Manipulating gold foil...

Externet

Well-Known Member
Hi. Has anyone worked/done something with it ?
Never done it, never seen it done and am clumsy enough to fail at anything with the fragility of gold leaf.
First, is there several thicknesses to increase my chance of not breaking the foil by choosing a thicker one ?

I have to make several "lollipop wrappers" ~25mm without the lollipop, just the stick, using gold foil, and fit it inside half a sphere.
Any guidance please ?

 

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Don't touch it - It will probably stick to skin and tear.
Use cotton gloves?

I'd try putting it on a sheet of tissue paper and use something the appropriate size to create the initial hemisphere ended tube, pressing it in place with the tissue to minimise dragging it directly.

Can you use a straw or tube rather than a stick for the "handle"?

You could possibly squeeze in the open ends of the shape formed in the first stage and bind them to the straw with thread, then very gently inflate the gold leaf bubble to get the correct rounded shape???
An external mould shape using two of the half spheres could help & prevent it bursting??

(I have a pack of gold leaf I picked up cheap as "damaged" in a craft shop a couple of years ago, but I've not done anything with it yet. The "damage" was a wrinkle in the first sheet where someone had touched it.).
 
My father used to be a stone mason, and often he would make grave stones for people privately - a nice little earner on the side

Someone wanted a granite gravestone, with gold leaf in the carved letters - my dad failed badly, and in the end painted the inside of the letters with gold paint.

From what I've seen on TV shows, you apply special gum to the surface you're applying the gold leaf to, and then use a VERY soft brush to transfer the gold leaf to the surface.
 
Hi E,
As N says "use a VERY soft brush to transfer the gold leaf to the surface." I watched a gold leafer, and he had a wide thin soft brush for lifting the gold leaf squares, by vacuum, and wafted onto the surface.
This is after using a different brush, to 'sign write' the letters with the gum, then another brush to dab it to stick.
I think even another brush for grave stones grooves.
C.
 
You need a tack material on the solid surface and apply the foil "reasonably". The cool part is, when it wrinkles (and it will), you simply hit it with a light brush and the folds get swept off. Don't apply the tack to the foil, apply to the surface only. That way, the fragile foil will either fall away or bond to the tack. Once you hit it with the brush, any gaps will still have clean tack - that clean tack can be covered with a second piece of foil. The "seams" between foil pieces will not be visible to the human eye - the eye cannot resolve elevation differences as thin as the foil.

The goal is to apply the right kind of tack as evenly as possible, burnish progressively firmer with a brush and brush away the wrinkles. You'll need several times the foil vs the size of the part. There are many good videos on YouTube.
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
You learn something every day
Click to expand...
The reason for the rabbit skin glue is that it is the thinnest of the hide type glues. And stays active for a longer time period compared to regular hide glue.

You also need to wait until the glue "tacks off", like when you use contact cement. The rabbit skin glue was also used to prepare canvas before painting with oil paints way back in time.
 
shortbus= said:
The rabbit skin glue was also used to prepare canvas before painting with oil paints way back in time.
Click to expand...
The prep for canvasses is called "gesso", and the first line in the link you posted exactly specifies the rabbit skin glue can be mixed with whiting (titanium dioxide or barium sulphate) to make gesso.

It can be added to whiting to make Gesso.
Click to expand...

I never knew the name of the adhesive, I just remember it being super thin and easy to work with once it dries up (or tacks off). Thanks, Cheers.
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I did the gold leaf for my oldman, he had an antique store. He would get some really fancy old picture frames from time to time that had gold leaf on some of the carving on the frames. The gold leaf got worn off from people cleaning them over the years, so I touched them up with new gold leaf. There are many different colors of leaf and sometimes I just redid the whole frame because the color didn't match.
 
Rabbit skin glue is preferred for its exceptional thinness compared to other hide-based adhesives and its extended active time relative to regular hide glue. When using this glue, it’s important to wait until it "tacks off," similar to the process with contact cement. Historically, rabbit skin glue was also used to prepare canvas before applying oil paints.
 
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