I haven’t been at this game for long. And like many others I began trying to create illuminated work by using Google, Youtube, Amazon as my guide.
Useful, but not the best.
For starters, buying gold leaf is not cheap. So when you start out it’s not unreasonable to try out your skills on as cheap a version as possible. When you search for gold leaf, it is quite probable you’re going to see something like this in you search results…
I typed in ‘gold leaf’ but didn’t notice in the results words like ‘sheet’. Obviously I avoided words like ‘imitation’ but in my naivety I had thought that there was some gold in there and gold metal leaf would stick – it is a metal. Don’t all metals stick? No.
I did the same for glue. In fact the glue was more expensive than the gold. Hmmm. But even then you can buy the wrong glue. I bought Kolner. I’d seen someone using that – but of course I bought the wrong type. The Kolner I bought was for pen work – Kolner Miniatum Ink. This flows much more freely and is less thick than other sizes and is better used with ink pens.
(Sizes – another word that thoroughly confused me to begin with. Has nothing to do with the large or small of something, but all to do with glues!)
Not surprisingly, when I followed the videos or ‘how to’s, I could never get the same gleaming results that cover those stunning manuscripts from years ago. My gold just wouldn’t stick. The edges pealed off making my work look extremely scrappy.
So I decided to take the plunge – I enrolled on a course where nothing but 24 karat gold was used and the correct sizes – and low and behold, it worked. It’s still not easy, but all of a sudden, the gold stuck and you can see the art work coming together.
Find a Teacher who can Teach!
Find a good teacher. For most of us that will be online, watch their videos, copy what they do, strike up a conversation. Do they support you with all those little details that help you get were you want to be? I am always appreciative of those that I follow, who get back to me within a couple of days. It’s an important part of that process of building trust.
However, the best has surely got to be working in the same room as your teacher.
I was fortunate to find Toni Watts. She runs workshops around the country and across the world (although I think she may be stepping back from some of these). She was Artist in residence at Lincoln Cathedral from 2015 becoming manuscript illuminator in 2016.
Her knowledge is based on studying medieval practices – so she makes her own gesso, sizes, egg tempera, pigments for paints… the list goes on. She is an inspirational artist. Her wildlife paintings have won awards. And I was lucky enough to get on a course with her at Higham Hall, near Cockermouth in the Lake District
We, that is me, my daughter Kate and her partner Harvey (also the people behind Janus Masks) had booked a long weekend, from Friday to Tuesday in January 2022. We were working n the studio along with seven others. Some had been before and were working on their own projects, and others were like us, new to the whole process and eager to learn.
We tested different sizes (who new garlic would make such a good glue?) and how they can effect the look of the laid gold leaf.
Generally we worked with 24 karat gold as this doesn’t tarnish, but we also worked with silver and variegated gold leaf which has a lovely mottled effect.
There was lots of discussion on where to place these different leafs along side each other which lead on to how to mask areas of your work so that these different types of leaf actually stick where you want them to. Fiddly work.
Finally we worked with Shell gold – the most expensive. It’s made with gold leaf rolled and mulched until it makes a paint. A very delicate effect.
The beauty of the whole weekend was the time you could spend improving, talking, comparing, admiring other’s ingenuity. You’re working in peaceful environment with meals laid on and the most stunning countryside around. I can’t wait to go back there.
Some of the work completed
Gold, silver and variegated leaf design
Collections of work
A copy of medieval art.
Little gnome asleep on the letter M