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Gold leaf has been used to gild many objects, because gold is so malleable, the gold is beaten out until the leaves are four millionths of an inch thick. Historically it had many uses; it was very popular in the middle ages to use it to gild manuscripts.
In Europe many of the manuscripts were written by monks and they had control over the written word as it was unusual for anyone other than monks to be able to read. This power of the monks was not really broken until the days of the printing presses which
meant that anyone could publish the written word and anyone could learn to read it. When all the books were kept in monasteries they were not accessible for mos people.
Gold leaf was used in Victorian England to gild mirrors and photo frames. The earliest camera were just invented and many people went to professional photographers to have a family portrait taken. Because it was so expensive they resulting photographs
were cherished and given pride of place in a home made gold leaf frame. Gilding was the art of decorating the whole or parts of wood, metal, plaster, ceramics, glass, or other objects with gold leaf. The term also embraces the application of silver,
palladium, aluminium, and copper alloys to decorate.
Despite technological advances in the last fre hundred years the process of gold beating has altered little since ancient time when the Egyptians used an Indian technique invented the process to make the metal go further. The process starts with a small
ingot of gold alloy it is an alloy because it contains trace amounts of silver and copper. This is then rolled into a long piece of ribbon like metal which has a thickness of 0.025 mm or 0.001 inch. The ribbon is then cut and placed carefully between
heavy sheets of paper and sheepskin. Once the metal sheets are protected they are then beaten to four inch squares.
These squares are once again cut and then beaten again between sheets of parchment until the thickness is about 0.001 mm. Normally, gold leaf is sold as thin sheets in a booklet form, and the pieces are always small because they are so fine and delicate.
When you are working with the pieces of gold leaf they are always small because a light breath will move the piece. Sometimes a small squirrel brsh is used to place the leaf in the correct position.
Today gold and silver leaf is used to decorate Asian sweets and confectionery and other forms of gourmet food.
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