Dear Friends,

A quick note to everyone as I get ready to leave the Pacific Northwest for New York City, cold and all! The best thing for everyone to do now is bundle up, come to class, and warm up at the Showroom Studio of Sepp Leaf!

There are a few seats left for the NY Absolute Beginners Class on Tuesday, January 28 and designed to get you on the right path for learning this ancient art while introducing you to some new Contemporary materials. It’s filling up so you might want to hop on this one quickly. Water Gilding has some space as well the following days January 29-31. 

After this adventure to NY it’s off to Christchurch, New Zealand in April, Kelowna, British Columbia in June, and Logan, Utah in September. So if you’re nearby or up for a little traveling this year, come join us for some exciting Gilding Studies in these enchanting areas! Plus of course a return to NY in June and October and beautiful Whidbey Island (Home Sweet Home!) throughout the year.

As always, I’ll be curating the journey through the days ahead while in New York next week so keep your eye on Instagram (and our next Newsletter with the new Klimt Contest Book Giveaway which I’ll be perusing the giftshop for at the Neue Galerie when I breakaway to study the Adele Bloch-Bauer…).

Meanwhile, there are a few things of note below so happy reading, speak again soon…and stay warm!

Peace, health, and clarity,

Charles

Q. What if a frame is dusty and the gold is dirty, “darkened”? How do you clean old gold? Besides a brush, do you clean the gold with any product/solvent? ~ S.L., NY

A. There are a number of various materials a Restorer or Conservator may use when needing to clean a gilded surface such as Water Gilded Picture Frames. However, it isn’t a task that I recommend unless a gilder or student is sufficiently trained in the various methods and techniques of gilding. One wrong move and a historical gilded Finish can be removed and lost forever. Many French and Italian frames do not have a protective coating so knowledge and care is paramount. Solvents can quickly remove oil gilding, pure water can remove water gilding. Plus, what may appear as dirt could be an intentional applied Patina while old gold could actually be silver coated with layers of Dragon’s Blood and Gamboge.

That said, a weak rabbit skin glue solution may be considered. In gilding language it’s a solution referred to by a ratio of 1 Part 10% RSG (Rabbit Skin Glue) to 4 Parts Distilled Water. So we just say 1 to 4 and gilders who restore will know what this means. Some use a weaker solution such as 1:5 or 1:7. It can remove the surface dirt while leaving a thin protective film of rabbit skin glue. (There’s a wonderful chapter on this topic by Stanley Robinson in the Book Gilded Wood Conservation and History by Deborah Bigelow).

Other cleaning materials include Vulpex or a weak, 10% Ammonia/Water solution. But as you mentioned, the first step would be your soft Squirrel Hair Mop such as the #819 Squirrel Hair Mop from Gilded Planet for gentle dusting into a handheld vacuum. (Watch for an Online Introduction to Gold Leaf Restoration Class for 2025-2026). Thanks for writing, great question! ~

I’m still pushing this one as it’s such an extraordinary example of 14thc Italian Egg Tempera Gilded Panels, the same method and techniques of gilding we do in the Water Gilded Panels classes: Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 is an Exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. January 26 is the last day so try to make it if you can. The Frick Museum also has a wonderful Collection of gilded egg tempera panels so put that on your calendar when they re-open this Spring! …. And of special note, Frances Federer, friend, colleague, and author of the book Gold Leaf, Paint, & Glass, one of our few Contemporary experts on the art of Verre Églomisé, will be featured in the exhibit: Szutka refeksji | The Art of Reflection at Galicja Zydowskie Muzeum | Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków, Poland. The opening is February 20, 2025. Watch the museum’s website for updates and go if you can (plus her book is wonderful too for those who are interested in the glass gilding arts!)…An interesting Exhibit coming up at the Salmagundi Arts Club at 5th and 12th in NY, Into the Night: nocturnes opens January 28th which is when I’ll be there with a Reception open to all (rsvp required) February 6. (Makes me think of Dutch Black Frames with gilded edges! :))…

March 5 - May 28, 2025

Live on Zoom and Recorded

Q & A each week!

The Arts Centre

2 Worcester Blvd.

Canterbury

Christchurch, New Zealand

May 9 - August 1, 2025

Live on Zoom and Recorded

Q & A each week!

Click Here to View the Current Schedule for 2025 with more classes coming! Now Open For Registration for All Online and In-Person Gilding Classes as well as Archive Recordings of previous Live Zoom Classes.