Bole

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GeoSpectrum
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Bole

Post by GeoSpectrum »

Ok, I’m getting the hang of RSG gesso, spraying frames
Is the way to go for me. The Next step is bole. Ready made, Make your own, colour....any recommendations? There seems to be a lot on the market.
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Re: Bole

Post by vintage frames »

You'll be painting on bole if you want to add gilding to the gesso finish. The purpose of bole to provide a superfine surface on the gesso so that any leaf laid over it has an almost mirror like quality. And this in turn gives the gilding a bright reflective finish which can then be manipulated for different effects, burnishing, ageing, distressing etc, but without loosing too much of the original brightness. I.e start off as bright as possible because everything you do on top will subtract from the quality of the finish.
You can of course choose any number of cheap shortcuts but as you've already gone to the trouble of laying down gesso and sanding it to a smooth finish, why waste all that effort with a cheap Hobbycraft finish?
I'm now going to assume that you will be looking to lay some sort of metal leaf, gold,silver or Dutch metal. The simplest method is oil gilding where the bole is sealed after polishing and a long drying gold size is painted on. When this reaches it's specified working condition, the leaf is laid on to it and further left to dry. After that it is sealed and then can be worked to a variety of effects.
So what sort of bole?
Charbonnel, Selhamin and Sinopia all produce tubs of wet bole which when mixed with RSG provide the ideal bole for either oil or watergilding. You can buy the dry bole from Selhamin but it needs ground in a muller before mixing. And they are all quite expensive - which is OK if you're going to watergild the surface and price you'll be able to charge for such, more than compensates for the extra expense.
A much cheaper way is to buy dry powdered bole from Cornelissons -
https://www.cornelissen.com/water-colou ... -bole.html
Mix this with RSG and you've got a very cost effective bole.
Here's how;
Mix a table spoon of the dry bole with some clean water to the consistency of double cream. Sieve it through one of these -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/housesweet-Dis ... B07T9CLP9S
Now dribble in some warm RSG and as you stir, the bole will thicken up to butter. Keep dribbling in more RSG until you're back to double cream. Then a liitle more RSG, a splash of brandy and some more water until we have single cream.
You paint that on warm and in long one direction strokes using a good quality one-stroke watercolour brush. I find two coats enough but more if you feel the need.
The bole is finished by sanding through 600grit, 00 wire wool, 1000grit, 0000wire wool and cotton cloth.
And that's enough for now!
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GeoSpectrum
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Re: Bole

Post by GeoSpectrum »

Many thanks once again Dermot.
Alan Huntley
Ashcraft Framing
Bespoke Easels and Self-assembly tray frames
http://www.ashcraftframing.co.uk
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