What is the easiest, historical way to gild manuscripts/paintings/caligraphy?

This year I'm teaching medieval history, and I'd like to have my students make their own medieval books (making paper, binding them, covering them, illuminating them and maybe even decorating them).

I really want the kids to make their own illuminated letter/illustration with egg tempera, and I think it would be super cool if they could add some gilding. But, I'm getting really confused about how to do that. I see lots of sets for gold leaf gilding (like this one from BLICK), but when I asked if they could be used on egg tempera, I was told,

"The adhesive and sealer in the Mona Lisa Composition Gold Leaf Kit are water-based synthetic products. When applied, they introduce an acrylic/polymer layer onto the surface of your work, which is not usually compatible with egg tempera paintings. Because of this, the manufacturer recommends testing this on a sample of a fully cured egg tempera painting before applying it to a finished artwork."

Well, that won't work. I'm assuming most of these kits, then, probably won't work. They seem largely to be used for gilding objects, like mirror frames and chairs.

Looking into actual historical methods, I see a lot of mentions of gilding on top of gesso. This gives a nice raised finish, but it sounds really finicky. I don't want to deal with that level of chaos and potential for failure!

Can I just apply gold leaf with just gum arabic or gelatin/hide glue?

I also see that "Gold pigment, liquid gold, and shell gold[6] are the simplest methods of illumination, and represent the earliest occurrence of gold in manuscripts.[7] Gum, glair, or size provide suitable gold-grain binders. A small brush applies the mixture—technically comparable with watercolor painting. Although this method works well on rough vellum, burnished grains produce dull illumination.[8] Shell gold, acceptable for lettering or small accents, is not recommended for major work." (according to Natural Pigments' website).

Are those harder or easier to apply? I'm struggling to find much info on this subject.

Doing some searching, I found this write up from the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism):

The products recommended for use on SCA scrolls, on the grounds of authenticity and durability, are gold gouache, powdered or shell gold, and gold leaf.
There are several varieties of metallic gouache available. For my money, Pelikan Rich Gold is best. Windsor & Newton is rather lifeless and difficult to apply evenly. Pelikan Pale Gold is a bit anaemic, and Pelikan Dark Gold is too coppery in tone. This is only a personal recommendation, please use whatever you like best. The paint should be diluted to a creamy consistency, and stirred constantly to keep the gold from settling out. For the best results, paint the area to be covered with a thin wash, and while this is still wet, flood on a sizeable amount of gouache. The surface tension of the water will distribute the gold evenly, but you might have to tease it carefully into tight corners. When completely dry, polish it with a dog-tooth burnisher, using a circular motion and very gentle pressure. This will smooth down the gouache and give it a nice sheen.
Powdered gold is sold in small quantities, and must be combined with gum arabic and diluted with distilled water before use. It can also be bought ready combined in small dried tablets, which is called shell gold. Powdered / shell gold is applied with a brush like ordinary paint, and when dry has a finely grained, quite dull finish. It can be brightened up quite a lot with burnishing, but is can never quite equal the brilliance of leaf.

Since well applied gold gouache looks very like shell gold (at a fraction of the cost and bother), I tend to stick to that for scrolls, especially for illuminating AA blanks.

But, that doesn't really help with figuring out how medieval people gilded without gold-leaf. Did they use gold goauche?

Looking on Natural Pigment's site, they sell Gold Shell...which costs $128.00 for 0.3 grams. That's too much! But, it also explains that shell gold is just gold dust in gum arabic. Which is a lot like gouache (gouache is watercolor with chalk/calcium carbonate added).

So, buying "gold" gouache might be a reasonable way for kids to historically gild their manuscripts, especially since it seems that gold leaf wasn't used before the 12th century.

Also, if you can attach gold dust to paper with just gum arabic, couldn't you attach gold leaf the same way?

There is an episode of Time Team where the put gold in a manuscript the authentic way.  I cannot remember the episode but most of them are free on yt.

Something in my head says gold looks better when glued onto red.  So paint all the gold places red so you know where to put it.

Digging a little deeper, this site (Arte Illuminandi) says:

For gold powder binding, it is better to use fish glue or glue made from gelatin. Gum Arabic dulls the gold powder.

I also found this fun (and slightly related) tidbit:

The origin of gum Arabic in the Middle Ages was not always clear. Much of what passed under the name gum arabic came from apricot – cherry – or plum trees and was certainly not from ‘Arabia’. Understandably, however, people also used the lesser quality cherry gum because, after all, it was available nearby. Apricot, plum and cherry trees grew in many places.

