Behind the Scene: Gilded Khmer Name: Sophinie

For this custom order, the client asked for her name in Khmer using an italic style I came up with. She asked for the size to be about 3 inches tall and to be gilded.

I wrote the name first using the largest nib I own which is used for poster design (Speedball steel nib brush 3/4) with homemade walnut ink.

I traced the letters and redrew as needed to the shapes I liked.

To get the correct sizing, I scanned and photoshop and printed.

I transferred the drawing using a lightbox onto the paper, which is a Stonehenge hot press (made with cotton and from the USA).

For the binder, I used miniatum which is a lot smoother and watery than instacol but still creates a beautiful raise. This process takes about 1 hour to dry.

Adding the gold leaf and brushing it off is always a daunting task but extremely gratifying. I used 23K patented gold.

Most tools and paper supplied by John Neals Bookseller.