Water-gilding is the craft of adhering gold leaf onto a surface which has been prepared with traditional chalk gesso and clay bole. This is a 16oz tub of Classic French Red Sinopia Clay Bole for use in water-gilding.

Red is the standard color bole as it provides a warm tone which gives a warm accent to the gold leaf above. This particular shade of Red is designed to emulate the standard Red Clay Bole which was used in France up until the late 1960s. After this date, the standard French red bole changed color and the shade was lost forever. Sinopia sourced samples of this historic bole for testing and managed to create a Clay Bole which matches the deep, rich, orange-brown red shade of traditional French Red Clay Bole.

This product cannot be used straight from the jar. Once the bole has been thinned with water to the consistency of cream, it should be mixed 1:1 with warm rabbit skin glue solution. This mixture then needs to be applied in several layers to a surface which has already been prepared with at least three layers of traditional chalk gesso ground. Once the bole solution has dried, the surface can be polished with a soft cloth ready for the application of the gold leaf. The advantage of water gilding is the fact that the gold can be burnished to a high gloss finish after it has been glued to the soft poliment ground.

Please note that Sinopia Boles have been tested in freezing conditions and are not affected by being frozen. Make sure you thaw them thoroughly before use.