The Sunflowers
I was fortunate to be commissioned to water gild this pair of beautiful sunflowers. This pair of sunflowers form one of two sets which are part of the Robert Jones interior scheme in The Saloon at The Royal Pavilion. This set had to be newly carved as the original pair are housed Buckingham Palace.
The sunflowers were beautifully carved in lime wood in 2014 by wood carver John Powel, (now retired from a long career at the Royal Pavilion Brighton) John was able to produce exact copies by working from the originals. The two original sunflowers sit in the North barrel and the new pair sit in the South barrel.
The Preparation
Firstly I gave the sunflowers are really hot coat of stock size to lift the grain, this penetrates the wood and raises the grain ready to receive the gesso. Once this has dried the surface feels slightly rough.
I made a fairly thin gesso and gave it 4 layers of strong gesso followed by 4 layers of a slightly weaker gesso. I had to take care not to clog the details.
When the gesso was fully dried it was time to smooth, I did this using gesso gouges and fine papers. I also water smoothed some of the details using a cotton swab.
Once the sunflowers were free of imperfections I made yellow ochre using rabbit glue. The sunflower received two coats. The next stage was to apply the ‘bole’. This is made from coloured clays and rabbit glue. This colour bole was made to match the original regency colour bole used throughout the interior scheme. I brush applied 5 coats of bole.
The bole was then polished using a soft brush and steam. The bole acts as a cushion to receive the gold.
The gold was then applied with water. All the layers of preparation are bound with glue. The water re activates the glue and adheres the gold leaf to the surface. Once the first lay was dry, I skewed off with a soft brush and made a ‘double laying size’ I applied a thin coat all over the gilded surface ready to double lay.
Once dry I was ready ‘double lay’, This layer will catch in any misses and provide a solid appearance.
The following day I was ready to ‘burnish’ . A process where the gold leaf is compressed with an agate tool. The result of the burnish can vary depending on how soon after you lay your gold and how hard you press. I used a few different sized agates to burnish. I used the original sunflowers to copy the areas where the burnishing was. The head was burnished and the movement in the rays too. The snake like tail was also burnished.
Final Stage
The final stage to this water gilding was to make a parchment size. I gave a thin coat to the sunflower. This not only gives protection to the gold, it also gives an even tone to your gilding.
