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Gilding
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== Mechanical gilding == [[File:Gilding Rock Cen Prometheus jeh.jpg|thumb|right|Regilding the statue ''[[Prometheus (Manship)|Prometheus]]'']] [[File:Old book with gilded page edges.JPG|thumb|Gilded page edges on a book]] Mechanical gilding includes all the operations in which gold leaf is prepared, and the processes to mechanically attach the gold onto surfaces. The techniques include [[burnishing (metal)|burnishing]], water gilding and oil-gilding used by wood carvers and gilders; and the gilding operations of the house decorator, sign painter, [[bookbinder]], the paper stainer and several others.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=13}} Polished iron, steel and other metals are gilded mechanically by applying gold leaf to the metallic surface at a temperature just under red-hot, pressing the leaf on with a burnisher, then reheating when additional leaf may be laid on. The process is completed by cold burnishing.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=13}}<ref>Alexander E. Youman, ''A Dictionary of Every-day Wants'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=yd4JAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA420 p. 420], New York: Frank M. Reed, 1872.</ref> "Overlaying" or folding or hammering on gold foil or gold leaf is the simplest and most ancient method, and is mentioned in [[Homer]]'s [[Odyssey]]<ref>Book VI, 232: "And as when a man overlays silver with gold, a cunning workman whom Hephaestus and Pallas Athena have taught all manner of craft, and full of grace is the work he produces, even so the goddess shed grace upon his head and shoulders" from [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136;query=card%3D%2368;layout=;loc=6.162 this translation]</ref> and the [[Old Testament]]. The ''[[Ram in a Thicket]]'' (2600β2400 BC) from [[Ur]] describes this technique used on wood, with a thin layer of [[bitumen]] underneath to help adhesion. The next advances involved two simple processes. The first involves gold leaf, which is gold that is hammered or cut into very thin sheets. Gold leaf is often thinner than standard paper today, and when held to the light is semi-transparent. In ancient times it was typically about ten times thicker than today, and perhaps half that in the [[Middle Ages]].{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} If gilding on canvas or on wood, the surface was often first coated with [[gesso]]. "Gesso" is a substance made of finely ground [[gypsum]] or chalk mixed with glue. Once the coating of gesso had been applied, allowed to dry, and smoothed, it was re-wet with a [[sizing]] made of [[rabbit-skin glue]] and water ("water gilding", which allows the surface to be subsequently burnished to a mirror-like finish) or boiled [[linseed oil]] mixed with [[litharge]] ("oil gilding", which does not) and the gold leaf was layered on using a [[gilder's tip]] and left to dry before being burnished with a piece of polished [[agate]]. Those gilding on canvas and parchment also sometimes employed stiffly-beaten egg whites ("glair"), [[Gum (botany)|gum]], and/or [[Armenian bole]] as sizing, though egg whites and gum both become brittle over time, causing the gold leaf to crack and detach, and so honey was sometimes added to make them more flexible.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Osborne |first1=Harold |last2=Fleming |first2=John |last3=Honour |first3=Hugh |date=1979 |title=The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1573875 |journal=Leonardo |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=172 |doi=10.2307/1573875 |jstor=1573875 |issn=0024-094X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other gilding processes involved using the gold as [[pigment]] in paint: the artist ground the gold into a fine powder and mixed it with a binder such as [[gum arabic]]. The resulting gold paint, called [[shell gold]], was applied in the same way as with any paint. Sometimes, after either gold-leafing or gold-painting, the artist would heat the piece enough to melt the gold slightly, ensuring an even coat. These techniques remained the only alternatives for materials like wood, leather, the vellum pages of [[illuminated manuscript]]s, and gilt-edged stock.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}
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