dover books. I recall seeing them in
her bibliographies for other projects.
Thanks!
Margaret
Andy Dingley
<marg...@easaraighEXPUNGE.org> wrote:
>What is bole?
Bole is one of a number of "whitings"; finely powdered inert minerals.
It's used as a thickening agent with glue size, to make gesso.
The original bole is a red clay, originally from Armenia. Because of
this, coloured gesso is also sometimes called bole. Bole also appears
in yellow. You can often control the colour of gold leaf by the
underlying gesso - it certainly helps if you're going to distress the
gilding afterwards.
>Honey, I got. Gum arabic, not so much.... But I can easily find it.
If you're in the UK, I get all such things from "Pan's Pantry"
Pan is a genial chap who pops up at most re-enactor events and also
does web sales. There are plenty of places to get gum arabic (many
artist's suppliers) but Pan also does a nice line in dragon's blood,
which is very hard to find in good quality (you need apothecary's
grade for use as a pigment).
They travel the middle east on buying expeditions for their range of
incenses. I just love the idea of following a trade like that, that
has gone on little changed for literally thousands of years !
>> Secondly they don't work (well) over oil size and require either glair
>> or water gilding techniques.
>
>Water gilding?
Oil size is a varnish / oil mix. It's applied, allowed to go tacky,
then the leaf is applied.
Gesso is animal or vegetable glue, some mix of hide, rabbit skin, fish
glue or glair. It can be used almost immediately, but for work on
furniture it's often allowed to lose its tackiness, then re-activated
with either water (sometimes just breathing on it) or alcohol (vodka
is about the right strength).
Oil size is easier to work with, because it has a longer and
predictable "open time". Water gilding, especially the re-activation
method, is trickier to control.
For burnishing, I find that only the re-activated gesso technique
really works. You need something with the right combination of
"squishy but stable".
>There's a woman with a shop here that sells interesting hematite rings
>and they're very *smooth.*
Rings are probably a bit small, but look for some cabochon stones.
>She showed just adding layered egg "dots" to achieve a textured look on
>the surface, and mentioned that she'd seen it in some German museums.
There's a similar Japanese lacquering technique, known as takamakie.
Tonoko (a fine clay) is mixed into the urushi lacquer to make "sabi
urushi". The difference with gilding is mainly that the same
material is used for both "filler" and "finish".
>what is your view on using ungessoed bristol
>vellum paper for gilding?
What's "bristol vellum paper" ? I don't think either vellum, or paper,
can be used ungessoed. Some hot-pressed papers can be, but they're far
from authentic and they may not be such good surfaces for calligraphy.
Maitresse Yvianne
>vellum paper for gilding?
I don't gesso the full piece like you might do for a panel painting. I'm more
interested in manuscript and document style illumination where gesso is laid
only where you need gold to stick.
Personally I don't use bristol. I prefer watercolor paper or real parchment.
Either one is more forgiving if you make mistakes. For practice though, just
about anything will work.
>So, where do you find your gold leaf? Dick Blick art supplies? Inquiring
>minds....
I've used gold from many sources. I prefer something I have bought in the past
from Master John at Pennsic. It is a 23+kt double Cennini weight. I rarely have
to do touch up and I can gild literally in an open air pavilion during a
thunderstorm. Thinner sheets of gold will work for gilding under less extreme
conditions, but they require a bit more patience.
Yvianne
Mark S. Harris
Perhaps this file in the SCRIBAL ARTS section of the Florileguim might
be of interest to you:
gold-leaf-msg (18K) 3/ 7/96 Working with gold leaf, tools.
And if you make sure to get pure gold, then here is another use for this
gold leaf. This is in the FOOD-SWEET-DECORATED section:
gilded-food-msg (18K) 6/18/04 Gilded foods. Using gold and silver
foil.
