THE MAKING(English Version)(271)The Making of Gold Leaf

This series follows the technology used to make products we regularly come in contact with, explaining its contents and related science and technology. In this episode we introduce gold leaf. In order to make the gold leaf easy to stretch, silver and copper is mixed with gold by melting it at 1,300 degrees Celsius. After the gold alloy is thinned by running it through rollers, it is placed between sheets of special Japanese washi paper, and then pounded and thinned out until it’s thinned to a width of one ten-thousandth of a millimeter.

[@Aasiyah99AlwaysReady]

Who else loved the way the gold leaf ripples like a liquid when she blew air onto the sheets?

[@RehabProjectSRCB]

Me that was my favorite part. It's so cool and shows how unique gold is.

[@MrTjthepianoman]

1% gold, 99% labor. This is incredible!

[@auliamuhammad3877]

💀

[@carolmelancon]

I appreciate being able to see the process, but I could hardly stand to watch him guiding the stacks under the pounder with his hands.

[@ervanwagner7918]

Carol Melancon OSHA would be all over that process in the U.S.

[@russphilly]

+ER VanWagner don't cause trouble.

[@BodyKnight]

+Carol Melancon You should search "vietnam buffalo horn cut" and watch a guy chopping up stuff with a benchsaw....

[@Wowthatsfail]

Carol Melancon Ikr, first thing I thought

[@Super73VW]

I don't see what the problem is. Yeah, and auto-hammer is big and scary with the ability to smash your hands, but he has good control of his work with plenty of margin . Artisan work is done all over the US and UK under the same conditions as is portrayed in this video.

[@TheArtofThings]

This man is using wooden tweezers and not ripping any of the paper. I can barely not shake holding tweezers. Good lord.

[@DDS029]

It's no easier placing it where it's going to stay in the end. We use a fine, flat, long stiff haired brush charged up with static electricity. You only get one chance.

[@aroddo2953]

You should see the blooper reel ...

[@Solphuruz]

They- They're called chopsticks What he's using is chopsticks

[@wyatt639]

Wtf are wooden tweezers?????

[@arieffmashaf7489]

Another reason why they use Wooden Tweezers/Chopsticks is because to avoid static Electricity As gold is element of metal afterall

[@Datrebor]

Thank you for this. I did not know how much actually went into making gold leaf. Very interesting.

[@whombell6337]

The making of gold leaf is something I learned about as a child, crafts are so pleasing.

[@LordDice1]

Absolutely amazing! I had no idea it was such a craft and so time consuming. Wow.

[@gravityisweak]

Absolute magic happens at 11:10

[@ae5704]

Bless you

[@matthewmiglio1171]

I was astonished when i saw that haha. Love it

[@MichaelJOneill333]

Oh my god! wow! Sorry I know this comment is over 2 years old lol.

[@BlaDeKke]

@@MichaelJOneill333 You better be! Or else...

[@MichaelJOneill333]

BlaDeKke 🤐🥺

[@alaenawhite1867]

I'll never look at goldleaf the same

[@14bqdonk]

same

[@deniselopez708]

Wow! I will never complain about the price of gold leaf ever again. Lol

[@begae710]

The amount of patience in making this

[@nexioseptimus5099]

This attention to detail is how Japan went from feudalism - literally feudalism, from the late 1100s to the late 1800s, a few centuries after feudalism had died out everywhere else on the planet - to world economic power in less than a century. In the west the industrial revolution turned skilled craftspeople into replaceable employees, a trend that has only been reversing over the past couple of decades... Japan just skipped over that part, incorporating skilled craftspeople into every level of industry. Serious respect.

[@jsmith3980]

Helped by the cabal after WW2.

[@DDS029]

That was rebuilding, in a modern, for that time, way. So it can be done quickly. If left to their own volition, it would have had their traditional craftsmanship and attention to detail they have had for thousands of years.

[@nihilnovumsubsole6334]

Not only in Japan is gold leaf made that way, there are still some manufacturers in Germany for example.

[@jaimdiojtar]

feudalism didnt died, here in argentina we have 2 provinces that are almost feudals with the same tyrant and corrupt ruling for more than 20 years with sheeps voting them over and over again for a fucking social plan

[@binanceadmin8082]

wow. The Japanese are truly the epitome of PERFECTION. They do everything 1000000%

[@jsmith3980]

yeah like having robot girlfriends

[@DDS029]

Same technique around the world.

