Gilding is an ancient craft practiced by many cultures and continues to be a popular and relevant skill. The techniques and materials used have not changed for hundreds of years, only the variety of its application has. Students will be creating a beautiful, gilded portion of the world globe onto an aluminum hemisphere in copper, silver, or gold leaf. Luke will teach various tips and techniques for creating a patina finish on the gilded areas and creating effects with waxes and dyes. The first part of the course involves learning the art of metal forming and making an aluminum hemisphere. (It is recommended that students take the weekend May 17-18 ”Metal Forming: The Process of Spinning, Pressing & Shaping” workshop with Will Lerums). This hemisphere base is your ‘canvas’ for gilding the portion of the world onto, and can be painted, polished, or matt treated to create a finish onto which your gilded map will be applied. Once the preparation of the hemisphere base is complete, students will manually transfer the area of the world desired to depict using the appropriate ‘globe gore’ templates. The next step is to brush on the gilding size and apply the metal leaf. There are several techniques and outcomes which participants can manage through this phase, and Luke will touch on each so each person can decide on the best effect for their artwork. It will take at least 24 hours for the size to dry so Luke plans on using this time to experiment with different patina techniques and solutions to help students achieve the desired effect. Students will also experiment with dyes, waxes, and paints to see what effect they have on the gilded piece. This process is beneficial by having as much time as possible, along with a good portion of patience! Once the desired patina effect has been achieved, students will have the option of sealing the artwork to prevent any further patina occurring or leaving it unsealed to allow the patina to continue over time.