Picking up where we left off several months ago...Just a quick review: here is the gilder's pad and gold leaf. Pick up gold with a brush. If you want to review the start of this saga, check it out here!
At this point I had a proper gilder's tip, which is from the tail of a squirrel. You can see one lying on the table. My left hand is applying water, my right is applying gold. The goal was to get both hands doing separate jobs.
After you've applied the gold, the extra bits are brushed off. There are always cracks, called "faults," which are covered with more bits of gold.
Then the gold gets burnished. Here are three burnishers made of agate. The tiniest microscopic burr on the agate will tear the gold.
Burnishing is rubbing the surface. The danger is that your hand slips and dents the surface. This happened a lot! If you rub too hard, the gold buckles under the considerable pressure and comes off.
Here they are, burnished.
I would have liked to leave them like this, but the client wants them to look old and worn, so I coat them with a gelatine solution to tone down the shininess.
They are further toned to look worn and weary from use. Hessian (jute cloth) wrapped around a piece of coton wool makes a toning pad.
Basically, you're gently marring the surface by rubbing scratchy fabric on the gold. It goes without saying that you can easily go too far...
Further toning is done with watercolors, to mimic dirt. I allowed it to pool where dirt would have collected. I used raw sienna, after trying several. The colors are from dry earth pigments.
Now it's time to make feet. I designed them, based on my idea of what would look nice. I start by finding a piece of mahogany big enough for six bun feet.
The timber in the lathe. the chisel is an impressive size!
This is my first experience with a lathe. It's completely terrifying. The danger of ripping off my arm seems a milisecond and a milimeter away. But the square shape is very quickly reduced to a cylinder!
Now I'm marking the feet, allowing for space between them.
This was scary and tricky: to hold the chisel with one hand and gauge with the other while the timber is spinning.
More turning action. It's really nerve-wracking because I could ruin everything in the blink of an eye. I can see how this could be fun, once you get over your terror. It's so sculptural.
Feet coming in to view.
Now I just need to cut them off one by one on the bandsaw. The last one is dicey because I don't want to lose my fingers.
Back in the lab, the feet get stained with water walnut.
Then they get coats of Special Pale shellac. I put four coats on.
The shellac should be applied with a brush of Russian Squirrel, called a mop. I don't have one yet; it's about $60. I ended up borrowing one for later coats.
The feet are left to dry on kebab sticks.
Up close, and then I sand them very lightly with 0000 wire wool.
Finished. Unfortunately, the client likes this upholstery and didn't want it changed. I think something blue or burgundy would look good, but I'm not in charge of this one.
The underside. You can see it's just wood.
A close up of the surface, gilt and toned. (I still liked them better shiny!)
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