[@gawni1612]

this is a roller coaster ride of emotions

[@brianchester2636]

I have done some gilding as a sign artist. Seeing actually being made is terrific. Thank you.

[@allysonmichelle9397]

And then all this hard work is thrown into a gallon of slime....

[@CRAZY4BEINGCRAZY]

Allyson Michelle right. People are so spoiled they don't even value anything.

[@skypaxton5495]

Allyson Michelle ;

[@Ruby-gf2ve]

I doubt the ones people use for slime are made like in the vid

[@lazaronen1786]

Ruby3023 considering how versatile gold leaf is used now a days and in the quantities (food, craft, decoration, fucking slime) it would be crazy expensive if it was still done by hand. The work expenses alone for the amount of you produce would make it crazy to buy for a private person, let alone for someone who wanted to use it for slime.

[@ujubin]

well, guess what? _they pay for the gold leaf, hardworkers get_ *_money_*

[@daveh9521]

I'm using gold leaf in a painting right now, and watched this wonderful video while my size is setting. Just fascinating!

[@dragonwoodlibra1492]

Amazing, such a lot involved in the making of this gold leaf I had no idea. 👍🏻🙏🏻

[@wendycook9334]

Wow!! What an amazing process. Such craftsmen and women.

[@deliuslyndon8340]

Never again will I complain about the cost of a few sheets of gold leaf at Michael's!

[@zt1788]

Loving the Finglonger are 10:33. Classy item for a classy man.

[@john20johnny]

Thank you for uploading this video. Such patient and skill 🌹

[@roberthicks2520]

It's a fascinating process! Thank you for sharing! :)

[@RafaelToscano]

Amazing! It is always good to watch this kind of video, so that we value more the items that we buy for usage. Whenever I buy gold leaf for using in bookbinding I will have even more appreciation of the craft behind it.

[@nigel900]

I often wondered why you would occasionally see a blood spattered thumb print in the middle of a piece of gold leaf...… Now I know why, and knowing is power!

[@mansinghnayak9634]

Wow... Hats off to the craftsmen efforts 👌

[@ralphbathan2206]

Japanese dedication to their work is unbelievable!!! Much respect from the Philippines!!!

[@DDS029]

Gold leaf is made in many parts of the world in the same way.

[@rameyzamora1018]

it is the incredible human labor, so skilled and careful, that makes this product more valuable than gold. What an amazing video!

[@ushaiyer7851]

Very nice.. & interesting gold leaf. Amazing work.👌👌👍

[@lvl9001Troll]

11:08 Best Part

[@picatchouartbraille3379]

Fantastique de voir cette technique artisanale de fabrication de a à Z d'une feuille d'or. Je suis un papy artiste graveur de 73 ans, j' ai fais dans les années 1970 du recouvrement de cadre de mes œuvres d'art cinétique lors d'une exposition à Zurich Suisse; Le patron de la galerie avait aussi un atelier d'encadrement; j' ai travaillé dans son atelier quelques jours pour faire de la dorure à la feuille d'or sur ces cadres. Des cadres tarabiscoté de l' époque régence. Merci beaucoup pour votre vidéo. Fantastique de voir ça ! ! ! Bravo à cet artisant du Japon. . Patrick Dupré , Montpellier / France

[@Tadesan]

At 0:50 malleability and ductility are reversed. Ductility is the ability to be drawn.

[@bitraeger1481]

I salute your talent, much respect.

[@NathanHassall]

The selected music for this presentation was purchased at the dollar store.

[@Nellyc1]

LMFAOOO underrated comment

[@LigerTigerOP]

This so awesome! The patience and delicacy you must possess to do this, is astounding. Thank you for the video. I truly enjoy it!

[@peaceartdowhatyouwant159]

Wow, what an interesting process!

[@osvaldocristo]

0.1 micron thick... wow! Thanks for share - an interesting video.

[@henrywomack1230]

Searching for why people eat gold lead me here, and now you have a new subscriber great video keep it up.

[@tinamerrill2484]

Incredible! TFS!

[@chiaroscural]

I am particularly enjoying this knock-off How It’s Made episode

[@mokrenajaraca3845]

How It's Made 2001- THE MAKING 1998-

[@alexandranarvaez9583]

la paciencia es lo mas increíble, jejeje, me encanto el video.

