tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33757469227915589672024-03-12T20:53:41.481-07:00The Scientist's ScrollThe Arts & Science blog of Lady Adrienne d'Evreus. Articles on Medieval Pigments, recipes, scribal art, and anything else she can think of from an artist in the East Kingdom.Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-28589662526973620572020-07-21T11:46:00.000-07:002020-07-21T13:06:03.880-07:00The Whey To Make Cheeses, A Series, Cheese 2: Paneer<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Whey
To Make Cheeses, A Series, Cheese 2: Paneer</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"></span>In the
past I wrote an article about making a simple farmer’s cheese using
goat's milk and lemon juice.</div>
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Now we will try a more advanced cheese
with a longer process: paneer.</div>
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Nomadic dairy tribes have lived in
central Asia for millennia. It is thought they developed the first
paneer.<sup>1.</sup></div>
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From my reading it’s about lining up
the proteins in the milk correctly so it’s more cohesive and less
crumbly. It just takes a bit more time. Evidently buffalo milk was
traditionally used and curdled with buttermilk or yogurt. Buffalo
milk has a fairly high butterfat content, around 6%. I
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use goat milk which also has a high
butterfat content. According to the farmer it’s up to 8% depending
on the time of year. You may also use cow’s milk from the grocery
store as long as it’s not ultra pasteurized. Cow’s milk has a
butterfat content of 3 1/2 - 4 1/2%.</div>
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Begin by sanitizing all of the
equipment you need and the stove top and counters.</div>
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To make this cheese you will need a
non-reactive pot that will hold at least a gallon and a half of
liquid.</div>
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You will also need measuring spoons (I
use stainless steel ones.) and a 2 cup measuring cup, (I prefer
glass.), a colander, a long spoon to stir, and a good thermometer. I
simply sterilize by boiling everything (except my thermometer) in my
cheese making pot: a thick bottomed stainless steel stockpot. You
will also need 1 gallon of very fresh whole milk, 1 teaspoon of
citric acid or 2-4 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice, butter muslin,
fine cheesecloth or a clean tea towel.</div>
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Evidently low fat milk will result in a
rubbery, unpleasant cheese. While unpleasant cheese occasionally
happens accidentally we don’t need to waste the milk to find out on
purpose.</div>
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Boil what you wish to sterilize for 15
minutes. I usually do this step the night before in my covered stock
pot and just leave it overnight to cool. Before it cools a dump some
of the very hot water out into the sink so it helps clean the sink a
bit.</div>
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If you sterilize your equipment the
same day you’d like to make your cheese, remember to use thick,
protective gloves to remove the very hot tools. Place them on a clean
counter or on freshly washed towels laid on the cleaned counters.
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On cheese making day slowly bring the
gallon of milk to between 185 and 194°F (85 to 90°C). This can be
done on the stove on medium low to medium heat, stirring
occasionally, or by placing your pot in a sink full of hot water. I
have not experimented with the latter but it was a recommendation
from the company from whom I source my cultures and molds for more
complicated cheeses I’d like to try in the future.</div>
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Here’s where the paneer recipe begins
to deviate from the quick farmers cheese. Now we want to hold the
cheese near that temperature for 20 to 30 minutes. I find that taking
it off the stove and wrapping the covered pot with two thick towels
works for me.</div>
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While the milk is resting prepare your
acid. Add 1 teaspoon of citric acid or 2 to 4 tablespoons of lemon or
lime juice to 2 cups of water.</div>
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After the milk has rested let it cool
to 170°F. Warm up your acid diluted in 2 cups of water to 170°F as
well and add it to the milk. Stir to gently incorporate the diluted
acid with the milk. The pot can now be covered and wrapped in towels
and let rest for another 20 minutes. This is a very “do something
then wait again cheese“. Sorry, not sorry!</div>
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While waiting again line your colander
with the butter muslin, cheese cloth, or clean towel.</div>
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Put a big pot or a bowl under your
draining cheese if you’d like to save the whey. You may use it for
baking, water it down to water your garden, compost it, or some
people like to sip it. I tried a whole glass one day and ended up
with an uncomfortably sour tummy so sip with caution or don’t tell
me I didn’t warn you.</div>
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Now we can drain the curds!</div>
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Begin by ladling some of the liquid
away from the curds. I use the 2 cup measuring cup I used for the
acid dilution because I was smart and set that down on a sterile
surface after pouring the acid into the milk, right!?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Other than boiling to sterilize things,
like the counters and stove top, you may spray them with a mild
bleach solution and gently wipe everything down.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The sterilization of all tools and
surfaces before you make cheese is important because you need to
control the bacteria in your cheese. As one of my goat farmer says,
“Would you like to get listeria today?” The answer is always
emphatically “NO!” So sterilize your tools and surfaces, please,
listeriosis is not at all fun.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So curds, yes, we are ladling them with
a sterile measuring cup into the clean butter muslin in a sterile
colander. Once you have ladled some into the clean cloth you can
gently pour the rest into the draining system when there is room to
do so. You may save the whey or not bother to. If your colander is
low like mine you’ll have to find the right size pot so its handles
can hold it up to let all of the whey drain. Let it drain in the
colander for 30 minutes, gently stirring at the 15 minute mark to
help more of the whey drain. Now pull the cloth tightly around your
cheese curds.</div>
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The cheese curds you have now are
called chhena, chhana or sana. Now on to pressing it into paneer!</div>
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While my cheese was draining I washed
the stock pot. Because next you want to fill a clean pot with 1 to 2
gallons of warm water. Then place the pot of warm water on top of the
tightly bundled cheese. This is a precarious maneuver but essential.
