The principal tools required by the Gilder are, first: the _cushion_, which is a flat board covered with several layers of woollen or flannel and afterwards with a piece of leather, which is stretched tightly over it and nailed down to the edges, thus forming a firm but soft and elastic bed. A rim of parchment carried round one end of the cushion serves to hold the gold leaf. Second: a _gold leaf knife_—which is a straight smooth-edged instrument, not very sharp, but carefully pointed at the end. Third: the _tip_—a tool generally made of two pieces of card or very thin board glued together and holding between them a row of camel’s hairs. It is also necessary to have a _badger tool_ and a _duster_; the first for removing the loose edges and flying scraps of gold leaf, after the gilding is completed, and the latter for brushing away dust from the frame. [Illustration: Miniature Burnisher. Burnisher. No. 1. Burnisher. No. 2. Burnisher. No. 3. Chisel. Putter-down. Gold Leaf Box.] The _burnishers_ are pieces of smooth stone (flint or agate) set in handles, and are used for rubbing some parts of the gold, when it is set on the frame, until it attains a brilliant polish and smoothness of surface: the bright gold portions of a frame being known as _burnish_, and the dull parts or “dead gold” as _matt_. A _chisel_ and _knife_ are necessary for removing any inequalities or overflowings of size from the edge of the frame; the _feather duster_ is used to dust the new gilding before it is sent home; the _size pot_ is the vessel in which the size is melted, and the _pan_ receives it before it is laid on. The _putter-down_ is a large soft brush used for pressing down the gold into the ornaments, and removing the ragged edges of the gold-leaf from those parts of the frame where it is most difficult to place it smoothly. [Illustration: Feather Duster. Size Pot. Pan. Gold Book.] The _gold box_ is of course a receptacle for the gold leaf, and as the leaf is sent from the gold beaters in sheets placed between leaves of paper sewn together like a volume, this is naturally called the _gold book_. Having received his frame, then, the Gilder first gives it two or three coatings of “thin white,” which is the name by which the size and whiting is known in the trade. If any part of the frame is to be burnished, it afterwards receives a coat or two of rather thicker size.