One of the gilded pilgrim shells fitted into the case

It’s been a little time since I last posted any news. That’s because I normally do this late at night, but since June I have spent every free evening making new corner pieces to insert into the empty corner pieces of the casework that were never completed when the original All Souls organ was built just before World War II.

I decided that it would be nice if we could have some gilded carvings to match the other gilding on the case. After some searching, I found some pilgrim shells carved in limewood and got six of them in the right size. I made six backing plates to fit the gaps in the organ case from thin oak-faced plywood and applied wood dye and button polish to the oak veneer until it matched the oak in the case. I then gilded the shells and glued them to the backing plates and fitted them into the organ case.

Gilding has to be carefully timed, so I tend to prepare the surface and apply gilding size just before dinner in the evening. About three hours later it is ready for the gold leaf to be applied, so I tend to start on that around 10.40pm… and finish when the job is done – usually around 12.30pm. The last pieces were fitted in late July.