Laying & it will dim the gold in time, both from above and below,
Burnishing or even make the size flake off altogether. The size
Gold 1S often blamed for faults of the vellum and its want of
preparation.

Again size, or “raising preparation,” is too sticky or
too dry. If the former, the gold will not burnish well;
if the latter, it will burnish, but will not stick at the edges,
and will crack sooner or later. And though the essential
quality of gilding is brightness, one may be content to fail
of this rather than have letters ragged in outline or broken
on the surface.

The size in use should be just liquid enough to flow
evenly from the pen. More water makes it dry too brittle,
and tends to cockle the vellum also; less tends to blobbi-
ness and unevenness. Even when it is put on fairly an
uncomfortable groove is apt to form as it dries down the
centre of letters; but this can be either filled up as soon
as the first layer is dryish, or the sides of the groove can
be scraped (when the letter is quite dry) down to the
level of the groove itself with a sharp knife. The knife
must be sharp. As this scraping does not affect the ex¬
treme edges the power of the size there to hold the leaf
is not impaired by it; and certainly a well-scraped surface
is extremely even and pleasant to gild. If the surface,
however, be burnished and not scraped before laying the
leaf, it will not hold the leaf well, and remains lumpy
also where lumps were there originally; while scraping
gets rid of these. During use the size should be kept
thoroughly mixed; and a small sable brush serves well
for this purpose, as soon as it can be used so carefully as
not to cause bubbles.

To know the exact time to allow between laying and
gilding one had need to be a meteorologist, so much
“depends on the weather.” Very dry and very wet
weather are equally unkind. Generally an interval of
about twenty-four hours is right; but it is better to gild
too soon than too late, provided one can be content, on
testing the naked surface of the gilded letter with a

134

burnisher, and noting that the glitter is reluctant to come, Laying &
to leave the burnishing for a while, and only lay the leaf, Burnishing
pressing it well home to the outline of the letters. The Gold

burnishing can then be done in a few more hours. But
if the size be too dry, the difficulty will be to make the
leaf stick to it at all. In this case the leaf adhering can
be scraped off, the size scraped down further, and another
thin coat added and gilded after a shorter interval. If
the letter be so fouled that such repairs are difficult, it
should be entirely scraped away and the size relaid alto¬
gether. In doing this care is needed that the vellum be
not injured round the letter.

The best gold-leaf for ordinary work costs about
3s. for twenty-five pages. More expensive leaf, being
thicker, does not stick so well to the edges; cheaper is
too thin to burnish well. Two kinds may be used together
with good results, the finer leaf being pul on next the
size, and the thicker at once on to the top of that. The
letter is then pressed and outlined as usual through
paper, and the thin leaf will be found of considerable
assistance towards the making of a clean cut edge. Gen¬
erally, however, the piling on of several leaves is inad¬
visable, as bits are liable to flake away as the letter goes
on drying, leaving dim specks where they have been.

Yet if, after the outlining through the paper, the leaf is
seen to be very dull or speckled with the colour of the
size, this means that the size has been partly pressed
through the leaf; and another laid immediately will have
enough to stick to, and will burnish well. The best
result comes of one moderately thick leaf laid and bur¬
nished at the right time as quickly as possible. Thicker
leaves need only be used for large surfaces, where the
edge can be scraped even and clean, or where a black
outline is to be added.

As soon as the leaf is laid, and from that point onward,
the breath must be kept from the letter with a shield (of
cardboard or tin) held in the left hand or otherwise.

Inattention to this is responsible for many failures. Not

*35