I will be employing both flat and raised gilding on two upcoming scrolls. The first steps for the scrolls will be adding the calligraphy. Since I am waiting for words from the wordsmith, this weekend I performed some tests to improve my gilding skills. This way, once the calligraphy gets done, I can start in on the gilding, which is the second step, before the illumination.
This past Pennsic, I took classes on gilding at the Guild Mirandola. I also had the honor of being one of the judges for Sir Jan's panel painting entry for the A&S competition where I learned a lot from his documentation and presentation about the gilding, including the process documented by Cennino Cennini.
I spent time conducting some online research. This led me to a wonderful video from Harvest Crittenden from Acorn Arts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7gPKa0QKIU
Knowing I needed to improve my gilding, I looked towards these recent learning experiences. The first thing I wanted to try was to sand the gesso that would be under the gold leaf.
Steps
1) I first made three squares on a piece of Bristol. On two of the squares, I floated a modern raised gesso made by Guild Mirandola. On the third, I used the Guild Mirandola Permacol. I used the raised gesso on the two squares because I wanted to see how much of a difference it would make if I sanded the gesso after it dried. Here is a picture of the products from the Guild.
2) After letting the gesso dry overnight, I used 3000 grit sandpaper to smooth one of the raised blocks. I was able to feel imperfections and raised areas of the gesso under the sandpaper. I noticed the difference in the color of the Guild Mirandola gesso, being much more of a red ochre color as opposed to the Kolner Miniatum. I remembered that the gold leaf is so thin that light will pass through it. Therefore, whatever is underneath will affect the visual appearance of the gold leaf once it is laid.
3) I laid the patent gold leaf on both the sanded and un-sanded blocks. This was done by breathing on each block in 5 long breaths, and then placing the gold leaf on the area, and pressing it down with my burnisher. I repeated this step until the gesso did not take any more gold - approximately four times. I also tried out the flat Permacol as I had not used the Guild's brand except during class at Pennsic.
4) For the final step, I used a Q-Tip for the final polishing/burnishing after the gold leaf was on. Just make sure that you use high-quality Q-Tip's so that the stick does not poke through the cotton and ruin your gold.
What I learned:
There was a noticeable difference between the sanded and non-sanded blocks. As you can see, the non-sanded one, on the left side in the picture above, has a bubble imperfection. I also learned that I needed to sand carefully as there are some scratches in the sanded piece where I pressed to hard with a fold in the sandpaper.
I was very happy with the quality of the Guild raised gesso and will be using it on upcoming scrolls. I will also be sure to carefully sand the gesso before laying the gold.
Equipment:
This is my burnisher.
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