Scaife crosier

I started today to begin the restoration work on the Scaife crosier; Bishop-elect Franklin has chosen this crosier, I've heard, to use to request entry to his cathedral at his installation, May 1, the day following his consecration.

Bishop Michael Garrison found this crosier in his closet, and asked that it be restored for use by Bishop-elect Franklin. I have the 23K gold leaf!

Here are some images of its current condition.

The size has now been applied to a few places, and I'll be doing some gilding this evening. I haven't gilded with leaf in a few years, so I'm really looking forward to it!

I'll keep you updated as I progress, adding updated photos. In these, you can see the seal of the Diocese of Western New York and the seal of the Diocese of New York...it's really a beauty!

All of the red you see is what needs to be repaired; mot of it needs to be regilded, but there's some repair needed on the paint, as well. That red paint that is showing through is a clay-based red substrate paint in which the size (the fixative glue) is applied. The size takes a few hours to get tacky. After the size is ready, small pieces of 23K gold are laid on it and brushed over to get a strong, firm adhesion to the size. Then the leaf is brushed out, and excess is removed.

The gold leaf is only a few hundred atoms thin...it's so crazy to deal with. It's not brittle, but you need to use the static from a brush's bristles to pick it up from a flat surface!