• Gold is one of the earliest and most popular materials for jewellery and ornament. It can be traced back to prehistoric Egypt 8000-5500 BC.

• Gold is an inert metal which will not tarnish with age.

• It is also one of the most malleable substances - it can be rolled and beaten into exceptionally thin leaves or drawn into the most delicate of wires.

• Gold leaf is bought in books. Each leaf is cut into a square measuring 3 ¼ inch and each leaf is 250,000th of an inch thick! It is available as either Loose or Transfer: Loose leaves are placed between rouged sheets of a book and are used with both water and oil gilding techniques. Transfer leaves have been pressed onto individual sheets of tissue which are released by applying light pressure to the back of the tissue. Transfer leaf is only used with oil gilding.

• The advantages of a gold leaf finish, as opposed to mere gold-coloured finishes, are finer reflectivity, stability and durability – in the right conditions, a professionally gilded surface can last for centuries!

For more information, please also see:

Gilding terms
Layman's guide to gilding
Before & after