Gold leaf

“ Another jutting corner, and we confront a swaying mass of gold and purple—that magnificent regal combination of graceful golden-rod and asters that glorifies our autumn from September to the falling leaf. There are a number of species of golden-rod, varying as much in their intensity of color as in their time of bloom. The earliest appear in the heart of summer, in wood and meadow; while others, larger and more stately, lift up in their midst their plumy, undeveloped tips, and wait until their predecessors are old and gray ere they roll out their wreaths of gold. ”

“ Pale leaf gold has a greenish-yellow color, and is an alloy of gold with silver. Dutch gold leaf is only copper colored with the fumes of zinc. Being much cheaper than [Pg 48] gold leaf, it is very useful when large quantities of gilding are required in places where it can be defended from the weather, as it changes color if exposed to moisture; and it should be covered with varnish. Silver leaf is prepared like gold leaf, but when applied should be kept well covered with varnish, as otherwise it will tarnish. A transparent yellow varnish will give it the appearance of gold.
Gilding in Oil. ”

“ Then, with a large, dry brush, in light, sharp touches, brush away the superfluous gold, and the work is completed.
There are other methods of applying gold-leaf, but this is given as the simplest. A gilder's tip (a flat brush) is generally used, but requires skill in handling, which remark applies also to the gilder's palette and knife.
Any corners to which the gold has not adhered may be retouched with the size, and gilded as before. Be careful not to touch the gold with the fingers, or it will be quite spoilt. If the leaf curls up upon the paper, it can be blown down with a gentle breath. ”

“ Water-mat gold size is a preparation for laying down gold leaf, i.e., causing it to adhere to a given surface. The mode of using it is as follows:—Take a small brush saturated with water, and thoroughly charge it with the size. With the brush so charged, trace out the required form or pattern, and upon this lay the gold leaf, pressing it lightly down with cotton-wool. When all is dry, gently rub off the superfluous gold with cotton-wool. ”

“ Without a doubt the use of leaf, raised and burnished, is the ideal method of gilding. If the student examines any of the old MSS. of the best periods he is bound to be struck with the brilliance of the raised gold, and he will notice how superior are the results to any produced by means of gold paint. Gold-leaf gilding, even if it is unburnished, is infinitely more brilliant than either gold paint or shell gold. Some difficulty may at first be experienced in handling the leaf, as, being so thin, it has an unpleasant habit of blowing about. ”

“ Perhaps the most sumptuous use of gold leaf is to be seen in some of the early fourteenth century French manuscripts, in which large miniatures are painted with an unbroken background of solid-looking burnished gold, with a mirror-like power of reflexion. ”

“ The best medium for sticking gold and silver leaf to wood, is the following, called mixtion by the French artists:—1 pound of amber is to be fused, with 4 ounces of mastic in tears, and 1 ounce of Jewish pitch, and the whole dissolved in 1 pound of linseed oil rendered drying by litharge.
Painters in distemper sometimes increase the effect of their work, by patches of gold leaf, which they place in favourable positions; they employ the above mordant. The manufacturers of paper hangings of the finer kinds attach gold and silver leaf to them by the same varnish. ”

“ Always remember that whatever the condition of the under size or ground, it is hermetically sealed up when the leaf is put on, which thus prevents any change or further drying in the ordinary way, so that if gold is laid on soft coats of paint, they will not all harden off together, but will go on working under the gold, expanding and contracting, and will ultimately ruin the gold leaf. ”

“ Water-gold Size.
Leaf-gold is considered the most durable, is beautifully bright, and repays the trouble of its application. A "book" containing 25 leaves costs 1s. 6d., or 100 leaves for 4s. Water-gold size seems to be the simplest preparation, 1s. 6d. per box. This size is used like a moist colour, with water. Paint the surface to be gilded, smoothly and rather thickly, carefully preserving the edges 10 clear and sharp. |Gold-leaf.| Let it stand until, on touching the size lightly with the finger, it is found to be sticky, but not moist, so as to smear. ”