Once you succeed, congratulations, you have just made a primitive
cheese press! The amount of time you let it press will determine how
firm the final cheese is. I like to press for five minutes then mix
in herbs and spices. I’ll publish my favorite combinations on my
blog. It is http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/</div>
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Overall, the paneer recipe recommends
pressing it for 10-15 minutes. I have made paneer about 4 times now
and still have not made it firm enough that it stands up to cooking
like it should but I’ll keep trying! Perhaps because the last two I
made were a little rushed and were 2 gallon attempts. It still tasted
wonderful, it just dissolved into the sauces. Try your hand at paneer
and let me know how it goes. Happy cheese making!</div>
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References:</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.39in; text-indent: -0.39in;">
“Cheese Making.” <i>New England Cheesemaking Supply Company</i>,
cheesemaking.com/.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> Raghavan,
Aditya. “Paneer and the Origin of Cheese in India.” </span><span style="color: black;"><i>The
Hindu</i></span><span style="color: black;">, The Hindu, 30 July 2016,
</span><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/Paneer-and-the-origin-of-cheese-in-India/article14516958.ece" target="_blank">www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/Paneer-and-the-origin-of-cheese-in-India/article14516958.ece</a><span style="color: black;">.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-left: 0.39in; text-indent: -0.39in;">
Woodman, Wes. “Don't Get Lysteriosis.” Do you want lysteria? Do
you want lysteria?, 2019. Standish, Feather and Scale Farm.</div>
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Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-3242808425154598032018-07-09T08:25:00.001-07:002018-07-09T08:35:25.915-07:00lye from lees and moreFrom lime or calcined wine lees <br />
<br />
Strasbourg Manuscript: lye from calcined wine lees (Neven 170) who quotes Colmarer Kunstbuch. <br />
<br />
Alchemy of Paint<br />
Bucklow (28-29, 48, 61-64, 69,75,109, 200)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2016/04/lye.html">First Lye post</a> with personal references Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-42983936788419322612018-06-20T07:31:00.001-07:002018-06-20T07:51:20.032-07:00Centaurea cyanus, Blue Bottle trial 1 & 2 2017-18<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X-7zyNofKls/Wvwpk5mFVNI/AAAAAAAAD6w/xsApT4dYomk93XchtAWhi74tkveN5__nwCLcBGAs/s1600/mobile%2Bpicture%2Bof%2Bcornflower%2Bpaint%252C%2Btrimmed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="296" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X-7zyNofKls/Wvwpk5mFVNI/AAAAAAAAD6w/xsApT4dYomk93XchtAWhi74tkveN5__nwCLcBGAs/s320/mobile%2Bpicture%2Bof%2Bcornflower%2Bpaint%252C%2Btrimmed.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
A
(poor, sorry!) picture of the first trials for blue from my cornflowers. The top
is plain cornflower petal juice squeezed out and painted on <span style="font-size: small;">v</span>ellum surface Strathmore 300 Series Bristol board and the bottom is on the same bristol on a ground of lead white. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>SAFETY IS YOUR PRIORITY... </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Suit up with nitrile gloves, goggles over glasses and dust mask when appropriate! FYI This is always appropriate procedure with Lead. Keep everything away from children and pets too please!!!</b></span><br />
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Did you read about the<a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2018/06/cornflower-blue-references.html"> references</a>?<br />
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Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-11410741175674379862018-06-17T12:25:00.001-07:002018-06-20T07:33:49.920-07:00Cornflower blue references<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UTHTnw-t4bQ/WxBYTWjgWKI/AAAAAAAAD7Y/MhXeET5RawMwqO4AXVvuSuG0uovt7uFKwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UTHTnw-t4bQ/WxBYTWjgWKI/AAAAAAAAD7Y/MhXeET5RawMwqO4AXVvuSuG0uovt7uFKwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_7195.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Bachelor buttons, blue bottle, corn flowers, cornflower, corne flower, corn-floure, the flowers that grow among the corn... We have a plethora of evidence that medieval pigment producers used <b>Centaurea cyanus</b> to make their own lovely, if fugitive, blue. Lets find some translated sources!<br />
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Click "Read More" below to continue! <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Cornflower appears in some early herbals including Gerard's (733-4) and Culpepper's (26-7). <span style="background-color: white;"><i>Mappae Clavicula, a little key to the world of medieval techniques</i>, was an early collection of color recipes, beginning to show up in collections around the 9th century and grown to the nice size we have today and have a translation of in the 12th century surviving copy which was translated into English and annotated by Smith and Hawthorne and published in 1974. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Then we have</span><span class="citation_text"><span style="background-color: white;"> Massoul the colorman's late eighteenth century book, with a title and publishing note I greatly admire</span>, <i>A Treatise on the
Art of Painting, and the Composition of Colours, Containing Instructions
for All the Various Processes of Painting: Together with Observations
upon the Qualities and Ingredients of Colours</i>. London: Published and
Sold by the Author of the Original, and His Manufactory, No. 136, New
Bond-Street. Where Ladies and Gentlemen May Be Furnished with Every
Article Necessary for Painting and Drawing, 1797. How cute is that?! Anyway, the list goes on...</span><br />
<br />
Merrifield's <i>Original Treatises</i> (ccxiv, 298, 312, 406), Neven's <span class="citation_text"><i>The Strasbourg Manuscript: A Medieval Tradition of Artists' Recipe Collections (1400-1570) </i>(96-7, 98-9, 142-3, 146-7, 173-5, 209-212)</span>, Clarke's <span class="citation_text"><i>Mediaeval Painters' Materials and Techniques: The Montpellier Liber Diversarum Arcium</i> (117), researcher Wallert's Getty publication </span><span class="citation_text"><span class="citation_text"><i>Historical Painting
Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice: Preprints of a Symposium,
University of Leiden, the Netherlands, 26-29 June 1995 </i>(42)</span> and a previous symposium article </span><span class="citation_text"><span class="citation_text">"Natural Organic Colorants on
Mediaeval Parchment : Anthocyanins." (1993).</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="citation_text"><span class="citation_text">There's more about the science of the color in Handbook of Natural Colorants as edited by Thomas Bechtold and Rita Mussak.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="citation_text"><span class="citation_text">Not to mention the one I missed at first, William Phillip's translation of a book with another fun if wordy title: </span></span><span class="citation_text"><span class="citation_text"><span class="citation_text"><i>A Booke of
Secrets: Shewing Diuers Waies to Make and Prepare All Sorts of Inke, and
Colours: as Blacke, White, Blew, Greene, Red, Yellow, and Other
Colours. Also to Write with Gold and Siluer, or Any Kind of Mettall out
of the Pen: with Many Other Profitable Secrets, as to Colour Quils and
Parchment of Any Colour: and to Graue with Strong Water in Steele and
Iron. ... Translated out of Dutch into English, by W.P. Hereunto Is
Annexed a Little Treatise, Intituled, Instructions for Ordering of
Wines: Shewing How to Make Wine, That It May Continue Good and Faint Not
... Written First in Italian, and Now Newly Translated into English, by
W.P</i>. Printed by Adam Islip for Edward White, and Are to Be Sold at
His Shop at the Little North Dore of Pouls, at the Signe of the Gun,
1596.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
