Ref Headstone (Chas)

[Dave]

. Ref my prev post regarding headstone. As you seem to know about this,could you please answer the following,or anyone else who may know. The headstone was re guilded and was fine,however ive now noticed more yellow appearing even though the writing is dry. To save complaining again is it possible to guild these spots myself,as all the stone mason used was yellow Humbrol model paint and then layed the gold leaf on top. Also if it is possible where do you get the gold leaf from.Also if succesfull would it be possible in say 10 years time to remove the guilding and reguild it myself or is this best left to the profesionals. Oh my prev post was in mid June. Thanks Dave

[Dave]

Prev post and answer if thats any help

Sorry for posting off topic but as ive always got the right answers

A former memorial mason writes: The gilding process involves the use of a special paint called size, usually yellow, which dries slowly to form a tacky surface to which the gold leaf is then applied. Once gilded the face of the stone is scraped clean using a sharp 4" wide scraper. The residual smears of size then dry quickly and are removed using a very mild abrasive block - I used to use cuttle fish for this. The size sealed under the gold leaf in the letters will remain soft for some time, especially in cooler weather and it is not unusual for it to still be soft when the stone is fixed in place.

You should not see patches of yellow in the letters, if you can see the yellow size the letters have not been properly gilded.