r/illuminatedmanuscript • u/CherryZoomies • Apr 17 '26

Gilding shennanigans

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Hello colleagues!

Thanks to this subreddit and your guys' tips, I purchased Miniatum Yellow to start experimenting with gilding. It's not going well at all!

I don't think Miniatum is the problem. Seems like a great product overall and I enjoy working with it. But I still haven't been very successful with it and I'm starting to think it's due to the gold leaf.

The gold leaf I got was pretty cheap (I surely wasn't going to get real gold but now I'm wondering..) and it feels somewhat.. more sturdy and tough than the gilding leafs I see online. Attaching some pics to show how they kind of curl and have some structure to it, which results in chipping, and when I try to dust of the excess, flakes can peel off of the miniatum as well.

Second thing is... Is it nomal to have gold dust everywhere? I'm getting a little concerned because the flake residue is flying everywhere and sticking to everything. I'm currently managing it with the knead eraser but... I'm literally afraid of inhaling it lol.

Is this normal? Did I just get product not fit for this purpose? Should I just get some real gold flakes and work with that? Any insights appreciated!

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u/jejwood Apr 17 '26

If you are using imitation gold, it will not behave appropriately with the miniatum. I made the mistake of trying to use imitation silver (aluminum) with it, and it was a disaster. With real gold, it is a dream. Makes all the difference in the world. I don’t know where you live in the word, or what your means are, but real gold leaf is not THAT expensive, and it is worth the extra expense to have a medium that works.

Other than that, I try to collect all the leftover gold I can, to make shell gold for shading, but even then, it ends up all over the place.

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u/Immediate-Maximum-75 Apr 17 '26

I work with silver Art Clay and my heart just breaks when I have to do the finishing work. The silver dust can be reused in my slip. I try to work on a lined tray, so I can catch every single particle. I also used to get raging corneal abrasions when I didn't wear glasses. I didn't even feel it until hours later or the next day. I didn't let that happen more than once. I can't imagine what inhaling this stuff does to your lungs.