I've been meaning to use cherry sap gum to make paint, just to see how "inferior" it is. I still haven't gotten around to it, and I won't be using it to do gilding. But, I found it interesting that people did use it in the past!

He also lists some medieval recipes for making gum arabic for gold leaf and for paint. I'm pasting them here so I can find them later!

Gum solution: Recipe for laying gold leaf :

“Take white clean gum Arabic and break it into small pieces or grind it and put it in a glazed dish. And pour enough water over it so that it comes to two fingers deep and let it stand a day and a night and then put it in the hot ash for a while to dissolve and test it just as you tested the “planeerwater’ (2*). And when it is well tempered, such that it is not too strong or too weak, strain it through a cloth and keep it in a bottle and use it.”

From: “De Coloribus Faciendis ” by Jean le Bègue. ( 3*)

Gum solution for the preparation of paint:

“When mixing colors for painting in books, make a binder of the brightest gum arabic and water, as before, and mix it with all colors except green and ceruse (lead white), minium (red lead), and carmine. Salt green is unusable in a book. Spanish green should be made with wine, and if you want to make it darker, add a little of the juice of sword grass, or cabbage, or leeks. You should mix minium and ceruse, and carmine, with egg white”.

r ransom wrote:There is an episode of Time Team where the put gold in a manuscript the authentic way.  I cannot remember the episode but most of them are free on yt.

Something in my head says gold looks better when glued onto red.  So paint all the gold places red so you know where to put it.

I watched a video about the red underlaying, too. It helps the gold look more rich. This should be timestamped to when they explain about why they used a red ocher background:



I'm pretty sure there's an episode of BBC's Tudor Farm that does gilding. I'm pretty sure it's Ruth Goodman's husband that does the illuminating of a manuscript.

EDIT: Nope. There is an illuminated manuscript, but it isn't gilded:

Here's a video on making shell gold from gold leaf:

She also shows how to paint with the hand-made shell gold:



Her website also shows painting with mica, but it really doesn't look as nice as the real gold.

There are few things you can do. One of the bigger issues is if you want the manuscripts to be able to be rolled. If you are willing to keep them flat, you can fairly easily gild.
As you've already noted, a red background shows off the gold. You could also use a dark yellow ground. I haven't use egg tempura, but you may improve your chances by burnishing it a bit before adding some adhesive, to reduce the chance of it not sticking. Do either base colour and then a thin layer of rabbit/animal hide glue and then the metal foil. You do have to get the timing right with the natural glues. You want it juuuust almost fully dry, but not quite.
That is the big benefit of the modern stuff. It has almost no limit to its working time, so long as it is clean.
You could also try inks instead of the tempura, just on where you want the gilt.

Gold prices are super high. I've barely ever worked with actual gold. Most of what you can get is brass. It looks good but can tarnish over time if it's not sealed. It's been 10+ years since I did any buying so things may have changed but the Japanese stuff was hugely better than the German, which were the 2 main types out there. I always worked with loose sheets in books of usually 10 to 12 pieces rather than the stuff mounted to paper that you peel off.

You can cut or break off small pieces that are just a bit bigger that the area you want, use a static charged clean and dry paint brush to move the scrap over and another soft clean brush to smooth it down. It will crumble and brush away where there isn't any glue.

Dian Green wrote:There are few things you can do. One of the bigger issues is if you want the manuscripts to be able to be rolled. If you are willing to keep them flat, you can fairly easily gild.

Their illuminated/gilded work will be in the book they are making, so it should be able to stay flat.

Gold prices are super high. I've barely ever worked with actual gold. Most of what you can get is brass. It looks good but can tarnish over time if it's not sealed.

It makes me wonder if maybe doing a sort of pseudo shell gold with the gold mica (like this one from Earth Pigments), might be a lot easier and won't tarnish. They won't get to burnish it, but it might be easier for them to control, while still being a relatively historic method (just using mica instead of ground gold)

You can cut or break off small pieces that are just a bit bigger that the area you want, use a static charged clean and dry paint brush to move the scrap over and another soft clean brush to smooth it down. It will crumble and brush away where there isn't any glue.

Man, I so want kids to be able to experience this, but I can see a lot of frustration and wasted gold foil. Maybe I could get sheets of the brass as well as the "shell gold" mica and let kids chose.

The original, authentic method of the middle ages uses real gold leaf over super smooth gesso, glued on with eggwhite and polished with an agate stone.

A class room of kids and real gold leaf don't go together. Gold leaf is expensive, finicky (you lift it with a gilder's brush that has been made just slightly tacky by the oil in the gilder's hair) and super duper light. The slightest air current will send the gold leaf flying across the class room - I'm visualising kids trying to catch gold leaf, sending it and many more flying further through the air just by their own movements.

