Watergilding Fail- Madonna and Child


LEARNING MEDIEVAL TECHNIQUES 
by Symonne de la Croix

I am trying to teach myself how to paint with egg tempera and to water gild on medieval rabbit skin glue gessoed board with period pigments. I enjoyed the prep work of making the RSG gesso and the RSG bole. I enjoyed burnishing the bole to a shine with an agate tool. Even preparing the glair to put with the pure water for the water gilding technique was fun.
What wasnt fun was the actual gilding. I cant seem to figure it out. Too much fluid and the gold leaf crinkled but not enough and it just wouldn't stick. Then I tried to burnish it smooth but I don't think I waited long enough so it took some of the bole off in places. (Could be not enough RSG in tge bole). 
So I re applyed the bole and burnished it but the bole base was damaged. I thought I would fix the problem by applying a modern size, minium, thickly. Thinking it would self level and create a smooth surface again. It seemed to work until the next day where I found the gold crinkly plus some air bubbles had cone up that I didnt notice causing some holes. All together an unpleasant look but I am persevering as I want to learn the tempera techniques.  I am glad that I incised the main lines as the bole caused a lot of staining dust that made the drawing difficult to see.
The tempera dries very quickly so it cant be blended wet in wet. So I decided to do an underpainting and am hoping glazes will work.
 I see why it is suggested to do limning (little lines) with tempera which I will try though I have very limited experience with the technique. Already I am seeing that the yolk/pigment is a big factor in the painting. A huge learning curve.





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