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.