Nicole, I 100% applaud your plan, and passion to teach the children about medieval manuscripts.
A suggestion, massage and tweak it to your liking:
Per session, have a short introduction on the authentic, original procedure, and then explain what you're going to do in the classroom (and why you're opting for simpler methods and more modern materials).
For example; You're most likely going to work with paper pages instead of vellum (parchment = animal hide dried and scraped thin in the drying process, the flesh side smoothed)
Instead of using real gold leaf, I'd go for possible different shades of acrylic gold paint (dark, bright, warm, almost silver), and offering the choice between making a slightly domed gesso underground for the 'gilding', doing an under painting in red/ochre/green... and then adding the gold colour. The under painting may/may not add tint to the gilding, depending on the thickness of the gold paint layer.
Are you going to do calligraphy writing? It's quite a skill already to write with calligraphy pens - either ready-to-use, store bought felt tip pens, or wooden pen handles with steel nibs. In the middle ages they worked with quills, preparing the quill before each writing session.

Maybe it's good to offer two options of method per session (if you have the time and energy for it...), like writing with a calligraphy tip pen OR wooden handle + nib, but in the beginning of the session explaining what they did in the middle ages (quills that had to be cured over time first to become had and hollow, cutting the point at an angle to hold ink - oh gosh, the ink! Make/buy) so that the kids who are not super keen on trying it all out can 'get away' with the simpler options (calligraphy , no gesso dome under gilding etc) and still produce nice looking work - so satisfying! - and the kids who are feeling more ambitious can opt for the more technical/complicated options (pen + nib, gesso dome under the gilding)... aaaand the kids who are as nerdy as I've always been, can dive into the original, more complex methods outside lesson time; they'd know what to look for ("gilding with real gold leaf", "making a calligraphy quill" , "make my own medieval ink") and can follow their curiosity in their free time.

I'm ranting because I'm passionate about these things, for myself, but also for the future generations. Creativity is such a well of joy, but you don't want to exhaust your own energy nor frustrate the kids with over complicated methods.

Good luck!!!

The kids will have had a chance to write/experiment with quills and ink earlier in the school year. I still have alder cone ink left over from my botany class last year (somehow, I lost the alder and walnut ink I made 3 years ago). If I can get  my hands on some more walnuts (maybe someone in my area has oak galls?) I'll make walnut ink, too, for the kids to use. I also still have feather quills from previous years. I should learn to carve the tips better, because my knife wasn't too sharp and they aren't perfect. But, they work for the experience.

So, all the kids should already have had experience with ink and quills. For this medieval book project, I'll probably put out the tannin ink(s) and quills for kids to use, and see if I can borrow calligraphy pens from the art room for kids who want to use those. Many might just write with pencils.

I like the idea of giving the kids lots of choices, especially since I'll be teaching a Kindergarten through 2nd grade class, a 3rd through 5th, and a 6th through 8th. There will be a wide range of skills and interest in those, so I more choices gives me a way to accommodate them all.

A class room of kids and real gold leaf don't go together. Gold leaf is expensive, finicky (you lift it with a gilder's brush that has been made just slightly tacky by the oil in the gilder's hair) and super duper light. The slightest air current will send the gold leaf flying across the class room - I'm visualizing kids trying to catch gold leaf, sending it and many more flying further through the air just by their own movements.

Really good to know!

Instead of using real gold leaf, I'd go for possible different shades of acrylic gold paint (dark, bright, warm, almost silver), and offering the choice between making a slightly domed gesso underground for the 'gilding', doing an under painting in red/ochre/green... and then adding the gold colour. The under painting may/may not add tint to the gilding, depending on the thickness of the gold paint layer.

I'd like to avoid acrylic if possible, simply because it's not a historic medium. But, a gold gouache or watercolor seems pretty close to the gold shell that was historically used, even if it doesn't have actual gold in it. Right now, I'm leaning toward using gold mica, but I haven't experimented with it enough to know how gold it actually looks!

