(stone) Re: water gilding

[Norman Watts <Norman_Watts@zzzzzzz>]

Don,

Thanks for the views of experience. A bit unrelated, but maybe worth
mentioning in the current thread. I have carved a "tree" into slate
with the foliage consisting of leaf-like shapes v-cut and pointed at
both ends. The cut angle is wide to improve reflection. Though roughly
randomly arranged, the leaves were still arranged in an approximately
fan-like array. In other words, with their long axes roughly along
radii. All this to say that the tree now has a moving "dead" zone. The
gilded leaves are shiny enough that they reflect mostly in a direction
perpendicular to the surface. If the viewer is not in that direction
the gold actually looks quite black. With strong unidirectional
lighting the image has a "dead" zone that moves as the viewer moves. I
didn't expect this, and it wasn't obvious at the layout or cutting
stage, but only when the thing was gilded. Fortunately, in more diffuse
lighting the effect largely disappears. The upside is that with careful
imposition of order one might use this to good effect.

n


Norman Watts, Ph. D.
National Institutes of Health
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