[@Milestonemonger]

Omg, they are so patient and skilled ⭐

[@twin_o7m.730]

Simply Amazing 🤩

[@Vb-fy4sv]

WOW ! Such pride in their work AND that pounding machine ,that poor man must hear it in his sleep ? Very fascinating!

[@Bigngreen]

that was fascinating.

[@davidslefort6541]

Chinese and Japanese have such a amazing intelligence to make things out of any material and they have such a successful way do their incredible task and talent doing everything that they have around them I have so much respect for them cause they're resourcefulness is incredible I will never loose respect for them but not cpp

[@mkivy]

Amazing!

[@nyrilly3843]

I bet that technique had been past down the generation's for many years ,thank you for sharing this x

[@DDS029]

Millennia

[@massilamany]

Great work.

[@ginnywoodhouse6350]

Amazing crafts people 👏👏👏👏🥰🥰

[@ponkkaa]

Only the Japanese would have this much patience. Amazing

[@DDS029]

Made in many parts of the world, the same way.

[@abbyb9471]

That’s super cool!!! 🤗🤗

[@Rameus]

This is what the KZbin was made for.

[@amhunter9619]

Absolutely spell-binding ... my God, you must have to be extremely skilled to use it at the end, you really can't afford to make a mistake, can you?

[@davidslefort6541]

For 7 thousand years they show an amazing amount of knowledge from how to make a broom by hand to making a sword that is unbreakable to exquisite furniture that they never use nails or glue the perseverance of the mind to them in the past is extraordinary everything they did was like a well organized ant colony but so incredibly awesome and more advanced and more interesting is that they develop medecins from earth it's really incredible thing that they understand how nature works and listen and learn about the surroundings and animals and plants water that I admire lots

[@AmalgmousProxy]

I had no idea that was done by hand. That automatic hammer is similar to a blacksmithing auto hammer. Used in that fashion, it probably mashed a few fingers of inexperienced users.

[@DDS029]

Hand hammered before the mechanical hammer was made.

[@TheKudos76]

Amazing..

[@robertesposito8288]

What a delicate process at the end.

[@warriormaiden9829]

I know! Every time they handled it, I was terrified it was going to rip! XD

[@Livingreciever]

11:09 The most satifying bit where the gold is totally uncreased by a small blow.

[@8Stalemeat]

Incredible how they can still handle it whole when it's so thin

[@yiddaherikkapacudan7623]

amazing work

[@cjgreen3836]

Patience is needed for this profession :)

[@charlieisamonster]

Fascinating

[@katharinecrumpton6314]

Wow that is incredible. The skill and time is amazing. I'm glad I've learnt something new like that today thank you

[@yggdrssil00]

Amazing precisions

[@Salguod2k]

I really want to give 2 thumbs up but after seeing that machine pounding so close to his hands all I can do is wonder how many thumbs have been lost. This process is amazing.

[@georgefan2977]

The most satisfying video

[@metroids224]

This channel is awesome

[@curlyanneb1973]

So pretty!

[@thisissoeasy]

mesmerizing

[@myonlynick]

1:50 what material could be used to create a good mold? That one in the video looks very smooth.

[@buggsy5]

Graphite is common.

[@therabin.0073]

Amazing

[@kuhataparunks]

Interesting video and nice music

[@NikhilNevrekar]

amazing it's really awesome.

[@YYCRCFabricationz]

Very interesting how this is done.

[@briandstone1able]

Very cool!

[@nigelgordon]

Very informative.

[@Alucard-__-]

Interesting

[@Hanya1210]

SUPERB!

[@applestrudels]

Hey! Does anyone know the traditional japanese technique for gilding on paper (screens, paintings)?

[@tomboy9677]

woow never seen this before. soooo much struggle to make this wonderful piece of sheet

[@CheckOK]

amazing is not enough!!!

[@frankrizzo2191]

amazing

[@PBMS123]

0:51 Ductile/ductility is a metal being able to be drawn out into thin wire. I think they got them mixed up. The part of the word Duct, of the latin root ductus meaning I lead/draw. And draw as in drawing a piece of metal into wire.

[@smilesformiles8193]

Wow!