“ Douglass thus describes them, each flower when in its prime looks like a fine gold tissue wrought on a rose-coloured ground, but when it begins to fade and decay, it looks more like a silver tissue, or what they call a pink colour: when we look upon the flower in full sun-shine, each leaf appears to be studded with thousands of little diamonds, sparkling and glittering with a most surprising and agreeable lustre ”

“ When gilding a large flat surface, the gold leaf can be laid direct from the book and much time saved thereby, by the use of a long-haired tip which can take up a leaf at a time without the necessity of cutting. ”

“ GOLD-LEAF. For the purpose of gilding very thin leaves of gold are required, so thin, that although gold is expensive, yet gilded articles (as picture-frames) are very far from being so. To produce this gold-leaf is the business of the gold-beater. He first obtains the gold in a state of purity from the refiner, in the form of small grains, which, mixed with a small quantity of borax and alloy, are put into an earthen pot called a crucible (coated beforehand with clay to keep it from cracking) , and then placed in a furnace which is raised to a white heat. ”

“ Gold′-thread, a ranunculaceous plant found from Denmark to Siberia, with evergreen leaves, resembling those of the strawberry: a thread formed of a strip of gold-leaf laid over a thread of silk; Gold′-wash′er, one who obtains gold by washing it from sand and gravel: a cradle or other implement for washing gold from auriferous dirt; Gold′-wire, wire made of or covered with gold.—Golden beetle, the name popularly given to many members of the Chrysomela genus of coleopterous insects, marked by their metallic splendour of colour ”

“ Gold-leaf is made by beating a plate of gold placed between pieces of skin, with heavy hammers, till it is spread out to the utmost degree of thinness. And so great is its capacity for being extended, that a single grain of the metal, which would be scarce bigger than a large pin’s head, is beaten out to a surface of fifty square inches. ”

“ It was only by slow degrees that the illuminators reached the perfect technical skill of the fourteenth century in their application of gold leaf.
Purity of the gold. In the first place the purest gold had to be beaten out, not the alloy of gold, silver and copper which now is used for making the gold leaf of what is called "the finest quality." ”

“ Gold leaf is laid over the "blank" designs and the same heated tools used to press the gold into the leather. As many as three layers of gold are frequently put on in this way until the design is full and clear. The waste edges of the pieces of gold leaf are removed with a piece of soft rubber and the whole back washed with benzine to remove the grease of the vaseline and that of the natural leather. ”

“ Never hurt the garden for the sake of the tempting word.
The word "gold" in itself is, of course, an absurdity; no growing leaf or flower has the least resemblance to the colour of gold. But the word may be used because it has passed into the language with a commonly accepted meaning.
I have always felt a certain hesitation in using the free-growing perennial Sunflowers. For one thing, the kinds with the running roots are difficult to keep in100 check, and their yearly transplantation among other established perennials is likely to cause disturbance and injury to their neighbours. ”

“ The strictest cleanliness is essential, as the red gold size is very sensitive. The parts where the size has been applied must not be touched with the hand, else grease spots will ensue, which will make a flawless gloss in gilding impossible. The least relaxation of the necessary attention may spoil the whole job, so that everything has to be ground off again.
The necessary tools for the application of gold leaf are: Hair pencils of various sizes, tip, cushion, and gilding knife, as with oil-gilding. Take pure alcohol or grain brandy, and dilute with two-thirds water. ”

“ He affirms, that 80 books, or 2000 leaves of gold, each leaf containing 10.89 square inches, weigh less than 384 grains. Each book, therefore, of 25 leaves, or 272.25 inches, weighs less than 4.8 grains; so that each grain of the metal will produce about 57 square inches of gold leaf.” From further calculation it appears, that the thickness of these leaves is less than the 282,000th part of an inch; and that 16 ounces of gold would be sufficient to gild a silver wire, equal in length to the whole circumference of the globe we inhabit! ”

