Science Lab Part II

Set-Up for Gilding

     Laying the actual 22 karat gold leaf on the frame is called gilding.  It's one of those things I wonder whether I'll ever master but from what I understand, it takes months or years of constantly working at it to feel confident about the results.  Add to that mix my perfectionist, artist personality and you have a process that could end up in ulcers and heartburn!  What you see is the frame with it's red clay (bole) applied.  It's on a platform that is angled so the gilders liquor (distilled water and alcohol) can run to one end of the frame and be sopped up by cotton balls.  The gilders liquor is in the center of the frame, behind it you see the gilders pad which has a book of gold on it.  To the right of it is the gilders knife used to cut the gold, and finally you see the gilders tip which is a squirrel hair brush designed to pick up the gold and lay it on the frame.
     Once the entire frame is gilded it'll look something like this:

Gilding Complete -- almost

     You can see there are several "faults", areas where there isn't any gold either because of a void in the leaf or gilder error.  An area that is tricky to lay the gold into is all of the reeds that go around the frame.  I could have used some yellow clay there so that even if the leaf faulted, the color of the frame would blend in.  Didn't do that for two reasons, first off I didn't have any yellow clay and secondly, I've decided to thin down some asphaltum to age the frames appearance.  I've attended several workshops taught by Marty Horowitz of Gold Leaf FrameMakers  of Santa Fe.  They replicate any period of gold leaf frame and are simply fabulous in the work they do.  Check out his website that I've linked.  He has a great story regarding King Louis of France and why frames have the patina and character that they do.  In days of old, when there wasn't any LED lighting in the castle to show off the portrait of the kings the purpose of the bright gold leaf was to illuminate his portrait.  As time went by, soot and ash from the candles and fireplace (torches?) would deposit onto the frame and the maids would have to clean it off so everyone could see the kings portrait.  As the years went by this created the patina we now try to replicate on modern frames.
     I've always had a bit of a problem with that because why purposely destroy something you've worked so hard to achieve?  Here's the frame after most of the faults were repaired:

Faults Fixed & Ready for Burnishing

     The shine and brilliance is what I like but .... too garish for most applications so the gold is always toned down.  The part of this process that's like magic is the burnishing process.  This is where you take a piece of agate that's attached to a stick and press down hard on the gold areas you want to bring out.  What happens is that this pressing action forces the gold leaf tight against the bole (clay) and the shine is just so cool, always reminds me of a molten ribbon of gold.  You can't get this any other way:

Hounds Tooth for Burnishing 

     I tried to get a close up view of the difference between the burnished and unburnished gold but my camera won't focus that close.  You can see the leaf I'm working on is getting some of that brilliance, the leg at the top of the picture has had the reeds burnished and you should be able to spot the difference.  I chose to lay leaf on the sides of this frame although it's not really required.  Usually there will be a flat, casein finish on the edges since it will stand up to handling better than the gold will.  Since this was the last of my gold leaf I figured might as well go for it.  Last time I checked on the price of gold it was close to $700.00 for a pack of 500 leaves; little too rich for my pension and lack of clientelee.
     In any case, this is a very time consuming process with the possibility of errors or problems anywhere along the way.  I know I can get pretty frustrated doing this process but when you start using your hounds tooth burnisher like I'm doing in the picture, and you see the brilliance of the gold you tend to forget all of the pitfalls you had along the way.

Science Lab??

You Call this a Woodshop?

     This is the second blog for the reeded frame.  Now that the kitchen remodel and the complicated Acanthus leaf carve is complete it's time to work on this frame again.  Since deciding that this will be done with what little 23kt. gold leaf I have left I realize how much more there is to this process than the Dutch gold method of gilding frames.  It really does seem like a science lab experiment more than anything else.  I've taken notes from demonstrations, read books and tons of internet materials, gotten advice on picture framing websites and still; it's baffling!
     I'm using pre-mixed French red clay and gelatin for the glue.  The basic process is to make your glue mixture and then, using a ratio of 1 part clay to 3 parts glue, brush multiple coats onto the frame.  You need to keep this mixture at what is often referred to as "blood warm" or around 100-110 degrees.  That's the purpose of the hot plate, double boiler, and Diane's (shh!) kitchen thermometer in the background.  Other things you see are the measuring cups, cone strainers, scale, etc. needed to complete the lab.  I can't help but think that the frame makers of old weren't this persnickety.  You know, more a pinch of that, a handful of that, and so on.  What ever the case, the frame now has 8 coats of clay on it.  Since this frame leans more towards the modern style I'm not going to put any yellow clay in the grooves and other areas the leaf may crack (fault) when I lay it on.  Just need to see how I can lay and improve my skill with the leaf.
     The purpose of the gesso is to seal the wood and provide as smooth a surface as possible for the clay and the eventual gold leaf.  A technique I've learned and use is to dilute some of the clay in distilled water and paint it onto the frame:

