AURUMLEAF

AurumLeaf

Learn

A reference companion to the museum — curated topic sections that go deeper on the subjects behind the collection. Every entry, image, and fact is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

Materials & Tools

What gilding is actually made of — gold, silver, and palladium, the gesso and bole grounds, the glues and varnishes, and the brushes and burnishers a gilder reaches for.

14 entries

Techniques & Process

How leaf gets from ingot to a finished surface — goldbeating and the malleability behind it, water and mordant gilding, burnishing, and the related metal-decorating crafts nearby.

14 entries

History & Legend

Gold's long run as the material of pharaohs and kings — the gilded burial masks of ancient Egypt, the myth of Midas, and the gold rushes that chased the metal across continents.

14 entries

Applications & Related Crafts

Where gilding turns up in the wider world — gilded frames and furniture, gold-lettered signs, illuminated bindings, mosaics, medals, and the conservators who keep it all intact.

14 entries