Cornflowers also show up in more recent books and articles that I adore, Sylvie Neven's <i>Strasbourg Manuscripts</i>, Clarke's <span class="citation_text"><i>Mediaeval Painters' Materials and Techniques: The Montpellier Liber Diversarum Arcium </i>as well as Arie Wallert's papers, one furnished to me by both international libraries that I sent inquiries to (</span><span class="citation_text"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica"; font-size: x-small;">Bibliothek Münstergasse at </span></span><span class="citation_text"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica"; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica"; font-size: x-small;">Universität Bern</span> and </span>Biblioteca OPD) and a lovely publication of a conference by the Getty Conservation Institute.<br /><i></i></span><br />
<ul>
<li>Gerard's Herbal (733-734)</li>
<li>Culpepper's Herbal (26-27)</li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Smith and Hawthorne (26)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="citation_text"><span style="background-color: white;">Massoul's treatise (186-7)</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="citation_text"><span style="background-color: white;">Merrifield's Original Treatises </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="citation_text"><span style="background-color: white;">(ccxiv, 298, 312, 406)</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="citation_text"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></span><span class="citation_text">Booke of Secrets </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="citation_text"><span style="background-color: white;">Neven's Strasbourg Manuscripts </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="citation_text"><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="citation_text">(96-7, 98-9, 142-3, 146-7, 173-5, 209-212)</span></span></span></span></li>
<li>Clarke's <span class="citation_text">The Montpellier<i> Liber Diversarum Arcium</i> (117)</span></li>
<li><span class="citation_text">Wallert 1993</span></li>
<li><span class="citation_text">Wallert 1996 (42)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span class="citation_text"><span class="citation_text"><span class="citation_text">For now I'll leave you with the resources I found. I will be back to tell you the way I made blue with C. cyanus I grew and the ways I will in the future. In the meantime, it is nearly summer in Malagentia (Maine, USA), go, plant seeds, watch them grow, make blue! A bientot! </span> </span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2018/06/centaurea-cyanus-blue-bottle-trial-1-2.html">A little painted out here.</a>Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-42298676526724959332018-06-02T13:43:00.000-07:002018-06-02T13:43:23.998-07:00lime from Oyster shellsInstructions for making oyster shells into lime aka quicklime exist in
Mappae Clavicula (Smith and Hawthorne 51-2). I'll include the authors note too as I think it's an interesting judgement about the resulting purity of the product.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--72brFt6Xls/WxL66MzuGZI/AAAAAAAAD7o/r7o7RnkSEIEVxnmfhY26Wetsp7B-L3s6gCLcBGAs/s1600/lime%2Bfrom%2Bcooking%2Boyster%2Bshells%2Bmappae%2Bclavicula%2Bpg51%2Bnote.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="119" data-original-width="1488" height="50" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--72brFt6Xls/WxL66MzuGZI/AAAAAAAAD7o/r7o7RnkSEIEVxnmfhY26Wetsp7B-L3s6gCLcBGAs/s640/lime%2Bfrom%2Bcooking%2Boyster%2Bshells%2Bmappae%2Bclavicula%2Bpg51%2Bnote.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h2W4LlUfL80/WxL70GwWhHI/AAAAAAAAD78/KVdXvyHYYWgye20hcd00-b3GozwXlSP0ACLcBGAs/s1600/lime%2Bfrom%2Boyster%2Bshells%2BMappae%2BClavicula%2B52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="80" data-original-width="414" height="122" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h2W4LlUfL80/WxL70GwWhHI/AAAAAAAAD78/KVdXvyHYYWgye20hcd00-b3GozwXlSP0ACLcBGAs/s640/lime%2Bfrom%2Boyster%2Bshells%2BMappae%2BClavicula%2B52.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Smith and Hawthorne 51-2)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Lime is CaO, calcium oxide.
Slaked lime is basically just lime 'slaked', or mixed, with water turning it into calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2.<br />
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Lime was useful medievally and broadly employed for painting (Merrifield 298-300) and building houses among other things. Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-11366234171335404532018-05-16T05:49:00.000-07:002018-05-16T05:49:51.090-07:00Gerard's Herbal provenance explainedGerard's Herbal which is "...simply an English translation of Dutch scholar <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembert_Dodoens" title="Rembert Dodoens wikipedia">Rembert Dodoen</a>’s highly popular herbal of 1554." <a href="http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/herbs/herball/">(Virginia edu website), </a>Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-28832519300010171392018-05-09T12:42:00.000-07:002018-05-09T12:42:18.882-07:00PandiusReading along in Mappae Clavicula as translated by Smith, Cyril Stanley and Hawthorne, Daniel G. I keep seeing the term 'pandius' for mixes of different colors but not always the same hues, tints or combinations and then an explanation:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smith, Cyril Stanley and Hawthorne, Daniel G.'s Mappae Clavicula (42)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ibid 42-43</td></tr>
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I'll have to go looking in the other translations of colors in medieval MS soon to see if they use 'pandius'...<span id="goog_489379609"></span><span id="goog_489379610"></span>Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-38831664283899312512018-05-08T10:55:00.000-07:002018-05-08T10:55:01.609-07:00medieval butterflies<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Order of the Silver Brooch for Mariette de Bretagne</td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a>Taking inspiration from the recipient's <a href="http://wiki.eastkingdom.org/index.php?title=Mariette_de_Bretagne">arms and persona</a> I started looking for manuscripts with fourteenth century butterflies.<br />
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Inspired by <a href="http://www.butterflycrossing.net/medieval-butterflies/">this website</a>, I enjoyed choosing a collection of pages from these manuscripts at Bodleian Library Oxford, England. MS Bodl. 264, folios 67 r, 132 v and 135 r. <a href="http://image.ox.ac.uk/show-all-openings?collection=bodleian&manuscript=msbodl264">Full MS</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">.</a><br />
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"This manuscript, one of the most sumptuous books of the Middle Ages,
contains a cycle of romances about Alexander the Great. Its exquisite
illustrations were completed in Flanders in 1344 by the artist Jehan de
Grise." </blockquote>
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http://medievalromance.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/A_cycle_of_Alexander_romances</blockquote>
My calligrapher and I enjoyed the idea of catching butterflies with our hoods and hoped Mariette would like it too!<br />
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I reached out to the contact for help with the words since Alexandre and I didn't know Mariette. Alys Mackyntoich was my contact and offered to write them for us. As I said to Alys, it's always a privilege and honor to work on a scroll with her!<br />
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Alys used one very early 14th cen. French charter as an inspiration and gave us these words:<br />
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Brennan Ri and Caoilfhionn Banri, to all who will view these present letters, in perpetuity. Since human memory is unstable and inclined to harmful things, it is useful that those things that are known to be worthy deeds be prudently preserved in written testimony. Therefore, may both the present and the future take notice that We value and esteem the artistry in verse, pen and ink of Mariette de Bretagne and, in witness of her excellence in such matters, do by these present letters endow and invest her with the Order of the Silver Brooch. In testimony and proof of this deed made and for fuller and perpetual strength of certainty we have caused the present document to be validated by our ensigns manual. So done and caused to be done upon 2 April in the fiftieth year of the Society.</blockquote>
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Alexandre Sainte Pierre practiced a hand based on the same manuscript and calligraphed them for me in a layout I designed. After, I set to work drawing in the final layout in pencil then inked the lines with Speedball India Ink.<br />
