Here we report that "liquid bright gold" (LBG), a precursor for the thermal gilding of ceramics, can be structured using photolithography. No expensive and complicated equipment (such as high vacuum) is needed making the method favorable over electron beam evaporation and sputtering processes. Additionally, the method stands out by its simplicity needing only a few steps to create gold structures within a size range of 50 pin to 1 pin, which in turn consist of either an irregular network or isolated nanopartides, depending on the treatment. Such hierarchically structured gold patterns could find a variety of applications, as exemplified for the patterned growth of silicon nanowires. 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.