Gold Leaf

Gold Leaf.
Gold leaf has been around for thousands of years. The Egyptians and Romans used it to adorn artwork, statues, mummies, teeth, and jewellry. Louis the XIV used it in his residence and the French court to show his power and opulent life style. It was, and is an indicator of wealth and power. Our own monetary system is based upon it. Guess you could say it's what makes the world go round.


There is about twenty four different colors of leaf and several different carat weights available. The higher the carat weight the more gold content in it and the more costly. It will not tarnish,corrode, will stand up to the outside elements, and can burnished to a beautiful finish. So this does really make it a media that is very suitable to our needs in the custom field.

The leaf is produced by rolling a two oz ingot of gold between rollers that exert thousands and thousands of pounds Rolling it flat to 1/250000 in thickness. That two oz ingot will produce enough leaf to cover roughly 300 square feet.

The rotunda of the state capital building in Atlanta is guilded, and it took only 20 oz of gold to do it. At one time there were gold beaters that spent literally weeks to months beating on a gold ingot. The thinner they got it the more money they made, more bang for the buck, so to speak.
Some of the countries that produce gold and silver leaf, are Germany, China, Italy, France and Japan. So as you can see it's big business. It can be purchased in books measuring roughly 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches square with twenty five sheets of leaf in that book. Each leaf of gold is seperated within that book. By a sheet of glassine paper. Which is about the only thing the leaf will not stick to. This type is referred to what is known as loose leaf. The other type is called bonded leaf, and each leaf is stuck to a carrier sheet. This type is much easier to apply. As the loose leaf type has to be applied in a draft free enviorment. Even the draft from opening a door will affect it. There's something about seeing twenty bucks worth of gold going poof and floating through the air. So there it is, a little history lesson for you. Next week we'll talk a little more on the different types of leaf, and about the gold size, and how and what type to use for our purpose.
This Aston Martin was done in gold leaf. The front of it was done in silver leaf. I guess this would be for the guy that has every thing. Stay tuned it should be fun.