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<br />Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-61700354532531634692018-05-08T10:17:00.002-07:002018-06-02T14:24:25.006-07:00woad 2017A brief word about indigo containing plants first. In my studies I have learned that indigo blue can be isolated from at least three different plants: woad (Isatis tinctoria), "bagdad" indigo (Indigofera tinctoria), and Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria/Polygonum tinctorum). The first time I tried Indigofera tinctoria I only got two plants to germinate at all and they yielded no blue. T<a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2015/09/blue-pigment-from-woad.html">he same year, 2015, I grew Isatis tinctoria and yielded a little success</a> but only sufficient florey in my vat to paint out one circle of blue that I evidently didn't take pictures of. 2016 was the summer we moved. There were no extant gardens on the property and not enough energy to install them until 2017.<br />
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In 2017 I grew woad, Isatis tinctoria, in three large red planters in the front garden at the new house in Windham. I was more careful to feed the plants well in 2017. Two of the pots were only "50/50" mix from the garden center who said "It's really about 70/30 loam and Benson's. Any richer would burn your plants." And the third pot included amazing compost from an acquaintance of my mom who makes it with kitchen scraps and mess from his chicken coop.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>As before I planted them in 'shallow drills'. I planted them on May 17th 2017, knowing that I could lug them inside if frost threatened. Usually I would wait in Maine for May 31st to avoid the dangers of frost. <br />
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In 2017 I fed them every month with Plantone and watered as the weather demanded. <br />
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This was the pot planted in a mix of the loam/bensons and the lovely fluffy compost mix I mentioned. These plants did especially well. </div>
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On October 18th, 2017 I cut the leaves off of the plants, noting their number. The pots without fluffy compost yielded numerically more plants but they were notably less lush. The dry leaves en masse weighed 721g. I'm thinking that the rumor I've read about the water running off woad leaves causing germination inhibition must be true. The water running off healthier plants, growing in a medium they preferred may have caused a number of the seeds to not germinate... That would have left more root room for the healthiest to absorb more nutrients and be lush and healthy plants. It's too bad that I combined the leaves from the two soil tests rather than independent baths but I felt if I didn't I would not get the amount of blue yield that I wanted.<br />
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For the extraction I used the <a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2017/10/washing-soda-from-baking-soda.html"><b>washing soda/soda ash/sodium carbonate</b></a> method this go like <a href="http://www.woad.org.uk/html/extraction.html">this website</a>. I washed the leaves twice in Rerverse Osmosis (RO) filtered water whose pH measured 7.<br />
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After washing I stripped the leaves off of the stems and manually tore them into smaller pieces, observing and noting "woad smells funny and had little caterpillars living on it" in my notebook.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">an example of the inch worms on the woad</td></tr>
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Then the cut leaves were dumped in hot RO water. After bringing it back up to 80<sup>o</sup>C (176F) quickly, I took it off the burner, covered it with a lid and steeped the leaves for 10 minutes.<br />
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After steeping I cold water and ice bathed the whole pot and quickly cooled it to 55<sup>o</sup> C/131F. I poured the leaves and liquid through a colander into a bucket, squeezing the leaves with gloved hands to encourage the release of every last drop of dark brown/red potential indigo containing liquid. Then back into the stockpot it went with a Tablespoon full of Arm and Hammer Washing soda dissolved in a mug full of hot RO water, cooled past the recommended 50<sup>o</sup>C(122F) to 118F, turning it greeny-brown.<br />
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Then I aerated the heck out of the vat using a stainless steel immersion blender, turning it blue!<br />
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Collecting masses of these bubbles in glass bowls elated me! Yay florey! Indigo! Blue! My very own pretty scum from dyer's vats that I can call 'flower'! I shall call it flower even if it doesn't smell like one... ;)<br />
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I can't comfortably wear most wool. I'm here for the blue flower from the vat so it's good that I like growing things and didn't find this disheartening note from Broecke's <i>Il Libro Dell'Arte</i> until after successfully making some blue. <br />
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Indigo chemically identical to that imported from India was produced throughout Europe in the period from woad, and this was used as a cheaper alternative to imported indigo for dyeing wool blue. However, the yield from woad was too low to make it suitable as a source of dyes for less absorbent yarns or of pigments and inks (Broecke 41)</blockquote>
It's a good thing this is only a hobby! ;P<br />
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But later she thinks 'woad' is intended as a modifier for azurite (Broecke 86). So who can be certain?<br />
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In <i>Medieval Painters' Materials and Techniques The Montpellier Liber diversarum arcium</i> translation by Mark Clarke, there is a recipe that elaborates a process:<br />
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1.3.35 Another preparation of azure. On how to make azure, and that which will be better than that which is extracted from mines: take very white marble, and roast it in a gentle fire for a day and a night; which, after it will be roasted, grind extremely finely on another [slab of] very hard marble, and then take the scum of indigo-- which is on the cauldron of dyers in which is made indigo color--from the water; saturate the aforesaid marble powder, and grind strongly on the aforesaid marble [slab], and when it will be dry, repeatedly saturate it, for a long time, until it has the fine colour of azure; then remove it from the [grinding-] stone and put it aside, and use for work.<br />
(Clarke 2: 105)</blockquote>
I'm excited to make some of this blue but first I need a new smaller muller and marble powder. Stay tuned for this blue and more! The flower of the woad definitely yielded some blue pigment when it dried! It still smells funny to me but evidently that's a perpetual problem with woad even if you don't use the extraction methods with urine.Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-13440178258033002642018-05-06T14:23:00.001-07:002018-05-06T14:23:37.478-07:00Medieval Manuscript Garlic references 2017The juice of hard necked garlic,<span class="Y0NH2b CLPzrc nVkJV"> Allium sativum,</span> grown across the world in northern latitudes, may be used for all sorts of culinary applications as well as a gilding binder and more.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Allium sativum scapes growing 2017</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
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Read more by clicking through!<br /><br />
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Garlic juice was also even used as a stand alone preparation for painting metal or glass (Eastlake 533).<br />
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Mary Merrifield talks about using garlic fumes as an insecticide, drying oil, a mordant alone and mordant with a red clay, Armenian bole, and some lead white (ceruse) and lead red (Merrifield cxxv, ccxxxvii, 94, 748, juice, mordant of 622, 624). Note that 748 is in the Volpato MS which is slightly post SCA 'period', dated to the seventeenth century.<br />
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Cennino Cennini mentions it as a mordant too (Broecke 198-9, 217) and specifies that you should "not take green or young garlic; take it when it is at a middle stage." (198) and that it should be only used where it can protected from water and moisture in general.<br />
