The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-01-04
AN ANCIENT ART.
cold Beating as It. Is Carried on in
Philadelphia.
From the Philadelphia Press.

cor thousands OF years, ana, une neIhouS
,,sad to-day are exactly similar to those
',sed generations ago The self-same tools
uod eontrivances are employed by wulte
an anu, Soatars of to-day in all European
so,,ntries and in the United States as are,
~ have been, always used by the Chinese
-tists And vet, ancient though the art
- necessary as it is, 1t IS confined 10 out
~ practitioners, and these among the
caucasian races are mostly EngIshmen.
II Philadel hia there are OILY twelve firms
- rnanufacturers of gold leaf. A member
u 80 of these firms showed to a reporter
tbe whole process from beginning to end.
4 piece OF pure metal, weighing usually
ohont fifty pennyweights, OF a value OF $50,
;s frst Of ali rolled out into long ribbon
81 feet in length and iuch in width. I is
looks like nothing else but strip or thin
brass or copper, about l-l0otn OF an men IN
+b;,kness at is so deceptive" said the
- heater that when our safe was broken
6nen about six months ago by burglars,
tbev actually took the mems wages from
+he envelopes, while they pulled out several
Of these rolls of solid gold ribbon and
nitched them on the floor! They did not
know what they were throwing away.
Each of these ribbons is worth $5O
The ribbon is cut W into little squares or
ona inca. and these squares are laid fiat be-
tween LAYERS of specially prepared paper,
and the whole parcel strapped together by
a binder OF parchment. This parcel Is
called "kutch." II is laid on bio OF
marble, which forms sort OF table on
firm W oden pedestal. Tue parcel is thea
beate by heavy mellet, with carefully
directed blows, steadily delivered, until tbs
little inch-square gold plates are reduced TO
one-fourth of the original thickne $.
This beating is an art in ITSELF The gold
being placed between layers of paper aud
bound in a str pping of parchment, there is
no elasticity, and the mallet would fan
dnllv without rebound were it not for the
handicapped table. But skilled beaten
causes his mallet to return to Its place above
the shoulder with the certainty of clock
work. So evenly and directly are the blows
and rebounds niade th It the ma'let at each
lift will Just Craze tue hair OF the beater,
whereas an unskilleI man attempting the
same thing would be apt TO strike himself
in the face.
The next step taken is to remove the
sheets of gold from the "kutch" and fold
ing them twice, to divide each sheet into
four. These new sheets, still a little over
an inch SQUARE, are now laid De1ween the
leaves of the ''shoder,n which is a packet
similar to TIE "kutch," but composed of
sheets of gold-beater's skin. This peculiar
subs;a nce is one of the secrets Of the art. 1t
is made from the inside coat of the stomach
of the bull. This is sliced very
thin by a special machine, and two Of the
delicate shavings are laid together
and Theoretically joined by shellac
or some kindred varnish. When properly
made each sheet of the gold-beater's skin
seems to be of one thickness less than the
1-500th of an inch, and without crease or
air bubble, We y strong, and delicate as the
finest silk. No American has yeU learned
abe art of making this dainty substance in
perfection. 1t is manufactured almost ex-
clusiyely for the American market in Eng
land. Some years ago an Enghshman was
imported to teach Americans the art, but ne
proved to be but poor exponent himself.
The best men are sufficiently scarce to COM
mand coed wages even in England.
The sheets of gold removed from the
''kutchn then are placed between the shaw
ings of be2ters' skin in the ''shoder" to the
number of about 100, and are again beaten
to one-fourth of their former thickness, SO
that each leaf of gold is now 1-16U0 of an
inch in thickness. 1t is quite transparent,
giving the impression of looking through a
green gauze. A very striking, regularity
of this thin sheet of gold is It's adhesivenesS.
If sheet be cut in two, and
the two edges placed together
and slight pressure made they
will adhere so closely tn t the sheet will
tear in any other place rather than where
the join has been made. Another popularity
OF the gold leaf is its power to retain heat.
II a sheet be gently laid Oh the palm of the
hand glow is Immediately felt over the
palm, which rapidly becomes uncomfortably
warm. The first impression is that the gold
gives out heat, but in reality it is only ex-
ercisng its power of keeping i'll the heat
which emauates from the hand.
Long ago this feature was exhibited in a
very painful manner at Rome. At one of
the great festivals a little boy, rep. eseuting
an angel, vas gilded all over ana placed on
10 a6
some four hours, and wien it was over the
child was taken down from his elevated
position almost iuaninate. Before the gid
lug could be washed off him he was dead.
The great French artist Gustave Dore
once played & similar foolish prank on his
own person, narrowly escaping fata re-
suits. In order to appear at fancy ball III
characteristic costume (dOre) he caused
himself to be gilded over the upper portion
OF his body. He was taken home in faint
ing condition, and it was many weeks be-
lore he recovered the effects of artiicially
restraining the natural exhalations OF his
body.
To return to the gold beating. When it
Is beaten out to the sixteen-bundredth of
an inch in thickness the packets are handed
70 girls, who, with a quaint little instru-
menu called a wagon" e. hich is like q
small sleigh, the runners of which are sharp
KNIVES made Of thin strips of cane), cut off
tne rough edges of the sheet, reducing
tnem to squares of three and three-eighths
9I an inch. These leaves are carefully
hantiled with bamboo cane forceps and put
up IN packets or books of twenty-fv leaves.
E6ch book is worth 35 cents.
IL IS occasionally customary to alloy the
sold with copper or silver, or both, in OF der
70 make cheaper leaf which will be sufii-
glehtiy serviceable for such purposes as
9ookondlng aud will not tarnish under or
uLnary circumstances. A common alloy is
oWne-uaII pennyweight each Of copper and
'h yer 10 Ten pennyweights of gold
oAver leaf is also made by the same pro-
uesS as t9at us for beating gold, but it is
nol SO delicate and does not require tae
oanle skilled labor The silver is easier to
"ork. But where gold leaf is worth 81 for
Penny weight, silver is worth 81 for an
UunGe Dutch metal, which is an alloy
11t,illIar 70 the one given above, is valued at
~ cehJs book Of twenty-five leaves. and a
tghn5couht is given when taking pack of
c ca',sy cooks. With gold leaf pure no dis
count IS allowed.
s,o o93iq-o heaters, unlike the majority Of
5Seauily Woodworking artisans, have no
nisVncLlVe diseases. The one form Of com
pant from which they occasionally suffer
a., peculiar indistinctness Of vision. They
- ~ IL impossible to strike the "kutchn or
si, IT, IN the exact spot at which they
nnaro- me consequence is that the blows are
eoT emmy distributed and the gold leaf not
wi tbHI cg, slin all over. A few days rest