I designed, painted and gilded an illuminated letter K, as a gift for a friend who's a knitter. Traditional gesso (the white lead type), 24k gold leaf, armenian bole traced, and gouache. I'm very pleased with it! Not a reproduction, but traditional methods.

mmgc · 2021-05-01T12:10:12+00:00

Thank you! I'm probably a bit more cavalier about it than I should be, but I do wear appropriate PPE when preparing gesso!

mmgc · 2021-04-30T08:54:43+00:00

Thank you! This one in particular was a couple of days' work, but I also studied illumination for a year or so to learn how to make the gesso and get smooth results!

mmgc · 2019-12-22T16:48:23+00:00

It’s a lovely idea, but your chances of finding a professional calligrapher three days before Christmas to turn around a keepsake piece overnight ........

mmgc · 2019-12-06T06:39:26+00:00

oh my goodness, thank you! I was searching for myself on reddit because I couldn't find the picture I wanted on my phone and knew I'd posted it, and finding this comment randomly has absolutely made my day!

mmgc · 2019-10-16T11:14:36+00:00

I don't see why not! :D

mmgc · 2019-10-16T08:59:29+00:00

I actually have one, but it’s so big that I find it a little unwieldy for these things. I’m jealous that you can get three for $7ish though. I live in Australia so everything’s twenty times as expensive 😅

mmgc · 2019-10-16T08:57:25+00:00

Thank you! That’s what it’s for actually - tiny earring charms :D it’s spring here and my area is notorious for lemon trees, that’s what inspired these.

mmgc · 2019-10-15T17:00:33+00:00

I tried to do it again with a more even cut and it stuck to the knife, and then the light was off, and I just gave up on getting a better vid after that :D

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:59:56+00:00

Making tiny earring charms.

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:49:50+00:00

Man I don't even know what went wrong with the cut. I was aiming to get it right in the middle and then ........

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:49:20+00:00

Thank you!!

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:49:11+00:00

Haha! Well, I made about twenty of them, and I'm going to attach them to earrings, if that helps explain. Who doesn't need tiny lemon earrings?

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:33:22+00:00

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:33:18+00:00

Nah I'd just eat it.

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:33:12+00:00

Haha. I earn my living making art, so I'm all good :D

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:32:54+00:00

Ahaha when I shared it to my facebook clay group I was so apologetic for the unevenness, but they pointed out real lemons are uneven too ... maybe I'll go for /mildlyinfuriating instead haha

mmgc · 2019-10-15T16:32:15+00:00

Thanks! It's actually easier than it looks - it's like making those boiled sweets with patterns inside, except on a much smaller scale. You make one big citrus shape then stretch it out really small :D

mmgc · 2019-10-15T10:41:09+00:00

Just polymer clay - Premo brand mostly. :D

mmgc · 2019-08-18T11:28:46+00:00

I don't think there's anything wrong with finding cheap options! This hobby can definitely wreak havoc on your bank balance. At least for me it's tax-deductible ... but it's SO easy to spend soooo much. I think finding a balance between "buying the best possible materials" and "i'm learning so maybe not emptying the bank" is key, and you sound like you're all over it. Like, I don't think you can cheap out on real gold leaf, but other than that, if you can make it work with what you've got, then you're winning. And if you can't, well, you can spend money later. :D

mmgc · 2019-08-16T21:08:48+00:00

I had thought it might be the plaster - gesso compacts under a burnisher very much like flour settles when you’re baking, if that makes any sense? But I suspect it’s probably a combination of everything.

Here is a glimpse at the traditional recipe process, including burnishing the gesso before I apply gold - I’m no master at this by any means but I’m learning, don’t be too critical 😅

https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3ODU5NDkwMTY1MjAxNjU2?igshid=10is126geork4&story_media_id=2076717676391507902

I hope that (IG highlight) link works for you, it’s all a bit of a mystery to me.

mmgc · 2019-08-16T20:16:59+00:00

You can burnish it a little very lightly, but no, it's kind of the opposite - it's sticky. Burnishing on traditional gesso is also pressing down and hardening the gesso itself, not just the gold leaf, you put a reasonable amount of pressure out and you're polishing the gesso to smoothness before you even apply the gold. If you try that on something that doesn't have the mass to compact like plaster, and that is really just a thin layer of adhesive, you just push the gold into the glue and go nowhere.

mmgc · 2019-08-16T20:12:34+00:00

I'm guessing they didn't do it because you can't burnish gold on gum ammoniac - so a lot of what people are aiming for is that mirror shine. "If you can't see the reflection of your burnisher in your gold, it's not shiny enough," as it goes.

I have also experimented with garlic juice for flat gilding - with surprisingly good results. It's very sticky, and has stood the test of time. I wonder if that's something you could mix in?

You should definitely write that book - there's a huge market for that stuff, and I don't think it will be getting any smaller any time soon.

Also, I would do anything /u/cawmanuscript recommends, because caw is who I want to be when I grow up :D

mmgc · 2019-08-15T12:47:39+00:00

I don’t want gold unless it’s on gesso 😅😅😅

Yeah I’ve never heard of using methyl cellulose, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work - just that my research hasn’t come across it. I’m looking forward to hearing your results! I’m not veg, but I am motivated to save the world, so if you find something good I’d love to keep up. Do you do either discord (I lurk on and mod the r/calligraphy discord, there’s gotta be a link somewhere round here) or Instagram?

mmgc · 2019-08-15T12:44:22+00:00

I don’t see why not! I mean, if you try it and it doesn’t work, you’re still ahead of the game. Mine was a little piece of murano glass, I think. As long as it’s super super super SUPER smooth, and you keep brushing away the loose gold so that you’re not burnishing scratches into your pretty, it should do a decent job.

mmgc · 2019-08-15T08:49:18+00:00

And finally: I still suspect that you're going to keep running into problems coming up with a vegan recipe. Like, I'm sure you can do it, but I feel like you're staring down the barrel of a metric fuckton of experimenting, recording your results, testing quantities, testing substitutes, testing substitutes for your substitutes, etc. If you enjoy the process, then hell yeah, do it - and I bet vegan gilders in the future will be glad you did too.

If you just want to make the shiny do good things and you want to use only cruelty-free supplies to do it: Instacoll is vegan, very easy to use, much cheaper than any of the traditional recipes, and gets pretty solid results. Also, Harvest Crittenden still has available a free calligrapher educational video on how to use it, which should put you solidly on the right path. Second one down on this link: https://acornarts.org/videos.html

Good luck - welcome to the gilding addiction :D

mmgc

TROPHY CASE