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Theophilus mentions it in On Divers Arts as a curative for 'various sickness' (112) caused by mercury vapor inhalation... no thanks!<br />
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In a publication by Getty called the Simone Manuscript "MS 1793", dated 1422,<br />
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Then there's a reference in an earlier source that uses it in a different way:<br />
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And it's note...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gn2dJTz8sXo/Wu9w49SMGAI/AAAAAAAAD4A/jl4k4AoxrWMaTIJMhrVUr-xGw_vTzFbxACLcBGAs/s1600/garlic%2Bin%2BMAppae%2BClavicula%2BSmith%252C%2BCyril%2BStanley%2Band%2BHawthorne%252C%2BDaniel%2BG.%2B58%2Bnote.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="838" height="76" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gn2dJTz8sXo/Wu9w49SMGAI/AAAAAAAAD4A/jl4k4AoxrWMaTIJMhrVUr-xGw_vTzFbxACLcBGAs/s640/garlic%2Bin%2BMAppae%2BClavicula%2BSmith%252C%2BCyril%2BStanley%2Band%2BHawthorne%252C%2BDaniel%2BG.%2B58%2Bnote.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mappae Clavicula (Smith, Cyril Stanley and Hawthorne, Daniel G. 58) </td></tr>
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Garlic! You just thought it made your breath stinky but cured your cold; now you know you can use it with gold!<br />
<br />Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-240648438419113652018-05-06T12:31:00.002-07:002018-05-06T12:31:55.335-07:00More Saffron yellow resourcesFrom Booke of Secrets:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<b>Another yellow</b></h3>
Mix saffron with the yolke of an eg, and it maketh a faire shining colour. Otherwise.<br />
Put saffron and alum into a clout, and put vineger into it, and
strain it out: or take saffron, the yolke of an eg, gum Arabike and
alum, and mix them together.</blockquote>
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And another from a translation of Simone's MS 1793 in the <a href="http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/historical_paintings.pdf">Getty's Historical Painting</a>:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wallert 1996</td></tr>
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Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-65114323465227537392018-04-25T05:19:00.002-07:002018-04-25T05:19:52.748-07:00flax seed to linen?In 2017 I grew flax seed. The easiest seed to find was in the bulk section of a local grocery store. I bought a few pounds of both organic brown and yellow varieties. I now know that food varieties will not make the longest fibers nor are they even the right specie. I also planted the seeds in a less than ideal configuration. Sometimes learning is done the hard way. I don't have any printed sources that talk about growing or processing linen and I was reticent to try to find any but those I could find online for free.<br />
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A better seed source would be <a href="https://www.edenbrothers.com/store/heirloom-flax-seeds.html">Linum usitatissimum</a> from the linked garden center or another reputable seller and planting should be done in a large garden (rather than strips) so it stands up against itself which may discourage branching.<br />
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Read more below for this crazy trial.<br />
<a name='more'></a>I began by germination testing the seeds like middle school classes do with beans on a wet paper towel in a plastic baggie...<br />
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Since they germinated successfully I carried on.<br />
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They grew... Around 100 days they were pretty much done blooming and<a href="https://joybileefarm.com/harvest-linen-flax/"> a website </a>told me that when the bottom was yellow and the tops are still green I should harvest. That week it rained so I waited and then life was life.... Harvest didn't happen until the hundred and somethingth day... I hope it's not too dried out!<br />
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I used traditional methods, pulling the entire plant and gathering in my hand until no more could fit and tying the bundle with a couple of the greener plants then just standing them up in the field in the sun.<br />
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The bundles are called shooks. I read somewhere that standing them in this way creates a convection current and will help with the drying. <br />
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In the middle of this experiment I was able to take Lexie's class, <a href="http://medievaldyeing.blogspot.ca/">here's her blog</a>. She had done this a number of times and it was exciting to hear about her process. She had a great handout that detailed the processing tools and fiber in different stages to touch.<br />
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Once the bundles were dry and the seed pods have matured, it's time for rippling (seed pod removal). <br />
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Retting happens after rippling. I have read that retting can be accomplished in a few different ways. Dew retting, leaving it out in the field and turning, river or pond. I was thinking I would use the little pond that forms on our property where it stays wet most years, but evidently some years, like 2017, it dries up! Oops!<br />
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Next thought was finding a pond to toss it in so I asked Galen of Blackthorn who lives on one and she graciously agreed and waded out in the cold fall water to a attach it to a boat mooring thing and hooked the bundle we had zip tied it into. She then weighed it down with rocks and promised to keep an eye on it.<br />
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Ten days later she decided that it was probably sufficiently retted/rotten and brought it back to me. It smelled... not nice, but I thanked her and spread it on my lawn in the sunshine to dry... once more.<br />
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The next steps include breaking the linen, scutching and hackling. I don't have the tools for these steps. After thinking maybe I would build them over the winter I decided to let someone else have their hand at it and gave the dried bundles back to Galen. I wonder how she'll make out with it and if it will produce any fiber for her to spin. I'll post again when I hear more! Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-35954161192709639122018-04-16T13:42:00.004-07:002018-04-16T13:43:44.503-07:00Calendula paint<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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and here it is under different lighting, click Read More please!<br />
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<br />Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-87012108856388378652018-04-16T13:31:00.002-07:002018-04-16T14:15:34.250-07:00Calendula yellowCalendula officinalis, pot marigold, is a beautiful little flower, sometimes called poor man's saffron.<br />
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I know one can make paint out of <a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2016/04/saffron-paint.html">saffron, like I did here,</a> so why not try Calendula?<br />
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Read more about my Calendula experiment below!<br />
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I separated, to my eye, the most yellow and most orange petals of the plants I had grown through the summer of 2017. Then soaked 0.37g of each hue of them in sterilized baby jars in about 10g each of boiling water that had been Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtered.<br />
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My pictures of the process tell me that I separated the petals on the 17th of January then carried on with the experiment on the 20th. Yay for documenting the process with pictures and the date stamped picture technology! So, on Jan 20th, I poured it through clean cheese cloth into a clean jar and used gloved fingers to squeeze as much colored liquid from the bundle into the jar as I could. Then I set up fans circulating the air past the jars.<br />
