31.—The frame will now be about finished, as far as the gilding is concerned. The sections must now be returned to their respective places and securely nailed together.
The outside edge of the frame, if it has been burnished, will require no further preparation, but if it has been gilded in oil, or if it has simply been laid in water, it should have a coat of white spirit varnish applied with a camel’s hair brush. This coating of varnish will render the layer of leaf sufficiently hard to be handled without injury to it.
32.—When the edge has not been gilded at all, it is the practice to give it two coats of yellow ochre, mixed about as strong as those of the pipe clay and applied with a bristle brush. The yellow ochre should be strained before being applied.
33.—Before anything has been done to the frame, and after the sections have been taken apart, it is well to protect the outside corners with pieces of wood securely fastened to the back. This will prevent them from being injured while being gilded. Gilders generally suspend a frame when not being worked upon, to some projection, to keep it out of the way of injury; but, with the corners protected, it may be stood anywhere with safety.
34.—In the foregoing description of the process of gilding, the burnished part has been described as being done before the oil gilding. The oil gilding may, however, be done first and the burnishing afterwards. This manner of proceeding is generally practiced in Europe, but not so much in this country.
However, when much burnishing is to be done, this method is recommended. All those parts of the frame which are to be oil gilded must be coated with the oil gold-size; and wherever this size has got upon places to be burnished, it must be scrupulously wiped off. Then, after the size has set and before it has been gilded, all these parts which are to be burnished must be gone over with a coat or two of pipe clay, to which has been added an extra quantity of ox-gall, in order to cause these coats to lay perfectly over any spots which the oil-size may have touched. Then apply the burnish-size, as previously described. When burnishing, be very careful not to touch with the burnisher those parts which have been oil gilded, and do not burnish too close to them.
35.—Sanded work is used very much in combination with composition on picture-frames. The sand, or crushed quartz, is made to adhere by means of glue. Such sanded work must have a very thorough coating of Paris white before being gilded.
36.—Plain wood, where the grain is to be shown after being gilt, must be well treated with shellac before having the size applied.