as for the size crawling on the glass,it tells me the glass isn't clean enough,...you'll need to clean the glass at least
twice with bon ami or Ron and Kristie's gilders soap(same thing),...I usually wet a very clean rag or some surgical cotton and scrub up a wet paste from the bon ami cake then spread it on the glass till it covers the whole area with a haze of gilders soap and water, then scrub till it dries enough to clean it off,...skip adding anything to your size save gelatin diamonds and distilled water as the tapwater in western NC has way to many minerals in it that will cause a cloudy gild,....if the size crawls when you flood it onto the glass your glass isn't clean enough so stop before you waste any gold and reclean it,... three times if needed,.....as for actually laying down the gold do not touch it,....I don't go by the old timers who say charge the gilders tip with static from your hair,...I was taught to take ever so little vaseline(as small amount as your can get on your finger tip) and smear it on my forearm so your can barely know it is there(wipe off any excess) then gently drag he tip across the area to charge it enough to pick up the loose leaf,....the tip should be handled square to the leaf to pick it up out of the book and the gold should be square to the glass when you gild,...this help prevent tearing of the leaf and in all actuality makes the gilding process easier,... was taught if the leaf didn't go down properly or had a bad tear to wash it off by flooding the size mop and letting the size wash it off the window then gild again taking care to not waste leaf but get a nice gild without tears in the leaf and laps that are neatly overlapped the same as you would vinyl (about 1/8")
edited to add,...most beginners try to pick up a leaf of gold from the book that is twice as big as the tip they are using thus they have no control over the part of the leaf hanging loose from the tip, i was taught to use half leaves cut with a gilders knife and or with my finger nail,...that way the leaf was always the same size as my gilders tip and I had total control of the leaf,...I understand from what I've read there is a new gilders tip that is designed to pick up a whole leaf that would make my way of doing this process obsolete,...check it out,...note how he holds the tip square to the book of gold and square to the glass as he goes thru the gilding process,...also check out the way he charges his tip,...
the Smith's tip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-eW6sxhli0