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Again, from the picture data, I can see that I had squeezed it through the linen by 8:20:36am and the jars were dry by that evening at 6:33:38pm. Time stamping now seems a little creepy... oh well!<br />
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Once dried I made paint with 2 drops of distilled water and 1 drop of Winsor and Newton gum Arabic. The painted out yellows are here!<br />
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<br />Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-20003177983179535092018-04-07T08:27:00.001-07:002018-05-04T11:21:02.885-07:00Sambucus spp. Elderberries You know when you think you know what you're talking about and then 'Eureka!' you decide your assumptions/theories/plans were wrong. Oops!<br />
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I keep reading about anthocyanin pigments (Neven 173-4) and how they can be produced by various things including elderberries. All of a sudden I went back to a different book and my mind opened up. Sambucus spp. are not always what we want to grow to make Elderberry wine or pie... 'Dwarf elder', which is what one of the medieval treatises calls for, is a different plant!<br />
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Sambucus ebulus<br />
Dwarf Elder, otherwise known as Danewort "is the most active pharmacologically... it's fruit should be considered poisonous. The dark purple berries are certainly violently purgative; in the Middle Ages both these and the roots or root bark were used as such.<br />
...<br />
The Anglo-Saxons and Gauls employed Dwarf Elder berries as a blue dye, and this is now the main use for this herb." (Stuart 258)<br />
<br />
So... I guess I want to try to grow S. ebulus too!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m3r4wM9VuI0/WsjfZcZeo9I/AAAAAAAADwQ/aiq2tQEDk2Y5da06jhliu-2DShebUCYSgCLcBGAs/s1600/Mappae%2BClav.%2Belderberry%2Bpigment.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="86" data-original-width="348" height="158" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m3r4wM9VuI0/WsjfZcZeo9I/AAAAAAAADwQ/aiq2tQEDk2Y5da06jhliu-2DShebUCYSgCLcBGAs/s640/Mappae%2BClav.%2Belderberry%2Bpigment.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smith and Hawthorne 41</td></tr>
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I shall have to mine the references of <span class="citation_text"><i>Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism</i> (Stuart) before I decide that their S. ebulus dye claim is accurate. I've just found another source that uses S. niger for their blue (Wallert 1993). And thus, we're back to common names making research difficult.<br /><i></i></span>Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-78855800597494207262018-04-07T07:07:00.000-07:002018-04-07T07:38:26.682-07:00lulax means indigoLooking for another 'vegetable blue' I found this reference. I have seen 'lulax' few times and see that Mappae Clavicula as translated by Smith and Hawthorne has this note:<br />
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or does it...<br />
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perhaps it just means a certain color blue?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smith and Hawthorn 55</td></tr>
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<br />Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-39563736461044176082018-04-06T15:20:00.000-07:002018-04-24T07:09:28.901-07:00'vergaut'? Blue and yellow make green!<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">The
term 'vergaut' was introduced to me by Elena Wyth when she asked a
question about mixing indigo and orpiment on Facebook. I hadn't come across it
before, so I went to the books! </span></span></span><br />
<br />
There seem to be many medieval instructions for mixing orpiment and indigo but few call it vergaut, as far as I can see. Read more below to see what a brief search helped me find.<br />
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In
what I have come to call 'the big book of Merrifield's recipes' vergaut is
only listed once in the index which points to this passage: "Vergaut est
color qui est quasi ut azurium respectu coloris, non respectu materie." Despite four years of high school Latin, I have little idea of
an appropriate translation and the search engine translation is not much
better... Perhaps it's not Latin at all?<br />
<br />
The note on Merrifield's passage says "Vergaut. See Eraclius, No. 282. Perhaps Vertbleu." (Merrifield 1967: 38)<br />
<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">So,
down into the rabbit hole we go! Merrifield's big book has a
translation of Eraclius' MS and No. 282 says, "Mix orpiment with azure
or indigo, or ocher with indigo, or green, and it will be good
'vergaut'...." </span></span></span><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">(Merrifield 252)</span></span></span><br />
<br />
I guess I should always look in the glossary S. M. Alexander
supplied/compiled for Merrifield's tome. He defines it as "Vergaut. Grey-green colour made by
mixing "azure" or indigo with orpiment or yellow ochre." (Merrifield
xxxiii)<br />
<br />
Other than modern pigment analyzers I only see the term 'vergaut' in Ms. Merrifield's book but here are some other instructions for combining indigo and orpiment...<br />
<br />
We have various translations of Cennini Cennino's book Il Libro Dell'Arte and his book definitely has instructions for green from indigo and orpiment. Society lady Christiana Jane Herringham and researcher Daniel V. Thompson Jr.'s copies are both useful and valid versions. In her introduction Ms. Herringham mentions a less complete translation by Mary Merrifield which I have not found or read personally. I am drawn to the most recent translation by Lara Broecke. Her references and notes fuel my curiosity and direct my perseverance.<br />
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Lara Broecke's translations: "[Orpiment], mixed with Bagdad indigo, makes a green colour for grass and for greenery... at first [orpiment] is the stiffest pigment to mull that there is in our profession. However, when you want to mull it, put the amount you want on your stone and, with the one that you hold in your hand, start loosening it up little by little by squashing it from one stone to the other, mixing into it a bit of glass from a broken drinking glass because the glass powder starts drawing the orpiment into the texture of the stone... if you mulled it for 10 years it gets more perfect all the time... Watch that you do not spatter your mouth with it lest it does you harm."(Broecke 73)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Notes<br />
There are notes about words on the document being translated then...<br />
1. Orpiment is arsenic sulphide with approximately 60% arsenic. It is found naturally in Italy and was known to Vitruvius, in the first century BC, as a natural pigment (Vitruvius 1914: 7.7.5). However orpiment could also be manufactured by the sublimation of a mixture of sulphur and arsenic trioxide (FitzHugh 1997a: 55).<br />
...<br />
6. other treatises mention the use of oil, gum and egg white (the latter two in the context of manuscript illumination) (Merrifield 1849, 1: cliv).<br />
...<br />
9. Glass can help with the grinding process because it breaks up the fibrous structure of the mineral (Cennini 2006: 264). Ground glass has been found as an additive in paints, mordants and grounds on Italian paintings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and experimentation has shown that it can act as a drier as well as altering the working properties of paints and their surface texture when dry... (Broecke 74) This note keeps going and is interesting and relevant but perhaps talk to me about it later and you should definitely buy a copy! So worth it if you're a pigment geek like me!! </blockquote>
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<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">"<b>Chapter 53</b> On the way to make a green from orpiment and indigo</span></span></span><br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">A
pigment which is made from two parts orpiment and one part indigo is
green; and mull them together thoroughly with clear water. This color is
good for painting shields and lances and is also used for painting
rooms in secco. It should have no binder other than glue." (Broecke 80) </span></span></span><br />
<br />
"Notes:
1. The Venetian Manuscript gives different ratios; three parts orpiment
to one part indigo for making 'green' and three parts indigo for one
part orpiment for making 'dark green' (Tosatti 1991: 235).<br />
2.
