The term Patent Gold Leaf refers to the light tissue backing on which the leaf is mounted. The tissue allows you to easily lift each sheet from the book and place it more precisely to the area to be gilded. The tackiness from the gold size will pull the leaf off the tissue backing and secure it to your design. A gilders tip is not necessary with patent gold leaf. Patent Gold Leaf is ideal when applying Gold Leaf to a flat surface area and is preferred in most automotive graphic applications. One book will cover 1 square foot with minimum overlap.