In article <byf2d.4143$GE5....@news01.roc.ny>,
Heather Murray <marg...@easaraighexpunge.orgorganizethis> wrote:
--
THLord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas Stefan...@austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at: http://www.florilegium.org ****
Mark S. Harris
Okay, I mentioned one Florilegium file on gold leaf, here is another
also in the SCRIBAL ARTS section, which I missed earlier:
Easy-Gilding-art (10K) 4/ 9/02 "Gilding Made Easy" by Master Giles
de Laval
In article <byf2d.4143$GE5....@news01.roc.ny>,
Heather Murray <marg...@easaraighexpunge.orgorganizethis> wrote:
--
Maitresse Yvianne
>I'm surprised to see hide glue in that recipe, especially for
>manuscript illumination. Rabbit skin glue is much more flexible. I'd
>use hide on wood, but not paper, leather or vellum.
Like I pointed out there are many different recipes. With many scribal
materials and techniques, currently used and in period, personal preference is
a major factor.
Jerry Tresser in his book _The Technique of Raised Gilding_ points out errors
in the commonly accepted Victorian translations of Cennini. His retranslation
and research are very well documented in the book.
Properly slaked plaster forms needle like structures which when combined with
the water soluble hide glue, creates a strong yet flexible gesso.
>The cold liquid hide glues (like Titebond) will also cause problems if
>you try to store gesso for later - they're not as capable of being
>reconstituted, like a hot hide glue.
I find them easier to use, especially for beginners. The gesso is less prone to
rapid separation and since it isn't heated, never scorches. The method I was
taught involved keeping the gesso over a tea light candle -in case anyone is
curious, scorched gesso reeks!
Based on my experience gesso made with real hide glue has a tendency towards
brittleness and cracks more easily than gesso made with liquid hide glue.
I regularly use reconstituted gesso buttons made from liquid hide glue and
have not had any problems, even with gesso that was more than 3 years old.
I also have a gilding sample that I did with it that is over 10 years old. It
has held up extremely well.
>I also disagree that you can make slaked plaster in less than a month
>or so. It's not just a question of washing it until the pH is neutral.
Once again I refer to Tresser's book... and a friend of mine with a PhD in
chemistry who explained this to me in modern terms.
Plaster is slaked not through the washing process, but by an additional water
molecule being absorbed. This is achieved more quickly by agitation. The amount
of time plaster spends just sitting on the bottom of a bucket is more or less
wasted time.
Plaster of Paris is made up of one water molecule shared between two calcium
sulfate molecules. The inert bulk formers used in gesso (chalk, gypsum, etc)
have at least a 1:1 ratio, if not better. The drier Plaster of Paris will
therefore absorb moisture instead of letting it build it up on the surface.
Slaking adds the necessary moisture so that it can be used correctly in gesso.
The indication that the plaster has achieved the properly increased water
saturation level is the pH reading. Plaster of paris is slightly acidic. When
the extra (neutral) water molecule is absorbed the plaster also becomes
neutral. Neutral=pH7
Yvianne
Margaret Northwode
>>That's another thing - what is your view on using ungessoed bristol
>>vellum paper for gilding?
>
>
> I don't gesso the full piece like you might do for a panel painting. I'm more
> interested in manuscript and document style illumination where gesso is laid
> only where you need gold to stick.
>
> Personally I don't use bristol. I prefer watercolor paper or real parchment.
> Either one is more forgiving if you make mistakes. For practice though, just
> about anything will work.
We've got a Hobby Lobby here, that stocks many lovely pieces of various
paper weights and grainings, but they don't include true parchment. Some
lovely weights of paper parchment, but that's as close as it gets here.
> I've used gold from many sources. I prefer something I have bought in the past
> from Master John at Pennsic. It is a 23+kt double Cennini weight. I rarely have
> to do touch up and I can gild literally in an open air pavilion during a
> thunderstorm. Thinner sheets of gold will work for gilding under less extreme
> conditions, but they require a bit more patience.
>
> Yvianne
I'll keep that in mind. Thanks - and I saw what you meant about the thin
stuff, so I can definitely raise my eyebrows over the "in a
thunderstorm" bit.
Margaret