My father was an artist who took 2nd place in an international font contest back in the '70's before computers were a thing.  He did a number of illuminated pieces as special gifts for family that I still have to this day.  I was always fastinated to see how intricate the work was and that first letter had so much detail.  Because of that idea, I brought it into a unit that I taught to middle schoolers while I was teaching English.(7th and 8th graders) where they were to write an original fairy tale/fantasy story, bind it into book form with their illustrations and maps, that they would then read to kindergarteners. Each day, I started with a brief lesson in character, theme, setting, how to write dialogue, etc., and then they would do a short exercise to practice and we would read excerpts that were great exemplars of the lesson that we could really tear apart.  I also showed them many examples of calligraphy and illuminated letters using the Smartboard as well as maps found in fantasy books that they were familiar with: The Hobbit, etc. It was not not a college art class and it's not the content I needed to concentrate on, but I did want them to end up with a wonderful keepsake at the end and have a little extra knowledge about such things.  We even marbelized paper for endnotes, and I had them write up an "About the Author" and a dedication along with a map and compass rose of where their story took place.  They wanted to learn how to use a thesaurus to get the perfect word-choice.

I gave them the option of calligraphy or using the computer. I allowed them to type their stories choosing an appropriate font but, of course, they all wanted to do some illuminated letters. I didn't want them to get frustrated; what if they made a mistake on the last word they wrote or even the twentieth if hand writing in calligraphy? Typing their story allowed for easy editing and no smudging! They could easily print out the pages where they wanted the illuminated letters. I showed them how to use an outline letter in the font of their choosing and increase its size.

We, as I said, looked at lots of examples and we discussed how it was done, but I just had them use the paint that comes in the little plastic bottles and cost maybe $0 .99 at Micheal's!  My goal was to have them create something that would be attractive and that they could take pride in, without a huge investment in time and money. I wanted them to see themselves as authors and as role models for the littles at the elementary school.   Frustration can kill enthusiasm and I surely didn't want that. All of my students were so invested that they wrote so much more than I'd ever seen them write. They were willing to do re-writes. Knowing they'd have a real audience, they proofread regularly. I watched them run ideas by classmates and read sections to them that they were unsure about and then get real advice in return, instead of the usual, "It's good." They were so proud of their final volumes and many made a second book that they gave to their kindergarten partner.  One student's book was more than 80 typewritten pages!  After walking over to the elementary school and knowing we had to walk back, there wasn't time for her to read her whole book. (It really was over the head of her kindergartener!)  It was a stellar story about gargoyles and I was rivited while reading it.  Her illustrations were spectacular and she bound it and then used purple velvet as a cover with an aged-looking charm in the middle.  It was stunning!  It was such a rewarding unit for all of us!

These kids were never even taught cursive writing in elementary school.  I had to dedicate some class time to teaching them how to write cursive and especially, read it!  I found this out when one student raised her hand to tell me that my handwriting was beautiful, but no one could read it!  I asked them if it was something that they wanted to learn.  Yes, was the resounding answer.  I dedicated 5-10 minutes of practice for a few weeks and then every once in a while as a refresher.  We had beauty contests using the Elmo and Smartboard for their writing.  It was a hoot! I used the "Caught Ya" sentences to do double-duty.  (It's a story line broken down into individual sentences with all sorts of errors that need to be found and corrected.) Many chose to continue with cursive and then did all assignments using it.  Because of this hole in their education, many students' motor skills really lacked the skills for fine motor coordination required to do calligraphy. I really didn't want them to choose this option anyway because concentrating on one letter at a time takes away from the thought process of writing. It would have just taken to much time without it being something that I was in my curriculum.

I'm wondering if you've teamed up with the art teacher (Maybe you are the art teacher!) and whether she could take some of the process on?  Gold prices are exorbanent and I question whether or not they'd appreciate the fact that it was real gold or not.  I don't think the project needs to be so literal in its interpretation of an art form.  The ages you mention just don't make sense for the expense and care that would need to be taken.  What goal do you have for them by using real gold?  Would too much be lost by not using it? What are your goals or standards that you're hoping to teach and is this the most efficient way to teach them? Would a quick mini-lesson on the process be possible?  I understand the idea of learning by experience, and I think they can still have a rich (no pun intended) experience even when using fake gold paint.  Many brands have many shades of gold that are very effective.  It's not a college art class and I think it would take a lot of pressure off both you and your students.  

Most years, I was able to teach Ancient History instead of English, which I loved because I could do so many hands on projects.   I loved making props for each unit; with early humans, I went to Joann Fabric and got some fake animal fur to make pelts for some skits.  Of course, Egypt and Rome had toga type clothing that I made from muslin.  I did these things because kids would love to volunteer for anything if they could get dressed up! I pre-dug and buried small objects and gridded off areas with string for students in groups of four to experience what an archeological dig would be like...sort of. I ordered trowels and tape measures, had paint brushes and clipboards and got lots of small toys to bury at various depths.  I got little dinosaurs and all sorts of fun stuff for them to plot.  I had them make an extra credit "clay brick" to kick off the Mesopotamia unit, and cooked a Mesopotamian feast to end it. It was sort of like on Survivor when it started out, but I didn't have bugs for them to eat!  The thing that bothered them the most was plain yogurt and dates, believe it or not! We did an amazing simulation that got at the heart of going from hunter-gatherers to the Neolithic Age. It was called "Empires" and it took a bit of revamping; the directions that came with it where not good. When studying Egypt, one of the things we did was we went outside to measure and square the base of the Great Pyramid.  I always wanted to make learning hands-on and fun, but have real learning at its heart, so I get what you are trying to do. I just worry that you will frustrate yourself and your students and I am not sure about its age-appropriateness.

