As the gold gets smoother a little more pressure is used, and the burnisher is moved in straight lines in every direction across the gold (fig. 110). At this point the gold should have a peculiar and agreeable feeling of smoothness under the burnisher, an unmistakable sign that all is going well.
A rapid light polish with the bend of the burnisher across a gold stem will give a very good finish (_c_, fig. 108).
Properly burnished gold in a right light is at first as bright as a mirror, and in some lights may look [p161] quite dark by reason of its smoothness. A piece of white paper may be held at such an angle that the white light from it is reflected by the gold; this will show the quality of the burnish, and also show up any brown spots which the leaf may have failed to cover. It is helpful, moreover, during the actual process of burnishing to have a reflecting paper folded and standing beside the work (fig. 111).
At first the size under the burnished gold is not thoroughly hardened, and great care should be taken of it (not to breathe on nor finger the gold in any way, nor allow it to lie about and get dusty). It is best to put it away safely in a drawer for a week or two.
After a week or fortnight, when the size has set a little more, it may be very gently re-burnished, and this may be done again at the end of another [p162] fortnight. This final burnishing, when the size is nearly hard, will give it a very lasting polish. It is well, however, to take every care of burnished gold, and to secure it from risk of damage as soon as may be. Illuminated miniatures were often protected by a piece of silk between the leaves--and this should be done now, in the case of fine work. That a bound volume protects the burnished gold within it is proved by the large number of MSS. in which the gold, laid and burnished 500 years ago, is in perfect and brilliant preservation.
To lay and burnish gold satisfactorily requires considerable experience. Careful practice with a good "size" will overcome the chief difficulties: these, and their probable causes, are here summarised:--
_To make the Size stick to the_ _Probable Causes of Size_ _Surface._ _not sticking to Parchment_ _or Paper._