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!!!
No, only when it's hot, to cool down.
