About AurumLeaf

Gilding is an old craft with a lot of small, easy-to-get-wrong arithmetic hiding behind it. How many sheets of leaf actually cover a picture frame, a piece of furniture, or a wall panel once you account for overlap and waste? How long does a given size really need to tack up before it’s ready to receive leaf, and how much does temperature and humidity change that? What does “18k lemon gold” or “12k white gold leaf” actually mean, and how does it differ from composition (imitation) leaf? What will a project cost once you add up books of leaf, size, and time? How many books do you need to buy, given leaf is only sold whole? None of these questions are hard, but working them out by hand for every project is where a fun craft turns into a chore.

AurumLeaf exists to take that arithmetic off your hands. Instead of long guides you have to read end to end, the site is built around a set of small, single-purpose calculators, each aimed at one part of planning a gilding project. The Leaf Sheet Coverage Calculator works out how many sheets of leaf a surface needs once a waste allowance for overlap is included. The Size & Adhesive Dry-Time Calculator gives a working estimate of how long a size needs to tack and how wide its open (laying) window is, adjusted for room temperature and humidity. The Gold Leaf Karat & Color Guide looks up the gold content and typical alloy behind a karat or a named leaf color, from 24k genuine leaf down to composition (imitation) leaf. The Gilding Cost Calculator adds up books of leaf, size, and optional labor into a materials estimate for a project. The Book-of-Leaf Quantity Calculator converts a sheet count into whole books and packs to order, since suppliers sell leaf by the book, not the sheet. And the Gold Leaf Thickness Calculator turns a weight of gold and a leaf thickness into the area it can cover, using the density of gold and a bit of geometry.

Beyond the calculators, the blog and learn section cover gilding technique, materials, and the history behind the craft, and the Gilding Museum is a browsable collection of gilded art, illuminated manuscripts, gilded architecture, and gold-leaf icons, with every entry, image, and fact drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

A few things worth stating plainly. AurumLeaf is an independent site, not affiliated with any leaf manufacturer, gilding-supply retailer, or conservation body. It is supported by advertising, which is how the tools stay free with no account required. Every result the tools produce — a sheet count, a dry-time estimate, a karat breakdown, a cost total, a book count, a coverage figure — is a general estimate built on the numbers you enter and on common trade conventions, not a guarantee for your specific leaf, size, substrate, or working conditions. Materials, brands, and techniques vary, so always test on a scrap piece and follow your manufacturer’s own instructions before committing to a finished piece. If something looks off in a tool or an article, or you think a calculator is missing that would help, the contact page is the place to say so.