Gold leaf gilding is a traditional craft I had always wanted to learn.

Learning the Art of Gold Leaf Gilding

At the  →art conservation studio, I spent hours watching gilders lay gold leaf onto →bolus. Then they polished the decorated surfaces with agate, achieving a mirror-like shine.

Before picking up a gold leaf, they performed a delicate, almost magical move—lightly brushing a special brush against… their forehead! The trimmed gold leaf stuck to the brush and was carefully transferred onto the ornament, moulding, halo, or whatever little doodad was being decorated.

Thanks to a friend who’s a master gilder, I managed to get hold of this secret knowledge. I now know how to prepare the panel, apply the ground, mix the bolus clay before laying the gold leaf, and how to polish it with agate.

The process of gold leaf gilding is slow and meticulous, yet incredibly satisfying. I may not be able to zip around with the brush like my master does, but I did fulfil a dream—I learned how to gild. Or rather, how to properly gild. (I recently got an earful from my master—he heard me on the radio and was horrified to hear me call him a goldsmith instead of a gilder. Apparently, that’s a mortal insult.)

Long ago, when the painter’s trade first took shape, gold leaf gilding was just a regular part of the job. Only later did gilders and painters become separate professions.