Goldbeating

Have you ever played with clay and rolled it out really thin, like a pancake? Well, think of goldbeating like that, except instead of clay, it's real gold and instead of your hands, it's done with special tools called hammers.

First, the gold is melted down into a small square and placed between thin pieces of animal skin. This is called a goldbeater’s skin. The gold is then pounded with a hammer until it gets thinner and wider. The goldbeater keeps pounding with smaller and smaller hammers until the gold is so thin, it's called gold leaf!

The gold leaf is so thin that it's almost see-through! It can be used to decorate picture frames, furniture, and even cakes. Goldbeating has been around for thousands of years and is still used today for many fancy decorations.