The gold leaf is kept in small books, the leaves of which are rubbed with red chalk. To take up the leaves, and particularly the small pieces, the gilder has a small pair of tweezers made of two slips of cane, united together at one end by glue, so that they will spring open ; but the ends, which are to take up the leaves, are cut extremely thin, though left sufficiently broad to take up the leaves by the corners without breaking them. The gilder is also provided with a cushion, upon which he spreads out the leaves when it is necessary to cut them to any particular size. The cushion is made of leather, stuffed with tow or wool upon a square board, which has a projecting handle to hold it by. To divide the leaves, a common pallet knife is used. The article upon which the gold is to be applied is placed in an inclined position, and the size is wetted by a camel hair pencil. This wetting renders the size suffi ciently adhesive to cement the leaves, which are removed from the book, by sliding them upon the paper of the book with a squirrel's tail, until the edge of the leaf overhangs the edge of the paper. This overhanging edge is applied upon the sized work, and fastened down, by touching it with a piece of soft carded cotton wrapped up in a piece of fine linen. The gilder then withdraws the paper upon which the leaf lies, and thus spreads the gold upon the surface. This drawing away the paper from beneath the leaf extends the leaf in every direction, and lays it flat upon the work. If any folds or wrinkles appear, the gild er blows on the leaf, to press it against the paper, and cause a very slight adhesion, though sufficient to draw the leaf straight without tearing, which would not be practi cable if it was pressed upon the paper by any other means than a current of air. This part of the operation requires much dexterity ; and if the workman breaks a leaf, it must be taken up with the tweezers, which, indeed, are fre quently requisite to place the leaves straight. It is very difficult to place a broken leaf sufficiently exact upon the size that no joint shall appear. The gilder endeavours to lay the leaf, by first fastening the top of it, or that edge which is most distant from him ; then he withdraws the book downwards, and for this reason he begins the work at the top. In some cases the right or left hand side of the leaf must be first stuck on, and then the book must be withdrawn sidewise, to the left or right. T he geld leaf being by these means spread on the work, is first pressed close by blowing upon it, and afterwards by dabbing it with a squirrel's tail, or with a ball of very soft canon wrapped in a fine linen parr,. The gilder does not wet a greater extent of the size than he can cover with gald be lOre it becomes too dry ; hut if this happens, he wets it again, and tims proceeds until the whole is covered. The leaves are overlapped, to ensure that every part shall be covered; but, of course, the overlay is as little as the k man can make it.
Any small spots which remain uncovered from deficient corners of the leaves, or other causes, are covered with pieces cut by the knife upon the cushion. The gilder re serves for this use those leafs which are broken in attempt ing to lay them on They arc removed from the book with the pincers, and laid upon the cushion. 'f he pincers are likewise used to apply these pieces upon the work ; but if they are very small, they may be taken upon the cotton dabber, when rendered damp by breathing upon it. These
repairs should be performed as the defects occur, before the size becomes dry; but, if any escape, the size in the defective places must be carefully wetted by a camel hair pencil, tie surrounding gold being preserved from the wa ter. When all the work is covered, and sufficiently dry, it is brushed over with a large and soft hogs' hair brush, which takes off the loose gold ; it is then minutely exa mined, and defects removed, by painting them over with shell gold mixed with gum water. But for common work a colour resembling gold is used ; it is composed of ver milion and yellow ochre, or red lead and Dutch pink, ground up with the white of an egg or isinglass size.
The gold remains only to be burnished by rubbing it over with an agate fixed in a handle, or a dog's tooth. It is requisite to attend to the state of dryness of the work before burnishing : for if the size is not sufficiently dry, the gold rubs off or scratches; and if too dry, it is tedious to raise a fine surface, because the size becomes hardened with those small irregularities, which prevent the surface of the gold from presenting a polished surface.
Gilding in oil.—This is used for work which is expos ed to the weather, and is therefore performed on wood, lead, or other metals, and sometimes on stone. The ground must be laid of oil paint instead of size, and whitening, as for burnishing gilding. White lead is a very proper co lour for the first coat ; then a second coat of yellow ochre and vermilion mixed up with drying oil. This has a co lour which will render any slight defects in the gold less apparent. If great nicety is required, the last coat of paint, when dry, should be rubbed smooth with pumice stone. In general this is neglected, because oil gilding is in almost all cases intended to be viewed at a distance.
The surface, thus prepared, is ready to receive the fat oil size, by which the gold leaves are to be cemented upon it. This is prepared from linseed oil, exposed to the weather in a large flat pan, which is filled five or six inches deep with water, and the oil is poured upon the water about an inch deep. It should be placed where it will receive the action of the sun and rain for five or six weeks in summer. This will cause the oil to become thick like treacle, and some impurities will descend into the water. The oil is then to be taken off the water, well separated from it, and poured into a long phial, «bich is to be heat ed until the oil becomes perfectly fluid, by the settlement of the foul parts to the bottom. The clear oil size is then to be poured off, and strained through flannel. To render the oil fit for use, it is ground to a thin paint with yellow ochre. A coat of this paint or size is brushed over the sur face which is to be gilt, but if found too thick to work well, it must be mixed up with drying oil. Great care must be taken to cover every part, and to render this very certain, a second coat may be spread over the first, after it is dry. The gold leaves are applied upon this second size, when it is in such a state of dryness, that, on touching it with the finger, it feels strongly adhesive, but at the same time does not come off upon the finger. The gold is ap plied by the same means as before described for burnish ed gilding, and after becoming dry is brushed over, to re move the superfluous gold. If this operation produces any spots, they must be retouched with the size, and frag ments of gold applied where it is requisite.