Medieval & Modern Illumination
An Online workshop on Zoom
£95
SOLD OUT
Saturday May 22 10.30am – 12 noon BST
Sunday May 23 10.30am – 12 noon BST
Both these sessions will be recorded and available to view for fourteen days.
Follow up session Saturday May 29 11am – 12 noon BST (not recorded)
Check your time zone here!
Workshop details
Learn how to gild, creating a small design on paper with 23 carat gold leaf. Your finished piece may be a single illuminated letter, a painted image with gold highlights or perhaps a delicate border created to enhance a piece of calligraphy.
Day 1:
We will look at four different ways of applying gold leaf to paper, two dating back to the fifteenth century and two modern, looking at the effects achievable by using each method. I’ll show you how to gild, using easy techniques requiring no specialist equipment. We’ll talk about burnishing, or polishing the gold, and when that is and isn’t appropriate. You’ll learn how to paint a simple design with watercolour and how to finish your pieces with neat outlines. We’ll also discuss how to transfer a design onto watercolour paper and talk about varieties of gold leaf, including what to buy from a supplier.
Day 2:
Today’s session focusses on the use of manuscript gesso. We discuss how it’s made, including health and safety issues, how to reconstitute from dry cakes and lay it successfully avoiding the common pitfalls. We’ll then look at how to shape, gild and burnish the gesso and ways of using both flat and raised areas of gilding in the same design.
The emphasis in this workshop is on finding gilding methods that work best for you – everybody has different preferences. A small selection of designs for you to gild will be provided, but creativity is welcomed!
Specific skills you will learn at the workshop
- Tracing and transferring an image
- Applying gums, glues and gesso
- Using transfer gold
- Burnishing gold to a high shine – how to get best results
- Mixing and applying colour
- Outlining shapes
Equipment & materials list
Materials are not included in the course fee. All the materials and equipment you will need are listed below.
You don’t need to have the materials ready whilst watching the live demonstration – the demo session is a time to watch, ask and learn. After the demo you will be sent a link to the recording, which you can watch as many times as you wish for fourteen days.
- Hot pressed watercolour paper, 140lb / 300gsm, 4 x A6 pieces
- Brushes with good points, ideally 2/0 and 000 UK size
- A 2H and either a 2B pencil or some dry pigment for transferring an image
- A small piece of tracing paper
- A selection of watercolour / gouache paint if you want to add colour to your work
- Kneadable eraser
- A pin (just an ordinary sewing pin will do)
- A scalpel with a size 10 Swann Morton blade, or craft knife of a similar shape.
- Kitchen towel for wiping brushes
- Pot of water
- An agate or haematite burnisher (or a small, perfectly smooth, tumbled gemstone) if you wish to burnish your gold
- Clean water for re-constituting gesso (distilled or de-ionised is best but you can use tap water if you don’t have either).
Project kits for this workshop are available to purchase at a cost of £15 including P&P for UK students.
I’m happy to post kits overseas – please email me for details of additional postage costs.
Details of how to order will be provided after booking.
Each project kit will include:
- 23 carat transfer gold, three 80 x 80mm sheets
- 2 small squares of glassine paper
- Small quantities of Instacoll base (yellow), gum ammoniac (liquid, not gum), garlic juice, acrylic gold size and manuscript gesso (lead-free, made with titanium white).
Alternatively, you can source materials yourself from the suppliers listed below.
Links to suppliers
UK
https://www.stonehouses.co.uk/
https://www.goldleafsupplies.co.uk/
https://www.cornelissen.com/
https://www.jacksonsart.com
USA
https://www.johnnealbooks.com/
Australia
https://www.notjustacard.com/