Gold

The last step in the Palekh painting process is to add gold.  To create the gold paint you need to mix gum arabic with water and then mix gold leaf into this mixture.  You need to mix it with your finger in a small plate for approximately 50 minutes.  Between pumicing my brooch and mixing gold paint, I almost had blisters on my fingertips!  Before you start painting gold, you need to put a thin layer of emulsion over the lacquered layer.  This allows a more absorbent surface for painting.  You can also put more layers of lacquer and then pumice the surface.  

This step in the process was very scary.  It was very hard to gauge how much gold you had on your brush, and this was the step that needed the finest detail.  You can see how we are bent over our paintings.  We needed to get very close to paint and see the detail.  Our necks and backs were always stiff after class!  

 Melissa chose to put gold crowns on her birds.  They turned out wonderfully!

 After we painted the gold and allowed it to dry, we needed to polish the gold areas.  This is traditionally done using the tooth of a wolf.  You can also use the end of a thermometer.  After we polished our brooch, we added another layer of lacquer.

 We were very sad to say goodbye to the school and our instructor.  She had such a kind heart and was very patient with teaching such beginners.

 Dasvedanya!