Turkish style bow

[jack farrell]

Andrew; Years ago while working on archictural embellishments, I was taught to use oil-based products as sizing for gold leaf. Yellow enamel oil-base paint is very common, so is red. Later when the leaf is damaged, the color shows through. We always used slow drying products so that the leaf was applied long after the sizing. Actually the sizing appears dry but not yet cured when applying the leaf. The master said that when the hair on your arm would no longer stick to the paint, it was ready to apply the leaf. The next day it could be burnished with a special brush. The gold did not need varnishing.

Congrats on your bow! -j-

[Angel]

Very beautiful turkish bow, Andrew. And it?s only your first one.... Keep on with that work.

[Andrew Hall]

Thanks for the complements. I am quite pleased with the bow, even if the decoration did not go to plan.

Alessi, the glue I used was Modelgraphics Wunda Size. The bottle recommends leaving 15 minutes before applying the leaf. It also states that it can be tinted with designers gouache, so I can follow Bede's recommendation and colour it so I can see where I am painting. The shop recommended painting the area to be gilded red (they were thinking of large areas).

I have covered it with a normal water-based varnish. The varnish is to help with wear resistance as the leaf is so thin it can easily rub away. The gold leaf is already starting to wear off the belly of the grip, even after varnishing.

Angel, the bow is my first Turkish style bow, but my sixth composite. My previous bows were styled after the earlier bone-reinforced types (initially very loosely styled, but later bows were more representative of archaeological finds). This is the shortest and narrowest bow I have attempted - it has only about 2/3 of of the bending limb area of my previous composite.

Regards

Andrew

[Joko]

Good job Sir, looks nice!