“ When examined by reflected light they retain their brilliant gold color and lustre, but when viewed by transmitted light they are bright green and very transparent; the color is an even shade, having none of the mottled appearance of gold-leaf when seen by transmitted light, caused by its very uneven thickness. ”

“ It is quite maleable and ductile, and may be drawn, stamped, chased, beaten into powder, or into leaves, like gold leaf, in all of which conditions it is not distinguishable from gold even by good judges, except by its inferior weight. ”

“ For narrow strips of gold for lines, a little pad covered with soft leather may be made, as in fig. 87.
It will be found of advantage to first use the bottom leaf of gold in the book [202] and then to begin at the top and work through, or else the bottom leaf will almost certainly be found to be damaged by the time it is reached. The gold used should be as nearly pure as it can be got. The gold-beaters say that they are unable to beat pure gold as thin as is usual for gold leaf ”

“ In laying on gold, take the clear part of the white of egg, which is beat up without water, and then with a pencil paint lightly over the place in which the gold is to be placed, and, the handle of the same pencil being wetted in your mouth, touch one corner of the cut leaf, and so elevating it, lay it on with the greatest quickness, and spread it even with a brush. ”

“ While on the subject of gold groundwork made with gold or silver leaf or tin-foil covered with varnish to imitate the colour of gold, it is curious to note how far back in the history of art its origin can be traced ”

“ Indeed, it is true that people at Lucknow eat both gold and silver-leaf. I watched the thin piece of gold-foil being put between two leather leaves and then hammered out on stone, very slowly expanding to thirty times its original size. It is sometimes taken for disease of the heart, but it is not so much in cases of sickness but rather as a general fortifier to give additional strength to the whole body that the metal-leaf is swallowed, and after all the practice is more universal than one thinks at first. ”

“ It can remain much longer than for bronzing, as leaf gold does not require so strong a sticking property as bronze. When sufficiently dry, put on the gold by means of the tip, or your fingers, from the gold book. Be careful to cover every part of the gold size with smooth leaf-gold. When all covered, press gently a piece of soft chamois skin, on all the gilded parts, and remove the superfluous gold. ”

“ Hold the gold book in the left hand, and turn back a leaf of the book, leaving the gold exposed on the next leaf; press the leaf of gold against the cushion and it will remain. Then straighten out wrinkles by a slight puff of the breath from above, cut the leaf into the required size with the gold-knife, and lift the leaf to its place with the tip. The tip will lift the gold better if occasionally drawn over the hair of your head. ”

“ Gold, not in leaf but as a fluid pigment, is largely used for high lights on trees, mountains, roofs of buildings, and for the folds of drapery, especially where the stuff is red or purple. The male figures have flesh of a reddish-brown tint like many of the Pompeian wall paintings ”

“ But, at all events, this yellow leaf of dead gold, shed, not from the ruined woodlands, but the ruined rocks, will help you to remember the second kind of crystals, LEAF-crystals, or FOLIATED crystals, though I show you the form in gold first only to make a strong impression on you, for gold is not generally or characteristically, crystallized in leaves; the real type of foliated crystals is this thing, Mica; which if you once feel well and break well, you will always know again ”

“ The gold used by the goldbeater is variously alloyed, according to the colour required. Fine gold is commonly supposed to be incapable of being reduced to thin leaves. This, however, is not the case, although its use for ordinary purposes is undesirable on account of its greater cost. It also adheres on one part of a leaf touching another, thus causing a waste of labour by the leaves being spoiled; but for work exposed to the weather it is much preferable, as it is more durable, and does not tarnish or change colour. ”

“ By adding a little gold and silver leaf or a few drops of yellow, red, or green vegetable colouring matter, considerable variety may be introduced at small cost. Pleasing effects may be produced by filling the projecting divisions of a mould with gold, silver, or coloured jelly, and the body of the mould with jelly that differs either in colour or character. ”