Tag Archives: learning gilding

Glitterati of 2025

Another group of budding illuminators gathered in mid-May 2025 for this year’s Illumination course at Sevenoaks in Kent. In 2024 half were from overseas but this year they were all from the UK – it varies every year which makes it always very interesting. The day before everything was ready and the rooms set up; most of the tools needed were in the pink boxes – those who’ve been on my courses will be familiar with the wet and dry boxes – and the rest were carefully arranged around individual work stations! It takes quite a bit of time to prepare for the course, not just what is required for the course itself of course, but we also provide a light lunch of homemade soup, bread and dessert, as well as homemade biscuits and cake during each day – these being a very necessary sugar hit to keep us going!

It is a very full first day! Gesso is made, laid and gilded, quills are cut, vellum prepared for painting, and two miniatures prepared for gilding. Both images are transferred to vellum using home made Armenian bole paper – everyone gets to take home their own piece for future use.

 

 

 

 

The practice miniature is done first with a modern adhesive used to attach the gold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gesso is applied to the main miniature with a quill that each person on the course has cut themselves from a swan’s feather.

 

 

 

 

 

Then leaf gold is applied to the gesso and polished to a shine with a burnisher; after this the gold is cleaned up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the painting is done using the wonderful jewel colours as in the original being copied and applied with a very fine Kolinsky sable brush.

We learned many things on the course, not least that gesso needs to be thick enough to allow for scraping down to achieve a smooth surface, and that modern adhesive needs to be applied either quickly over the whole surface, or in tiny tiny strokes.

These are the results with comments by those on the course. The comments don’t necessarily match the miniatures.

I would do it again! Highly recommended course with an excellent tutor and lovely people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great explanations, very enjoyable and approachable for all questions. Great course! Perfect amount of time (longer would have been lovely too). Immersive and very educational!

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your clear explanations and demonstrations. The course is perfect for providing an introduction to illumination and painting. It has given me the motivation to continue with this.

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed the additional information as well as the essentials – all very well explained. It was wonderful; could have done five days.

 

 

 

 

 

Brilliant; thank you. I cannot believe how well my miniature turned out.

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent, clear description and explanation of materials, techniques and tools. Brilliant – pure and simple.

 

 

 

 

 

Such an interesting and engaging experience, thoroughly enjoyable and I felt I learned a great deal that will be put into practice at home. Patricia was unfailingly patient and good humoured, like being with a lovely family. Thank you!

 

 

 

Lovely, informative, very interesting and fun. Great!

More Glittering Gilders

IMG_2768 2Another group of budding illuminators gathered at my studio to learn how to cut quills, make and lay gesso, treat vellum for painting, and the craft processes of the mediæval illuminator. I am always delighted when a random group of people get on so well – perhaps it’s that all those who want to learn these skills are so nice!

 

 

IMG_2790Everything was ready for their arrival as I supply all the tools and materials, so students need to bring nothing but a pen and notebook (no expensive outlay if participants decide that it’s not for them, but how could they not?). As well as teaching the skills and techniques, I always try to instil elements of best practice and ways of working in my classes so tools and materials are placed carefully around the work station, and also care of tools and preparation and use of materials are explained as the class progresses.

Here is a beautiful white horse from a student who declared that she was ‘definitely not an artist’! Yet look at those fantastic fine white lines and the decorated border!

IMG_2799This student decided to tackle a large and complicated image. The burnish on the gold and smoothness of gesso is great, but she wasn’t able to finish in the time the three-day course allowed. This does give some indication of how long a miniature like this would take to complete, as there were no stops for chats!

 

 

 

 

IMG_6611And here is the image complete. What a great achievement! Certainly something to frame and put on the wall! And look how that gold shine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_2787Here a rather blue ram (as in the original) which has the most impressive woolly coat! The expression on the face is particularly good as well as the fine lines depicting the wool and the white hairlines.

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_2781These little ducks or geese (we weren’t quite sure in the original!) are surrounded by a very well laid, smooth gesso which has been beautifully gilded – I haven’t quite captured the shine in this photograph.

 

 

 

 

IMG_2783And this is a very proud peacock with its colourful tail which is well matched by gold leaf on gesso everywhere in the background! The advantage of copying and making the miniature your own is that you can take liberties like this!

 

 

IMG_2793Miniatures from bestiaries are not always quite what students want, so this white hart was from a couple of paintings, the hunters with spears were omitted, an extra tree inserted, and the hart made white not brown. The brilliant shine on the gold is evident in this image.

 

 

 

 

IMG_2797The chameleon is certainly multi-coloured, and has a cute little owl sitting on a tree noticing everything. The gesso is well laid here and has a good depth of burnish with very fine painting.

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_2778And these three little hares are chasing one another’s tails, with very fine lines, particularly the white ones in the patterned border.

 

 

 

 

The next course will be in 2019, and subscribers to my free online monthly newsletter will received the dates first and have priority booking.