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ROIt’s a year since we first shared our viral gold beads conservation film. For anyone who missed it first time around, here it is again!
To pre-empt some of the common questions that were asked last year:
⭐ The gold leaf is incredibly thin and delicate (around 0.0005 mm thick!) and it would simply tear apart if you tried to push it down through the water rather than up from underneath. You would also end up with water on the outside of the gilded bead and that would change the way the gold looks - this way the outside of the gold leaf stays dry as it wraps around the surface of the bead.
⭐A very weak glue in the coloured preparation layer is applied to the bead before gilding. When the bead is immersed in the water this glue is reactivated and the gold sticks to the surface. This layer is also absorbent so as the water under the gold leaf gets absorbed into the bead it takes the gold leaf with it until it’s attached to the surface of the bead.
⭐Cotton wool is known as ‘absorbent cotton’ in the USA - for our American followers who aren’t familiar with the British term.
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