[@peterblackburn7269]

True craftsman

[@heinrichmuller7974]

i bet when buddy cleans his house he can go on vacation with what he finds inside his vacuum :D

[@johnnieguitar5724]

Wow. WOW! I had no idea..............Thanks for posting!

[@ruchirlawate624]

Imagine the last lady sneezing after finishing the bundle!!

[@tommyjudd81]

so Gold leaf are not 100% or 99% Pure Gold right? it has Silver and Copper?

[@goldreverre]

+Tommy Jude that's right. the most common gold leaf is 23carat which is about 96%. Pure 100% gold is softer and sticks to itself more easily and is harder to make. The ratio of metals alters the color too. Edible gold leaf won't have the copper.

[@tommyjudd81]

bruce jackson Thank you Bruce. Very helpful!

[@wanderingstarr831]

23 ct is alot of gold...most wedding rings and such are 14 ct,

[@evenakushita]

any higher than that and your ring won't last long, with just a bit of pressure and all sorts of scratch marks will reduce its beauty

[@lockbow]

That actually depends on the ountry where the ting is sold/bought. Many countries have 18K as the lowest limit where something like jewelry can be sold as "gold". Lower carats can be sold but cannot be sold as "gold" (usually doublé or some other term is used) and has to be clearly marked. if you really want to be ripped off, buy "gold" in the UK where 9 carat is the lowest grade permitted to passed off as "gold".

[@joreldecipulo2835]

@3:00 hard to believe he can still sit down with those massive balls

[@susanlwalkup8976]

I know, right?

[@armouredoutlaw1537]

I wonder how many fingers have been smashed over the years lol

[@shortyshark1]

That made me squirm a little. Yikes. Dangerous

[@icenesiswayons9962]

I have some gold leaf, I think 3 grams, I knew they were flattened but had no idea of the actual process. Time consuming and laborious!

[@fitrianhidayat]

That's quite a lot

[@NickC_222]

7:48 Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't mixing rice straw ash with water create magnesium hydroxide (the main component in brucite as well as milk of magnesia,) and calcium hydroxide ("slaked lime") but specifically not sodium hydroxide ("lye")? Lye, aka 'caustic soda,' is sodium hydroxide (NaOH,) however, rice straw ash should contribute mostly magnesium oxide (MgO) and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) to the solution, which would react with the H2O to create magnesium oxide and calcium hydroxide, respectively. All the silicon dioxide (SiO2) will be poorly soluble in water, but some will carry across. I know wood ash is mostly potassium carbonate, which reacts with the H2O to create potassium hydroxide (KOH), aka "caustic potash," but people call it "lye" anyway even though, chemically speaking, it's actually caustic potash (potassium hydroxide) not lye (sodium hydroxide, aka caustic soda.) Rice straw's main soluble contributions to the reaction with the water should be magnesium oxide and calcium oxide, I believe, but not the sodium oxide required to create lye. This means lye shouldn't be present, but "elemental brucite"? or milk of magnesia (magnesium hydroxide) and slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) should be the main reaction products.

[@paulogmf]

I just wanna know which jrpg they took the music from...

[@shanpatrickbaker988]

Fascinating, I am going to be in Kanazawa for 4 nights wonder what a small gold leaf bowl or plate would cost me? Great and informative video.

[@goldenboy5500]

very talented people

[@helioszxc]

is lye caustic ? ive read that i can burn your skin or cause blindness

[@DDS029]

People never believe me when I tell them the process. There are different ways of applying it for different uses, each labor intensive, and a lot of waste can be involved. When you see the torch in pics of Lady Liberty in NY harbor, that is what makes it shine. I used to do surface gilding on trucks, boats and race cars. i've never done it exactly right in over thirty years. Neither has the guy who taught me the lettering business. He wants to be buried with a lettering quill (brush), a can of size (paint-like adhesive), and a pack of gold. If done right, it needs no coating over it, except in commercial applications were people may abuse it. Gold leaf has been around a lot longer than power hammers, so guess how it used to be done, Yep, hammered by hand. You can tell who those guys are. One arm like a beast, and the opposite thumb flattened 😱 Vegetarians won't want to know what "washi" is, unless the source died of natural causes. Pubs and "Old West" general and five and dime stores used it a lot. It could get dirty, but not tarnish. It is the thinnest man-manipulated material known to exist.

[@lenielynamandoron5644]

Wow!👏👏

[@ZeCabreirasJournal]

WOW!