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Mechanical gilding includes all the operations in which gold leaf is prepared, and the
processes to mechanically attach the gold onto surfaces. The techniques include burnishing,
water gilding and oil-gilding used by wood carvers and gilders; and the gilding operations of
the house decorator, sign painter, bookbinder, the paper stainer and several others.

simplest

The next advances involved two simple processes. The first involves gold leaf, which is gold
that is hammered or cut into very thin sheets. Gold leaf is often thinner than standard paper
today, and when held to the light is semi-transparent. In ancient times it was typically about
ten times thicker than today, and perhaps half that in the Middle Ages.

If gilding on canvas or on wood, the surface was often first coated with gesso. "Gesso" is a
substance made of finely ground gypsum or chalk mixed with glue. Once the coating of gesso
had been applied, allowed to dry, and smoothed, it was re-wet with a sizing made of rabbit-
skin glue and water ("water gilding", which allows the surface to be subsequently burnished
to a mirror-like finish) or boiled linseed oil mixed with litharge ("oil gilding", which does
not) and the gold leaf was layered on using a gilder's tip and left to dry before being
burnished with a piece of polished agate. Those gilding on canvas and parchment also
sometimes employed stiffly-beaten egg whites ("glair"), gum, and/or Armenian bole as
sizing, though egg whites and gum both become brittle over time, causing the gold leaf to
crack and detach, and so honey was sometimes added to make them more flexible.

Wet gilding is effected by means of a dilute solution of gold(III) chloride in aqua regia with
twice its quantity of ether. The liquids are agitated and allowed to rest, to allow the ether to
separate and float on the surface of the acid. The whole mixture is then poured into a
separating funnel with a small aperture, and allowed to rest for some time, when the acid is
run off from below and the gold dissolved in ether separated. The ether will be found to have
taken up all the gold from the acid, and may be used for gilding iron or steel, for which
purpose the metal is polished with fine emery and spirits of wine. The ether is then applied
with a small brush, and as it evaporates it deposits the gold, which can now be heated and
polished. For small delicate figures, a pen or a fine brush may be used for laying on the ether
solution. The gold(III) chloride can also be dissolved in water in electroless plating wherein
the gold is slowly reduced out of solution onto the surface to be gilded. When this technique
is used on the second surface of glass and backed with silver, it is known as "Angel gilding".

Fire-gilding or Wash-gilding is a process by which an amalgam of gold is applied to metallic

surfaces, the mercury being subsequently volatilized, leaving a film of gold or an amalgam
containing 13 to 16% mercury. In the preparation of the amalgam, the gold must first be
reduced to thin plates or grains, which are heated red-hot, and thrown into previously heated
mercury, until it begins to smoke. When the mixture is stirred with an iron rod, the gold is
totally absorbed. The proportion of mercury to gold is generally six or eight to one. When the
amalgam is cold, it is squeezed through chamois leather to separate the superfluous mercury;
the gold, with about twice its weight of mercury, remains behind, forming a yellowish silvery
mass with the consistency of butter.
When the metal to be gilded is wrought or chased, it ought to be covered with mercury before
the amalgam is applied, that this may be more easily spread; but when the surface of the
metal is plain, the amalgam may be applied to it directly. When no such preparation is
applied, the surface to be gilded is simply bitten and cleaned with nitric acid. A deposit of
mercury is obtained on a metallic surface by means of quicksilver water, a solution of
mercury(II) nitrate, the nitric acid attacking the metal to which it is applied, and thus leaving
a film of free metallic mercury.

The gilding of decorative ceramics has been undertaken for centuries, with the permanence
and brightness of gold appealing to designers. Both porcelain and earthenware are commonly
decorated with gold, and in the late 1970s it was reported that 5 tonnes of gold were used
annually for the decoration of these products.[4] Some wall tiles also have gold
decoration.[5][6] Application techniques include spraying, brushing, banding machines, and
direct or indirect screen-printing.[7] After application the decorated ware is fired in a kiln to
fuse the gold to the glaze and hence ensure its permanence. The most important factors
affecting coating quality are the composition of applied gold, the state of the surface before
application, the thickness of the layer and the firing conditions.[8]

 Burnish Gold or Best Gold is applied to the ware as a suspension of gold powder in
essential oils mixed with lead borosilicate or a bismuth-based flux. This type of gold
decoration is dull as taken from the kiln and requires burnishing, usually with agate, to bring
out the colour. As the name suggests it is considered the highest quality of gold decoration.
One solvent-free burnish gold composition was reported to consist of 10 to 40% gold powder,
2 to 20% polyvinylpyrrolidone, 3 to 30% an aqueous acrylate resin and 5 to 50% water.[12]