A roll of honour in gold leaf
A roll of honour written in gold leaf, scanned under lighting set up specially, so everything written in gold comes out as gold and can be read without handling the original.
- Large-format scanning
- Lighting set up so everything in gold scans as gold
- Lit for gold
- Lettered by monks, with gold leaf
- By hand
- Scanned without contact
- Untouched
The original
Some originals are works of art. This roll of honour was lettered by hand by monks, with gold leaf laid into the writing and the decoration around it.
It is a memorial first, so it is read by families looking for a name as well as admired for its craft. Every viewing under bright light, and every handling, takes a little from it.
What we did
Gold is one of the hardest things to scan. It reflects light rather than holding colour, so under ordinary scanner light gold leaf comes out flat, grey or even black, and whatever is written in gold can all but vanish from the page.
So the roll was lit specially for the scan. We set up the lighting so the gold leaf catches it as it does in the hand, and everything written in gold reads as gold, while the colours and the writing around it stay true.
It was captured full size on our large-format scanner, without contact, and checked against the original for colour, and for every detail in gold, before it went back.
What it made possible
The finished images let the roll be seen, studied and reproduced, every name legible, while the original stays safely in its place. Facsimiles can be printed for display, so the roll itself can rest out of the light.