Mixtures of orpiment and indigo have frequently been identified on
paintings (FitzHugh 1997a: 53). Alcherius gives detailed instructions
for making this mixture, which he says can be used for fabric,
parchment, paper and primed panels, but he recomments egg white or gum
as a binder rather than glue. He notes that an even better green can be
produced by mixing ultramarine with orpiment, a mixture that Cinnino
discusses in chapter 55 (Merrifield 1849, 1: 272-40). The <i>Liber diversarum arcium</i>
has this mixture bound in egg white or gum or both (Clarke 2011: 105,
121) and the Bolognese Manuscript has a mixture of indigo and orpiment
bound in gum (Merrifield 1849, 2: 420-21.) The difference in binders is
probably because the sources mentioned in this note focus on manuscript
illumination while Cennino's recommendation to use glue as opposed to
egg yolk as a binder may be intended to preserve the natural sparkle of
the orpiment (see chapter 47, note 6)." (Broecke 80)</blockquote>
Cennino warns of orpiment's toxicity a number of times. It's interesting and a good cautionary note for certain! Personally I might stick with indigo and ochre...<br />
<br />
In the Strasbourg Manuscript, a chapter about incompatibilities suggests both things you should and shouldn't do with orpiment "but indigo, or light blue azure could be mixed into oripiment, that does not damage it and it becomes beautiful (colour), for drapery, for grass and for mountains." (Neven 123)<br />
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And in <i>De Arte Illuminandi</i> still more about 'why not' on parchment. <br />
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<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">Papers from the <b>Journal of Raman Spectroscopy</b> that do just call it 'vergaut':</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><i>Identification of pigments and gemstones on the Tours<br />Gospel: the early 9th century Carolingian palette</i> Clark et al.</span></span></span>
<br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></span>
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><i>The Lindisfarne Gospels and two other 8th century<br />Anglo-Saxon/Insular manuscripts: pigment<br />identification by Raman microscopy</i> Brown et al.</span></span></span><br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></span>
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><i>Analysis of key Anglo-Saxon manuscripts (8–11th<br />centuries) in the British Library: pigment identification<br />by Raman microscopy</i> Brown et al.</span></span></span><br />
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><br /></span></span></span>
<span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">Those interested in digging deeper are encouraged to continue to mine the notes and references! To conclude this slightly disorganized and admittedly incomplete review I would encourage the reader to take these notes for what they are and pursue further research as appropriate.</span></span></span>Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-63987835653987209572018-04-06T10:31:00.002-07:002018-04-06T12:38:48.451-07:00chalk of eggshells<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_UXJZYLcGL0/WseuDzYE69I/AAAAAAAADvQ/LhcYLtc8gosBB7DS0qHxjJpQelxgEWunACLcBGAs/s1600/chalk%2Bof%2Beggshells%2Bbook%2Bof%2Bsecrets%2B14.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="1023" height="211" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_UXJZYLcGL0/WseuDzYE69I/AAAAAAAADvQ/LhcYLtc8gosBB7DS0qHxjJpQelxgEWunACLcBGAs/s640/chalk%2Bof%2Beggshells%2Bbook%2Bof%2Bsecrets%2B14.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Book of Secrets</span></td></tr>
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To make chalk of eggshells<br />
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Take eggshells, and let them lie three days in vinegar, then wash them well in fair water, dry them in the sun, and beat them into powder, then grind them upon a stone.<br />
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<br />Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-36824345944842447502018-03-18T12:37:00.000-07:002018-03-18T12:37:24.733-07:00sal ammoniacMany of the recipes in medieval MS contain references to sal ammoniac. So, what is it anyway? The glossary in Merrifield's Medieval and Renaissance Treatises is helpful, once again!<br />
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Ammonium chloride, NH<sub>4</sub>Cl.Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-24275943616512598272017-10-09T08:57:00.001-07:002017-10-09T09:06:33.249-07:00washing soda from baking sodaSo, you having baking soda, NaHCO3, right? You can therefore make washing soda, also called soda ash and soda crystals, Na2CO3. It's very caustic so always wear gloves when you deal with chemicals, please!<br />
<br />
Check out <a href="http://naturesnurtureblog.com/how-to-make-washing-soda/" target="_blank">this blog to find out how</a>! <br />
<br />
And <a href="http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/sodaash.shtml" target="_blank">this one to really hear about washing soda and soda ash</a>. Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-84711951204527996712017-05-29T18:03:00.001-07:002017-05-29T18:06:36.013-07:00Exploring "Italian pink" and "Dutch pink""Dutch pink"and "Italian pink", probably actually green and yellow pigments, are mentioned to in a note in De Arte Illuminandi (Thompson and Hamilton 43).<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
68 For the identification of these <i>prugnameroli </i>as buckthorn berries (buckthorn = It. <i>spincervino, spino gerbino</i>), fruits of varieties of the buckthorn, <i>Rhamnus</i>, see Cennino, ed.cit., II, 32, n. 1. Two pigments were and are derived from Rhamnus berries: a yellow and a green. The product of the unripe berries is the Giallo santo (cf. M. P. Merrifield, op.cit., I, clxiv), known in English by the extraordinary names, "Italian Pink" and "Dutch Pink." The juice of the ripe berries yields the <i>pigmentum e fructibus rhamni catharticae, succus veridis</i>, listed by H. L. Gerth van Wijk, <i>Dictionary of Plantnames</i>, I, 1135, among the technical products of <i>R. catharticus</i>, the color known in English as "Sap green," the Italian <i>verde di vescica</i> (so called because the inspissaded juice was preserved in bladders), the <i>Safftgrien</i> of Valentin Boltz, who specifies, <i>ed. cit., </i>p. 75, that it is to be made from "krutzber, die man auch nent hagenberlin," gathered "ungeforlich vierzehn tag vor Michaelis" (that is, about September 15). For the yellow color, <i>ibid</i>., p. 72, "Du must gar eigentlichen warnemmen der zyt diser hagenberlin im Augustmonat, daz sy nit zu satt oder zu alt werden." If, therefore, in Alsace, the color came out yellow if the berries were gathered in August, and green if they were gathered about the middle of September, we may probably assume that the quality of green yielded by these <i>Rhamnus</i> fruits was not entirely definite. It must have varied in it's content of yellow, according to the date and nature of the season. (Thompson and Hamilton 43)</blockquote>
As well as the Introduction of Medieval and Renaissance Treatises on the Arts of Painting: Original Texts with English Translations by Mrs. Mary P. Merrifield.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Giallo santo</i> was a kind of yellow lake, which was made from various plants. It was sometimes prepared from the berries of the buckthorn (note leads to p 708, her translation of the Paduan Manuscript recipe) (spincervino)...<br />
The French call pigments of this description "<i>stil de grain</i>," and include under them not only these pigments which are a pure yellow colour, but such as incline to green. The English term for this class of pigments is or was "<i>pink</i>" Thus we have "<i>Dutch pink," "Italian pink," "brown pink,"</i> &etc. (Merrifield I, clxiv)</blockquote>
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So, for tonight, that is my search and citation of sources. <i>Pigment Compendium</i> also references Italian, Dutch and brown pink but that transcription is for another day. Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-32764442317023430882017-02-27T11:28:00.000-08:002017-02-27T11:28:47.364-08:00Word of the Week: pigmentary<div class="waypoint-wrapper header-row header-first-row" data-href="source-luna">
<h1 class="head-entry">
<span class="me" data-syllable="pig·men·tar·y"><span class="js-headword"><span class="syllable">pig</span><span class="syllable">men</span><span class="syllable">tar</span><span class="last-syllable">y</span></span></span></h1>
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<div class="header-row header-extras pronounce pronset">
