CBH Oil gilding the Louis XV cabriole legs

• Always read the accompanying technical description!

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Carey Beebe oil gilding a Louis XV cabriole leg for the table stand.

The elegant seven-leg Louis XV table stand is one of the highlights of the harpsichord. The legs have been painted and varnished. Each leg is rested in the cradle and gilded in turn. Using a sable brush, gold size is applied first to the carved donkey foot and acanthus leaf. For the leg stripes and grooves, a piece of buckskin is used for a uniform coat of size. After some time, the size can be checked for readiness. When it barely pulls the little hairs on the back of a finger, the gold can be applied without drowning.

Here, genuine 23K gold leaf is used. A leaf is dropped from the booklet onto the foot and acanthus, and given a light brushing with a soft camelhair mop. The leg stripes and grooves are gilded using a 25mm wide roll. The roll is unwound while the gold is lightly pressed onto the tacky size. A light brushing with a soft camelhair mop then pushes surplus leaf onto any remaining bare areas of the almost-dry size and excess flakes are retained in a box. Bare areas can be touched up with a 12mm wide roll. A fingernail creasing the backing paper helps ensure full coverage of gold in the groove. Overflow on the painted leg can be removed with another piece of leather lightly dampened with White Spirit. Detail around the acanthus is cleaned with a sharpened bamboo skewer.

The next day, the gilded areas are lightly polished with a cotton wool ball to remove any flake residue (not shown). Nothing goes on top of the leaf.

The stand is then seen assembled ready to accept the instrument.

French Double Harpsichord after Blanchet, Carey Beebe Sydney 2009,
commission for Qasr Al Alam Guest House, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

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[fniniel]

wat u put in the top.? a glaze?or wat taht stuff. i dont know .. let me ...pls

[hpschdnu]

@fniniel The answer is in the technical description: Nothing goes on top of the gold.

[thepuppetstv]

skills, son!

[Cadw]

Awesome : )