kirikane

Kirikane is a Japanese gilding technique. The gold or silver leaf is cut with a bamboo knife on a gilders cushion with deer skin. The metal leaf is cut in fine lines of approximately 1 millimeter thick. The strokes of gold leaf are used to create different patterns (geometric,...). For the application of the gold leaf strokes on the desired support of wood or lacquer they use two brushes one in each hand. The first brush held in the one hand picks up the end of the gold leaf stroke withe tip op the brush. The other brush held in the other hand is used to apply glue on the surface. The glue they use is an algue glue (funori). The gold leaf strokes adheres when it comes in contact with the glue. In most cases they apply more layers of strokes for the overlap and the desired optic outcome.