The process of gilding and bronzing picture frames

by Isaac H. Walker

With the graduated glass measure, mix one part of alcohol with three parts of water. This solution, which is called gin-water, is the medium by which the gold leaf is applied and affixed to those parts which have been coated with the burnish-size. Lay the frame in a convenient position to work upon it, and have the gilding cushion, the knife, the tips and the gold leaf conveniently placed for use. The customary way of proceeding is to blow from the book on to the cushion as many leaves as it may be convenient to use. Some expertness is required to perform this operation successfully, and I believe that the time required to obtain this expertness is employed to better advantage in removing from the book, with the aid of the knife, a leaf at a time, when it is required to cut one into a number of pieces; or to cut the leaf as it lays in the book, either with the thumb-nail or with the knife. Of course, this will be a matter of choice with the gilder, as to how he will proceed; and he will be altogether governed by the greater facility with which he can work with either method. When the leaf has been cut into the required size for use, lift, by means of the tip, first drawn across the hair of the head, a piece of the gold leaf, and, after wetting thoroughly with the gin-water the portion where it is to be laid, using a camel’s hair brush for the purpose, apply the gold quickly.

There seems to be in the gold an occult attraction towards the gin-water; for the leaf is at once drawn to it, and care must be exercised to have the leaf applied at once as nearly right as possible, for where it goes, there it must remain. It must not be touched until dry; although a cyclopædia informs us that the leaf must be pressed down with a camel’s hair brush. Such a proceeding would result in anything but a nice state of affairs, as any one will find who might make the experiment.

14.—Never retouch the gold until dry. If the leaf cracks on going on, which it will do in inexperienced hands; do not mind it, but proceed to lay the gold where required. On moistening with the gin-water, be careful not to touch gold already laid, but wet close up to and adjoining it, and let the next piece of leaf lay or lap a little over the first. The moisture runs from the one into the other and makes the junction, when dry, complete.

15.—When the lay is completed and dry, proceed to patch up any cracks and imperfections. This is done by using the number 6 or 8 lettering pencil, and with its long and flexible point, filled with sufficient of the gin-water, wetting the cracks and imperfections one by one and applying pieces of the gold leaf of the required sizes to cover them up completely.

These pieces at once adhere to and join the lay perfectly, and, when they come to be burnished over, never show in the least where they have been applied, unless the burnish-size is too harsh and hard. In this case, the double layer of gold is brought out.

16.—In about an hour or so, for the flats and hollows, and rather longer for those places where the moisture settles and collects, and consequently remains longer, the lay will be ready to be burnished. The burnisher should be held at an angle, not too perpendicularly, and applied to the gold, finishing as you go along, and burnishing only a small piece at a time. Burnish right over the leaf, just as it has been laid, without brushing off the loose gold leaf.

17.—Burnish over the loose and the firm gold together. Sometimes, and most generally, there will be imperfections in the burnishing when first completed. These may arise from imperfect adhesion of the leaf, or from the leaf rubbing off when the burnish-size has been made too strong with glue, and so the surface has become harsh and hard. These imperfect places may be repaired by simply rubbing them with a wet rag to remove any leaf still adhering, and, when dry, going over them with a thin coat or two of burnish-size and relaying them with gold; but using the least moisture possible, or otherwise a stain will appear around the edges where the moisture has settled. Of course, such places must be reburnished. No moisture should ever be allowed to get on the leaf where another piece of gold leaf is not at once affixed, as otherwise a stain will be made which will mar the uniform purity of the burnish.

18.—Sometimes the surface will chip under the burnisher, particularly about an edge or corner, when too much pressure is applied. This may arise from several causes, but most generally does from the fact that the first and second coats of size have not been of the proper strength, and consequently have a tendency to crumble when the burnisher is applied with more than ordinary force.

19.—In very warm weather, gilders are in the habit of putting a piece of ice in the gin-water. The object of this is not particularly clear. It is claimed for it, however, that it causes the gin-water to lay better on the surface of the burnish-size.

If a chip should occur in a prominent flat, there is no remedy but to wash off the gold leaf with a wet rag, and down to the hard finish, and to re-do the side entirely over. When not too prominent, fill up the chipped place with Paris white, and when dry, scrape smooth with a penknife, and after giving two or three coats of burnish-size, re-lay the gold and reburnish.