When deciding on how to approach a lesson, I would always ask myself, "In five or ten years, what will they remember from this, and does it really matter that they learn it to be considered well-rounded and well-educated? Does it help with overall understanding of a concept?"  The "brick" was questionable, so that was an extra-credit HW. assignment that they didn't have to participate in, and I didn't have to spend lots of classroom time and clean up to do!  I had a wonderful colleague who drummed it into me to "game" things and that stuck with me.  If kids are having fun, they will learn. The kids who chose to participate had to pass three tests: Could I break the brick with my bare hands? Could it stay together after soaking in a bucket of water for a minute and could it support fifty pounds? (I borrowed the 50 lbs. from the gym's weight room!) I had Chris Bohalian's daughter in my class, and he was so intrigued by that project that he wrote an article for the local paper.  It was pretty funny to read how she had gotten a late start but had gone out and dug lots of clay and then mixed it with straw and then tried to dry it in the oven in time for class the next day!  They had more than a week of lead time! A lesson in procrastination if nothing else, I suppose!  

The kids are so lucky to be given this experience! Long ago, I studied Turkish miniature painting from a Turkish artist. We used Windsor Newton designer’s gouache opaque watercolors. She taught us how to make gold paint from gold leaf, but I agree that it’s too expensive and difficult for kids. Gold paint should be good enough for their first experience. For those who are deeply interested and want to study in more depth, you can teach them the gold leaf technique later.
I still remember spending 10 hours on a small 2 inch by 3 1/2 inch painting using brushes with 3 or 4 hairs. It certainly teaches patience!

Nina Surya wrote:The original, authentic method of the middle ages uses real gold leaf over super smooth gesso, glued on with eggwhite and polished with an agate stone.
A class room of kids and real gold leaf don't go together.

In college i was an education intern for children's outreach at the art museum and I can corroborate this 100%. We had an educational track for European manuscripts (in classroom lesson plans with lent objects, museum tours, and then in-museum deep dive art activities) and on the tour we showed them gilded manuscripts and objects, let them handle the materials used and explained how it was done, but did not do gilding. it looks so easy but it is anything but.  I think for the Asian art track we might have had video showing someone gilding objects with powdered and leaf gold, but the European track had so many rabbit holes to go down in terms of funky materials that we just went elsewhere.

I stumbled upon them gem of a page: A Guide to Gold

She mentions that gold shell was often made from left-over gold leaf (makes sense!) and that there were gold imitators:

There were also gold imitators. Specifically mosaic gold (aka stannic sulfide aka Tin(IV) sulfide aka Tin disulfide) was easily created by chemists or those familiar in chemistry. Read HERE for how to make your own mosaic gold (I haven’t made my own yet, but likely will in the near future).

She also mentions various historic binders. Thankfully, it's not just gesso that was used!

Gum arabic – dried resin collected from the sap of two species of acacia trees. When ground and mixed with water it becomes a sticky binding agent.

Gesso – a thick mixture of plaster, chalk, or gypsum bound together with animal glue.

Glare – created from peaked egg whites, and used in both gold leaf application, but largely in the binding of shell gold. Read HERE for how to make your own glare.

Garlic juice – after garlic is finely minced, it is then distressed with mortar and pestle, gathered in a cheese cloth and the juice is extracted, producing a sticky juice.

There's also instructions for laying gold leaf, as well as how to make shell gold from gold leaf. Good stuff!

What a great resource you've found, Nicole! Thank you for sharing!

The stuff under the leaf gold is applied in layers on the page of paper or vellum;
- gesso to make a slight dome (so that the gold shines no matter what angle you're looking at it), which is polished smooth
- under painting to give the gold a hue. I've come across brick red mostly, to give the gold leaf extra warmth
- glare/glair to stick the gold leaf to the prepared base

Using garlic juice as gold leaf glue makes so super much sense! Those papery peels of it always stick to my fingers when I'm cooking. Learned something new / had a light bulb moment! Thank you