Materials and methods / Illumination

After the writing is completed, all pieces are wet-laminated onto a murakka, a hand-made backing stretched onto a wooden board to keep it flat. Different colored paper is then applied around the edges, and then the gold borders are applied and outlined. After some days the piece can be cut off from the wooden board and framed. All pieces are illuminated with gold leaf which is finely ground by hand with a solution of gum Arabic. This mixture is then strained and filtered until only pure gold dust remains. Different alloys produce different shades: 17K green gold, 21K yellow gold, 23K red gold and 12K white gold. The gold is applied with a brush and burnished with an agate stone
illumination