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The Mahieu Company
Authentic mercury gilding •
Baked nitrated gilding • Bronzing • Lacquering
• Old-styled patina process • Silver plating |
DECORATIONS CREATED IN OUR WORKSHOPS
This Company, founded in 1850, has always maintained and
conserved the tradition of high-quality work.
The only Company in France capable of
carrying out MERCURY GILDING. This old technique, dating
from thousands of years, is still done in the same way,
without having undergone the slightest changes from
technical progress. |
MERCURY GILDING 24-CARAT GOLD PURE MERCURY
A baked-clay crucible is heated up red-hot, and while the
crucible is getting hot, the 24-carat gold is weighed, the
pre-laminated gold is rolled up in a piece of silk and the
pure mercury is then weighed separately inside of a capsule.
Placed into the very hot crucible, the gold stick and then
the mercury is poured in, with the high temperature of the
heat and mercury, the gold then melts.
This is how we get the AMALGAM, which will then be put on
the pieces by using a metallic brush (created by our company),
then the entirely coated piece then goes into a charcoal fire.
The amalgam is stirred with a silk brush until the mercury
is completely evaporated, the gold will stay encrusted in
the metal, the piece will then be smoothed out by the metallic
brush and the colour brought out by the fire.
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Once the piece has cooled off, we now
move on to the BURNISHING process. This technique consists
of hammering the gold with a hematite stone on all of
the linked parts, creating an incomparable radiance
bringing out all of the carved parts. With this part
of the process finished, the pieces go to the patina
process and are finished up according to the desired
time period, style and taste of the customer. There
is also the possibility to create a look that appears
to be centuries-old.
Copper containing and noble metals can be MERCURY
gilded.
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However, aluminium, steel and iron cannot be gilded in this
way.
NITRATE GILDING WITH MERCURY 24-CARAT GOLD
The pieces are degreased and cleaned off either chemically
or by electrolyse, the gold is fixed to the piece by placing
it twice inside of the electrolytic solution. After the first
charge of gold, the pieces are smoothed out with the brush
and then are recharged a second time. Between the two charges
the pieces are placed inside of a mercury-based rinse, the
piece will then go through the mercury solution several times;
the gold plating will become flat and off-whitish. Then it
is equalized by a metallic brush and the colour is brought
out by the heat of the oven (150 degrees Celsius).
The burnishing and patina processes remain the same as for
the mercury gilding. However, this beautiful type of gilding
is less resistant than that of the MERCURY GILDING; the gold
is applied to the metal but is not encrusted as is the case
in MERCURY GILDING. Everything is dependent on the immersion
time and the content of the gold in the electrolyte.
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Version française