Care has to be taken that the breath does not condense in the tube and drop on to the work.
Laying the Gold-Leaf.—Immediately that the size has been sufficiently breathed upon, the piece of paper with gold-leaf adhering (held ready in the right [p155] hand) is placed upon it, gold-leaf downwards, care being taken to place it steadily down, and not drag it across the size (fig. [103]).
[Fig. 104.] The burnisher is shown here held in the right hand — ready for the next operation —— See Figs. [106] & [107].
The Rubbing Paper—a convenient piece of thin but tough paper (held ready in the left hand)—is immediately laid above the gold-leaf paper, and is then rubbed over firmly with the finger-tip, in order at once to attach the leaf to the size (fig. [104]). It is then quickly rubbed with the soft pencil [p156] or chalk till the raised form underneath is indicated on the surface of the paper (fig. [105]).
These two operations may be combined by having a little blue chalk either on the finger-tip or on the upper surface of the rubbing paper.
Round the outline of this form the point of the burnisher[31] is worked, pressing the gold-leaf firmly—through both the papers—against the size, in the angle formed by the size and the surface of the parchment (fig. [106]).
The fore part of the burnisher is then passed rapidly all over the rubbing paper with a firm pressure (fig. [107]).