Video - Traditional gilding (halkar) using rose water - exploring the use of natural fragrance in art

In this short video I show you how I created a real golden rose using 23.5k shell gold paint. The technique is an ancient technique that was used a lot in manuscripts centuries ago. Traditionally, this technique is referred to as halkar, tezhip or in English illumination/gilding with shell gold. The paper was first stained using genuine carmine (cochenille) paint left-over from paintmaking, and on top of that I used mother-of-pearl pigment, pigments which are both encountered in traditional art. The gold was then applied using rose water, exploring the use of natural fragrance in traditional art. The rubbing of the gold that you see at the end of the clip is called 'burnishing' and is done with very smooth agate stone or agate burnisher. This makes the gold really shine and adds a lot of lustre., .This video shows an approach to art working towards circularity in art materials as well as a natural, non-toxic and eco-friendly way of working, while keeping within tradition.

本短片展示了我如何使用23.5K贝壳金漆（shell gold paint）制作一朵真实的金玫瑰。该技法为古老工艺，数个世纪前在手抄本创作中被广泛应用。传统上，该技法被称为halkar、tezhip，英文中则称作贝壳金箔烫金/装饰（illumination/gilding with shell gold）。基底纸张首先使用制漆剩余的天然胭脂虫洋红漆（genuine carmine (cochenille) paint）进行染色，随后在此之上涂抹珍珠母颜料（mother-of-pearl pigment）——二者均为传统艺术中的常用颜料。随后以玫瑰水作为介质粘贴金箔，探索了传统艺术中天然香料的应用方式。片尾画面中展示的金箔擦拭工序被称为压光（burnishing），需使用极为光滑的玛瑙石或玛瑙抛光工具（agate burnisher）完成，此举可令金箔尽显光泽，大幅提升整体质感。本视频同时展示了一种面向艺术材料循环利用的创作路径，以及一种契合传统、天然无毒且环保的创作方式。