Over the years I saved up lots of scraps of gold that I had left over from water gilding projects. I wanted to use these to make shell gold. This was really important to me to use the waste gold because there is a powerful symbolism there about taking the left over remains that nobody wants and turning them into something beautiful for the glory of God.

I carefully scraped all the little pieces of gold into a small glass dish and with a tiny dribble of honey I patted it into a small paste with my fingertip. I kept going for another 10 minutes and then began to grind it with my finger in a circular motion. I did this for over an hour.

This circular motion was deeply meditative and enjoyable. I reflected on ideas of bringing something into creation – strength, resilience, love, fertility and eternity.

Once the gold beneath my fingers felt sufficiently smooth I washed the gold off my fingers with spring water. I then passed the gold through a piece of habotai silk cloth. This drained off the water and separated the gold from any impurities. I then collected the shell gold and placed it into anther dish. When I am ready I will then combine this with a binder and be able to use this to paint with. Shell gold works very well for the highlights of a garment on an icon or for other fine details in manuscript illuminations. It can also be burnished to give a variety of textures from a soft delicate matt to a shiny and polished look.