A large abstract Canvas painting featuring 24ct Gold Leaf. The Painting was created using expressionist strokes of black paint and glittering 24ct Gold Leaf.

 

In a corner of the National Palaces Administration in Ottoman-era Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, a group of men and women work to restore a number of different objects that date back to the Ottoman empire, in their workshop they meticulously work to piece back together various different artefacts

The workshop contains More than 100 different objects, from mirrors to frames, from screens to sofas, all decorated with 23ct gold leaf, which was commonplace at the height of the empire. Maintaining the authenticity of the objects is important so they use 23ct gold leaf like the original goldsmiths would have used for the objects. Also, as in the original pieces, they use water-based and oil-based gold sizes

Gold leaf was very popular in the 19th century particularly in Ottoman palaces though the use of gold leaf dates to the rise of the empire itself including during and after the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century. Gold leaf was used everywhere from everyday objects like tools to weapons.

 

This Luxury Marble Tiled Bathroom has been fitted with a number of different features that have been gilded with 23ct Gold leaf including the Towel rails , Mirror , Tapware , wall cabinet features  and the Shower fittings in order to produce a luxurious finish.

 

    

Custom made Ducatti Motorcycle, which has had it’s body work gilded using 24ct Gold Leaf that has been applied by hand in order to create an attractive finish.

 

Rob has over 35 years industry experience since graduating from Leeds Polytechnic in 1976. 
He possesses a wealth of practical experience, having designed and installed displays for clients such as English Heritage, the RNLI and the National Trust and has created signage for Bettys Tea Shops, Taylors Tea and L’Occitane. Rob is a museum technician and art handler, a signwriter specialising in gilding and gold leaf and is a graphic designer, with a passion for life drawing.

 

Rob has recently completed a beginner’s workshop at Beningbrough Hall near York which is an offshoot of the National Portrait Gallery. The workshop was an introduction to gilding and its practical application on picture frames. 

 

At the work shop the students gilded a small plaster frame with acrylic size and dutch metal, they were then given a short tour of the house itself to look at frames and the gilded decoration. They were then introduced to real loose gold leaf. At the end of the workshop each of the students gets to take a gilded piece home with them.

 

Rob has also recently completed a Demonstration at The open Studios which was to show what he does and to let people watch him demonstrate gilding techniques and to have a go at the techniques  themselves .At both of the events Rob only used acrylic size because of health and safety issues, although he showed and explained both oil sizes and water gilding.

 

Rob Also works part-time as an arts technician at York St John University and now runs regular workshops at York St John University.

 

    

The piano was built in 1856 by the firm S & P Erard , For Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, This elaborately decorated instrument by Erard was intended as a showpiece for the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace. The gilded case is decorated in the French early eighteenth-century style with cherub. The piano is gilded with 24ct Gold Leaf has been painted by the miniature painter François Théodore Rochard.

 

A Gold Bulletin back from 1979….featuring my father Eric Stonehouse as a Gold Beater.  The Stonehouse family have been beating gold leaf since 1936, with Eric my Father being the first family member to work at his uncles firm – Smiths the Goldbeaters of Bridge Street, Manchester, both before and after the Second World War. He later worked for Cecil Whileys in Livingston, Scotland, as their Works Manager before returning to Cheshire to form the company C.F.Stonehouse & Sons.

 

It’s been our great privilege and pleasure over the last couple of days to host our business friends and partners from Japan, Akari Hori, Masayuki Sou and Takehiko Okamoto who produce some amazing products that we now sell and are constantly looking forward to new and Innovative products in the future.

 

Japan is an excellence in its own right in Gold Leaf and Gold Leaf manufacturing and its also been our great pleasure in the last 12 months to have visited the Horikin Business of Hori Metal Leaf Powder co Ltd

 

We thank them very much and look forward to seeing them again in Japan in the next 12 months

arigato gozaimasu

 

 

 

The Gold State Coach is an enclosed, eight horse-drawn carriage used by the Royal family since 1768.It has been used at the coronation of every monarch since George IV. It is now 250 years old, this and it weighs over 4 tonnes. The coach is 24 feet long and twelve feet high. 

It is gilded using Gold Leaf and it features painted panels by Giovanni Ciprianni and rich gilded sculpture includes three cherubs on the roof, they hold the crown and regalia and represent England, Ireland and Scotland and four tritons, one at each corner, representing Britain’s imperial power.

It was built in the Great Queen Street workshops of Samuel Butler in 1762 .Samuel Butler was Master of The Worshipful Company of Coach Makers in 1768, who was paid the sum of £1,673

Sculptor Joseph Wilton, third keeper of the Royal Academy, was paid the most, £2,500 The gilder was paid £933.

 

Wrights of Lymm Ltd are thrilled to announce our newest member of staff Donna Gray.

She has worked for majority of her career in Sales and Customers Services with Avios which is part of British Airways and has previously worked in the Banking industry.

Donna has a wealth of experience with customers relations and Accounts Management

We welcome Donna and look forward to working with her in our team.