Home Forums Sign Making Discussions Traditional Watergilding

  • Lars.wac

    Member
    7 February 2010 at 20:30

    Now I found something about the preperation with gesso and bole. Now I just need the recipe of the water size. I know its something with water, rabbit skin glue or geletin and alcohol? I just dont understand why to use alcohol in the size?

  • Adrian Page

    Member
    7 April 2010 at 11:24

    The alcohol would make the liquid dry faster.

  • Jill Marie Welsh

    Member
    7 April 2010 at 12:48

    The only water gilding I have done (badly) was on glass using gelatin capsules dissolved in distilled water in a little pot on a portable burner.
    It was more this method:
    http://69.94.65.35/howto/water.pdf
    (this company also sells the supplies you’d need and they are nice people)

    A quick search on water gilding pulled this up:
    http://users.lmi.net/~drewid/water_gilding_faq.html
    But I don’t know anything about this method.
    Love….Jill

  • Steve Maple

    Member
    10 August 2010 at 01:35

    you have to put the capsules into cold water first, let them soften, then add warmer water, as you will cook them, they never then dissolve properly.

    rabbit skin glue is used when making gesso, as it dries hard.
    -i.e. you can then burnish it up nice, with your dog toof, i.e. if it were a soft glue like pva it would wrinkle , plus of course you can’t then scrape carve it, and the rabbit glue is reversible too.

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