I don’t have a clue, but if you are ever able to find a way to avoid this, you’ll also be of enormous help to those of us trying to scan old photographs in which we’re getting a reflection from the silvering of the photo processing! I did a lot of research on this a few weeks ago, and – in regard to the photographs – nobody has found a way to avoid it using flatbed scanners. That’s not good news for you and your DVD/CD covers either!
I do calligraphy and use a bit of gilding from time to time. And it doesn’t scan at all well. I’ve had better results by setting up my Canon G3 Digicam in an area of good diffuse natural light – I use my white tiled bathroom! – and photographing the images. Also works quite well in conjunction with a cannibalised slide viewer and a close-up lens for digitising slides.
Susan S
Hey, Susan, re the calligraphy–how do you lay down your gold? I’ve tried shell gold and leaf and the shell gold looks dull, but I can’t find a good way to get leaf to adhere and still be burnishable.
Barbara – I’ve used the traditional method of gesso – a long time ago when I was taking lessons – but in the dry atmosphere in South Australia it’s a beast to get to stick – you really need a cold humid envirionment – I suspect it’s no coincidence that the best medieval gilded calligraphy comes from nice damp places like Ireland and the Northern parts of Britain…. I’ve also experimented with slightly watered down PVA adhesive and transfer gold (pure gold leaf on a sheet backing that is easier to handle) – allow the PVA to dry until it holds its shape firmly and then breath on it as with gesso and very gently apply the gold – when the PVA is rock solid it can be burnished very brightly- but it doesn’t flow nicely like gesso does and it’s hard to get the shape of the letters as clean. These days I tend to cheat and just use black ink and add colour and gilding in Elements…or use "gold" artist’s gouache. I’m afraid that my current obsessions of digital photography and Elements have led to Calligraphy rather being put on hold recently!
susan S
Thanks, Susan. FWIW, here in ultra-humid Florida gold leaf tends to just evaporate into the backing after a while, but the closest I’ve come to success with it for that type of thing is to use one of the medieval recipes involving egg white. The only problem is it never dries hard enough to burnish in this climate. Kind of like other leafing work–24 hour size is more like 3 day size.
Beth,
I read your entire thread before posting. It appears folks here have the same solution as other forums. They fall back to a digital camera. From other forums, the lighting gets to be real tricky to get good results. There just may be no solution with the current technology of scanners available at home.
Anybody here have good success with digital cameras and this problem? What type of camera, lighting angles, color temp of lighting, etc. Any info helpful. Thanks
