cutting gold leaf

[Norman Watts <Norman_Watts@zzzzzzz>]

Don,

You were right. I dulled my razor blades by drawing them through some
thin cardboard, like on a shoe box, and now they work great. I think
when they are brand new there very fine burrs on the cutting edge left
over from the sharpening process that grab the leaf. Cutting the
cardboard either aligns them or polishes them off. the result is a good
blade. I got twice as much done and used half as much leaf!

Simon,

I find when I lay leaf across a sized V-cut it won't go to the bottom,
but tears because it is catching on both sides. So I gild first one
side of the cut, then the next day I do the other half. This works
flawlessly, but takes time. In the end, however, since I'm doing a lot
of them its more like doing 1 job in two halves rather than 2 jobs. I
apply the gold size before I go to work in the mornings and when I get
home its ready to gild. I don't mix any paint into the size.

I recently bought some very fine mica dust from Sepp. You can create
some nice finishes with it, almost transparent and good depth.

n


Norman Watts, Ph. D.
National Institutes of Health
50 South Drive, Rm. 1509
Bethesda, MD 20892-8025
Phone: (301) 402-3418
Fax: (301) 480-7629