Angel gilding is gilding

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

gold plating Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold onto the surface of another metal, most often copper or silver (to make silver-gilt), by a chemical or electrochemical (electroplating) process. Plating refers to modern coating met ...

by electroless chemical deposition. Gold chloride is dissolved in water, mixed with other chemicals and poured on clean glass that has been treated with stannous chloride. The gold layer is delicate and usually translucent. To make an opaque, affordable and adherent mirror, a layer of silver is deposited over the gold. Glass gilders use the term ''angel gilding'' to distinguish the chemical process from

gold leaf upA gold nugget of 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 m2 (5.4 sq ft). The Japan.html" ;"title="Toi gold mine museum, Japan">Toi gold mine museum, Japan. Gold leaf is gold that has ...

gilding also known as '' verre églomisé''.

History

Justus von Liebig Justus ''Freiherr'' von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 18 April 1873) was a Germans, German scientist who made major contributions to the theory, practice, and pedagogy of chemistry, as well as to agricultural and biology, biological chemistry; he is ...

, widely credited with inventing the modern process for

silvering Silvering is the chemical process of coating a non-conductive substrate such as glass with a reflective substance, to produce a mirror. While the metal is often silver, the term is used for the application of any reflective metal. Process Mo ...

glass, also worked on gilding glass with gold chloride. James Pratt, a British glass worker, was the first to realize that he could make affordable gold mirrors by depositing a layer of silver on top of the gold. He was granted a British patent in 1885. Gold mirrors and gold mirrored signs were very popular in English

public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

(pubs) in the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

and many wonderful examples of the art can be found all over Britain today. Felix Andres, a sign painter in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, introduced a process for spray gilding glass in 1923, but the fashion for elaborate detail in signs was changing to the modern

neon Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...

style and his business was not successful.

Stained glass in Chicago

Angel gilding was widely used by Chicago's stained glass studios in the 1920s and 30s to make a distinctive style of stained glass for Chicago's historic bungalows. These Prairie Style windows have a clear glass background with the designs picked out in opalescent glass and double-sided gold mirror. To make the double-side
gold mirror
the studios angel gilded large sheets of thin (1.6 mm, or 0.06 inch) glass. A worker would cut two copies of the desired shape from the glass and place the pieces back to back in a single came. Because the pieces are gold on both sides, they catch and reflect the light whether the window is viewed from inside the house or from the street.

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

used double-sided angel gilded glass in many of his windows, including the now demolished Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.Hinz, Thomas A ''Frank Lloyd Wright's Stained Glass & Lightscreens'' Gibbs Smith Publisher Layton Utah 2000 p 105

Today

Today angel gilding is used to gild inside blown glass sculptures, repair Chicago's stained glass bungalow windows, create new glass signs and replicate and repair Victorian glass signs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angel Gilding Glass art Thin film deposition Metal plating