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<span class="pron spellpron" style="display: inline;">[<span class="dbox-bold">pig</span>-m<span class="dbox-italic">uh</span> n-ter-ee]</span></div>
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<span class="pron spellpron" style="display: inline;"> </span><span class="pre-def-data"></span></div>
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<section class="def-pbk ce-spot" data-collapse-expand="{"target": ".def-set", "type": "def"}">
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<span class="dbox-pg"><span><span class="oneClick-link">adjective</span> </span></span> </header>
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<span class="def-number"><span><span class="oneClick-link">1.</span></span></span><span><span class="oneClick-link"> of,</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">pertaining</span> <span class="oneClick-link">to,</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">having,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">or</span> <span class="oneClick-link">producing</span> <span class="oneClick-link">pigment.</span></span></div>
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<span><span class="oneClick-link"> </span></span></div>
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<span><span class="oneClick-link"><span class="dbox-roman"><span><span class="oneClick-link">Origin--1425-75;</span> </span></span> <span class="dbox-roman"><span><span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">late</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">Middle</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">English:</span> </span></span><span><span class="oneClick-link">a</span> <span class="oneClick-link">dyer</span> < </span><span class="dbox-roman"><span><span class="oneClick-link">Latin</span> </span></span> <span class="dbox-italic"><span><span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">pigmentārius.</span> </span></span> </span> </span><span class="def-number"><span><span class="oneClick-link"></span></span></span>
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Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-24314226539186483722017-01-16T13:07:00.001-08:002017-01-16T13:07:14.759-08:002016 Buckthorn with vinegar paint resultsHere are the paint results from these buckthorn and vinegar recipes in 2016.<br />
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I was able to make a nice sap green from the buckthorn with white wine vinegar by adding a little potassium aluminum sulfate (alum).</div>
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Note that the 25% acidic vinegar and buckthorn produced a thick juice that required more thinning and would require more water and more gum Arabic to produce a smooth paint.<br />
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When I added alum to both buckthorn and vinegar recipe it resulted in green! By itself, the results were less satisfying and not what I would call green but more blue gray.<br />
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Side note: I think the shininess on the first two swatches is the result of a little too much gum Arabic. Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-35672183282797618702017-01-16T13:06:00.001-08:002017-01-16T13:09:55.974-08:00Buckthorn with vinegar, twice in 2016In 2016 I tried twice more to get green for paint or dye/stain from buckthorn.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bolognese MS De Tintis ad Tigendum Pellum (Merrifield 426)</td></tr>
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2016 Vinegar and buckthorn: On September 24, 2016 I tried with Organic Spectrum brand white wine vinegar (diluted to 6% acidity by the manufacturer). Heating in my corning ware experiment sauce pan caused the vinegar to simmer, steam and evaporate. It was so strong I had to leave the area repeatedly to let it reduce to half.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bubbling and steaming buckthorn and organic white wine vinegar for Merrifield 426 experiment</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">buckthorn berries boiled in wine vinegar, ready to squeeze out juice (Merrifield 326)</td></tr>
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2016 Vinegar and buckthorn: On October 7, 2016 I tried an even stronger vinegar, Surig Essig-essenz, from an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=surig+vinegar&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Asurig+vinegar" target="_blank">online vendor</a>. It boasts 25% acidity. I don't know how strong a white vinegar you can make from wine or medieval people would have had access to but using a very strong vinegar and still not achieving green might let me rule out lower acidity as the culprit.<br />
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Neither 'strong' vinegars yielded green with buckthorn berries for me.<br />
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It now occurs to me that maybe I'm taking the buckthorn and vinegar recipe out of context...? The recipe before this, 101., and the recipe after it, 103., incorporate verdigris with vinegar and other reagents. (Verdigris in many medieval treatises created frequently by fuming copper with vinegar or ammonia.) Perhaps it's mistakenly omitted?<br />
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Or did everyone just know to always add rock alum to buckthorn to produce green? Vinegar or not that seems to work...<br />
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<a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2017/01/2016-buckthorn-with-vinegar-paint.html" target="_blank">The paint results of these vinegars with buckthorn berries and also with the modification of added alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) can be seen here.</a><br />
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Later in the same book it talks about using vinegar with buckthorn to dye skins green but putting either of these resulting liquids on leather doesn't seem to produce green either. Someday I'll get to take pictures of those results and put them here. Promise! ;)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bolognese Manuscript De Tintis ad Tingendum Pellem (Merrifield 558)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<br />Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375746922791558967.post-12273510858367245092017-01-15T10:49:00.001-08:002017-01-15T10:49:24.950-08:002016 sap green from Buckthorn Experiment 2 ResultsThis experiment began in November 2016 and was finished up at the beginning of 2017.<br />
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The ripe buckthorn, Rhamnus spp., juice had been extracted from refrigerated, and slightly dessicated buckthorn berries from Saco, Maine. The berries were reconstituted with distilled water (DW), and then rock alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) was added to the juice. Commercially available gum Arabic was then used with distilled water to paint it out on 12/23/16.<br />
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By 12/29/16 the dark blue had turned to dark green and further trials were performed. <br />
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The change of color from blue to green suggests a few possibilities to me. Either the alum had a chance to change the buckthorn after sitting with it for a while or it could have come into contact with calcium carbonate contaminates from the enviornment like egg or clam shell (neither of which are scarce in my house) or the Strathmore Bristol vellum finish paper is prepared with a buffer that reacted with the acids and berry juice. <br />
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Further trials were painted out from the original berry juice with alum in the palette and shell with gum. More distilled water was used to re-hydrate the paint and thin it out for greater visibility.<br />
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The juice with alum alone, in a clam shell and with crushed egg shell all yield what I would describe as a gentle sap green. The trial with lye turned from a rather interesting olive to quite a bright yellow reminiscent of the yellow yielded from the <a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2015/09/buckthorn-yellow-from-green-buckthorn.html" target="_blank">green buckthorn drupes</a> and in another ripe drupe recipe discussed <a href="http://scientistsscroll.blogspot.com/2016/03/buckthorn-berries-yellow-experiments-2.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />Adriennehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324963684257838307noreply@blogger.com0