Disclosure Coat

     This is referred to as the disclosure coat and the purpose is to let you know when the surface is smooth.  Very similar to what is done when finish planing a board using hand planes.  In that case you strike a series of light pencil lines all across the surface of the board.  Now when you are doing your final smoothing work it's safe to assume that when the lines are completely gone the plane has gone over the entire board.  That's a simplistic explanation but pretty much what happens.  Same thing with sanding the frame.  I started out with a 240 grit, then when the red was gone went to a 400 grit to polish the surface.

Sanding Process

     This picture gives you an idea of the sequence.  The lower and right leg of the frame have been completely sanded.  On the left leg the process has just begun, notice the hit and miss effect of the red disclosure coat compared to the untouched surface of the top leg?
   

Close up of Sanding Process

     Here is a close up view of the lower, left corner.  The brushed on gesso has some irregularities and when you first begin sanding the peaks of them will be sanded away and appear white.  The lower areas remain red until the entire surface is leveled.  Once the entire leg is white it's time to use the finer, 400 grit paper.  I didn't bother doing the disclosure coat on the reeded section.  Since these were all carved by my hand I'm aware that there are some irregularities in them.  I saw a quote somewhere that went something like "the beauty of a handmade object is it's irregularities or uniqueness", or words to that effect -- I like it!

     I'm anxious to gild this frame even though I know there will be lots of frustration during this phase.  At the last West Coast Show here at the Mirage, Diane had enrolled me in a day long lecture/demo by Marty Horowitz and Bill Adair.  Want to put some of the things I learned about there into practice.  Practice, practice, and then just a bit more for good measure.  I know that's what it'll take just hope my patience and wallet hold up!

     Ended the day resting on the couch with Ali eye-balling me as if to say "why so stressed man?"

What, me Worry?

Don't Usually Multi-task but .......

     Currently I'm in the middle of two very time intensive projects.  One of them is the Acanthus Leaf carved panel for the newly remodeled kitchen and this is the other.  You may recall the workshop I took earlier this year from Ian Agrell, that was the inspiration for the carved panel.  I also started carving a reeded frame that I finally finished.  Here's how it looks:

Reeded Frame with Leaf

     The site size is 9" x 12" and the molding is 4" wide.  Like most picture frames the material is Basswood and it's some of the custom profile we had milled by Foster's Planning Mill.  I think I have enough 22 kt. leaf left to gild this frame.
     Why am I always attracted to labor intensive, technical things?  Doesn't matter if it's carving, gilding, building furniture, running 100 mile ultra's I rarely chose the easier things in life to challenge myself with.  There are so many steps to creating and gilding a frame and an error in any one of them can ruin the entire project.
    The step after the carving process is to gesso the frame.  Basically gesso is a a chalk and rabbit skin glue mixture that is painted on to the wood to completely seal it.  The glue  will be reactivated when the gold is applied by water which allows the gold to adhere to the frame.  Simple when you put it that way, however; it's never been simple for me.  Maybe if I did this on a regular basis rather than a couple of times a year I wouldn't  have to re-train myself each time.

     Here's the frame after about 7 coats of gesso ready for sanding.  One of the problems I'd had in the past is that the first coat of gesso would bead and seem to resist being applied to the wood.  I've had correspondence with a gilder in Seattle, Charles Douglas, and he suggested rubbing the first coat in with my fingers and it worked -- thanks!  Now if I can just figure out why the gesso wants to skin over between coats even though it's covered and the heat is a constant 100 degrees another dilemma will be solved.  In any case, I'll work on this while taking breaks from carving the panel.

Pfeil 28/6 Backbent Gouge

     The reeding on this frame was completely carved by hand so has some slight inconsistencies which I think adds to the charm and appeal.  I had purchased what is referred to as a back bent gouge and taken it to the class to learn how to use it.  After Ian showed me how and a bunch of trial and error to get an acceptable carve this frame is the result of that.
      Really beneficial to take that class, I would have fiddled around with it for a long time before getting these results.  Here's what that tool looks like, it's made by Pheil and the size is 28 mm with a #6 sweep.