Question Water Gilding

[MDAilstock]

Water gilding question. Has anyone had issues with Manetti 23k leaf recently? I have always rubbed my frames delicately with steel wool after gilding. Before, it gave a nice aged look. Now, it just scratches. I got new gelatin, new bole thinking that may be the problem. Scratch marks can show up from handling frames with white gloves now too, which never used to happen. This is before shellac has be applied. Could the gold leaf have changedI’ve been water gilding 5 days a week for 8 years now, and cannot figure this out! Obviously still have a lot to learn. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cornel]

What you discovered has a very simple ECONOMIC explanation, one that most people don't even care to think of.
Many years back, when the solid gold price was heading towards $1000/ounce, one of the US largest and most respected importers and sellers of gold leaf was really and loudly desperate that his business would go belly up if the gold price kept growing over the psychological barrier of $1000/ounce. So much so that he was attending the WCAF and touring the floor in search for about a hand full of gold leaf users. He was asking them to join their orders in order to enjoy a consistent quantity discount. Useless to say that the gold leaf users did not act on his suggestion and today, when gold price is approaching $3000/ounce, and many frame makes and framers became vague memories, our man is still in business. It must be mentioned that today's retail gold leaf price is hardly double to what it was at the time of this story. THAT ONLY MEANS THAT SOME "CREATIVE" PRODUCTION AND MARKETING TECHNIQUES HAD SAVED OUR NICHE AND YOU ONLY NOW NOTICED SOME CHANGES. The honest gold beaters went out of business. The smart gold beaters stopped making of their own stuff and began to repack and sell Chinese gold leaf instead. Chinese traders are not stupid either and they searched and found ways to curb their costs as well. One such method calls for making and selling ever thiner gold sheets. Different production tehnologies had also been invented and you are the victim of the second. Old type gold leaf comes for a premium price which is hardly worth using.

 

[Vintage Frames]

For some reason, Manetti gold leaf is sold at a premium above the usual selection of leaves available from gilding suppliers. Maybe it's because Manetti still beat their own leaves as opposed to the leaf being imported from China, as has been suggested by Cornel.

I tend to think that the problem you are seeing is more to do with the adhesion of the leaf on to the bole surface.

You mention that you are using gelatin as your gilding medium. I would suggest that you use a high grade Rabbit Skin Glue (RSG) instead.
This is because RSG contains a mixture of two important proteins, chondrin and glutin.
The chondrin contributes the adhesive properties to the glue and the glutin provides the gelatin element. RSG contains the ideal blend of these two proteins and is usually considered superior to using gelatin alone which is just purified glutin.
I would recommend using the Manetti brand RSG.

When you have made up the standard strength RSG (40gm to 700ml water), take 100ml and add some water to make it up to 400ml.
Now paint that thinly and in one direction, over the dried bole.

Whilst waiting for that to dry, make up a suitable gilding liquor.
To a jar of 50% water to 50% brandy stir in tiny amounts of RSG until the liquor goes cloudy. Try not to add too much as this will inhibit the later burnish and give the gilding a rough appearance. Look for a more foggy appearance.
What this does is promote the appearance of 'lap lines' which will appear as you wear down the finished gild.

Finally you mention using fine wire wool to wear down the gilding. An alternative worth trying is to rub the gilding with a paste of Pink Rottenstone and mineral spirits (White Spirits - not methylated spirits)
Use a cotton wool ball soaked in the spirits, dipped in to the pink rottenstone (not the grey rottenstone) and rubbed into the gilding.
This will give you a more measured effect as you see the lap lines begin to ghost through the finish.
Mineral spirits will have no effect whatsoever on the gilding and will evaporate cleanly away leaving a fine film of dried rottenstone.
This can be wiped away with some dry cotton wool balls and the surface buffed up to a clean shine.

You can also burnish at this point using a little mineral spirits to lubricate the agate and prevent scratching.
Let us know if this helps.