# Gold powder from Gold leaf / granules.



## Anonymous (Aug 12, 2009)

Hi all!

I am new to the world of processing gold and other metals in this way, I would be grateful to anyone who can help me with my little problem.

I have some old gold leaf, and a few grams of gold granules that I would like to turn into gold powder that I wish to draw (calligraphy) and paint with, would a kind person help me with doing this as I do not know where to start?

I previously purchased a ball mill as suggested on this site, but I had no luck with that device.

Cheers!


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## nicknitro (Aug 12, 2009)

Billy,

Wish I could help you mate. But alsas, I have no Idea what you want to do. LOL sorry. 


You want to use the materials to do some artwork??? I have no experience with this topic. Again, sorry.

Meant toask too, "What is a Gold Granule?". Where did you get them from? 

Sorry for the 20 questions, just a little bewildered. LOL


Have Fun, 

Nick


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## Harold_V (Aug 12, 2009)

Don't know who suggested a ball mill, but they were dead wrong. 
It is highly unlikely you will be able to convert your gold so it can be used as a paint. Pure gold is very soft and eager to bond to itself. If you do manage to find a method to produce the miniscule particles, it's highly unlikely they would remain as such. The slightest abrasion and they fuse as a common mass. 

Harold


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## Anonymous (Aug 12, 2009)

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

Please see the following link;

http://www.goldleaf.com.au/prodcart/index.php/cPath/52

This will show you the product that I wish to make, it wont be 24 KT because as you stated it will stick to one another as a mass and be perhaps useless.


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 12, 2009)

I have used gold leaf for many years, but don't know how they make this powder - most gold leaf companies sell it. I do know that the shell gold is a cake of this powder using a binder.

Does the powder appear metallic? If so, they must make it using some sort of mechanical means, rather than chemical. I seem to remember once reading about the use of soap and gold leaf in some sort of ancient grinding setup. However, at the same time, I seem to remember a way of grinding chemically produced gold powder so it burnishes and separates into a bright shiny powder.

The powder we chemically produce does not normally appear metallic. It will burnish, though, to a high sheen, with an agate burnisher. Occasionally, under certain circumstances, the chemically reduced gold powder will be bright and shiny. Most of us who have refined a lot of gold have had that happen to them. The problem is that we don't generally know the exact conditions that produces this bright gold powder, since we are not trying to produce it - it just happens, occasionally. Maybe someone knows the conditions required to make it happen.

I think the making of this powder is an ancient art. For use in calligraphy, a gram would go a long way. Were it me, I would just buy it ready made. I know it's expensive, but it wouldn't take much. Gold leaf, itself, can be used in calligraphy. If I remember right, rabbit glue is used to apply it. Somewhere, I have a detailed paper on this, here again, ancient illumination process.

You might find a method of making the powder in an old book like "Henley's Formulas". You can download the book, free, as a pdf here. The subjects are arranged alphabetically. I would start looking under "gold" or "gilding."
http://books.google.com/books?q=henley%27s+formulas&as_brr=1


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## Juan Manuel Arcos Frank (Aug 14, 2009)

Gold powder?....who needs gold powder?..anyway...here is how to make it.
Hope it helps.
Manuel


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