FIELD NOTES:

RECONSTRUCTION: MOLDED LETTER PAPER FA 18

Name: Baris Gokturk

Date and Time:

2018.12.02, 10am-8pm

Location: Studio at Prentis Hall, Columbia University

Subject: Molded Letter Paper

I set up a workstation in the studio using two sawhorses and a wooden top.

I setup the materials I received from the lab on Wednesday, Nov 28 on the table:

-gum arabic

-venetian red pigment

-iron gall ink

-brandy

-wheat oil

-historical paper

To this list, I added:

- gum tragacanth (as an alternative to gum arabic)

-butter

The tools I anticipated needing were:

-tape measure

-scissors

-masking tape

-ruler

-various brushes

-containers

-The overall size of the historic paper (sized) I received was 12x18”. I decided to cut it to 6 strips of 4x8”. I ended up with an additional 1x12” strip for testing material.

My goal was to make two versions of the recipe: one with iron gall ink+gum arabic (“Write with well gummed ink”) the other with venetian red pigment +gum arabic (“or with any color which has body”). I planned to use the additional four pieces for margin of error and testing material.

I had noted that the previous reconstruction by Jordan/Katz had used a type of diluted gum arabic intended for watercolor with poor results. They switched to gum tragacanth instead. The following reconstruction by Fu/Zhang repeated the reconstruction with gum tragacanth instead. I intended to use, gum arabic a more common ingredient in pigment and ink mixture, to better effect.

I melted some butter with bain marie method, intending to coat the back of the paper with butter to thicken it as suggested by 142 v.

I wasn’t sure whether to coat the paper before writing on it or after. Following 142v “If you have a written paper to mold, which is too thin, after you have made the first cast & it has set, give a little thickness to the reverse of your paper with melted butter” I decided to do it after the writing. However, I coated two pieces just to try it.

I first made the iron gall ink+gum arabic mix in a container. I first put the powdered gum arabic in a cup using a stirring stick. (5-6 full sticks-add image). I added a little warm water and mixed it with the gum. I added the ink last and mixed them all until I reached a viscous mix that wouldn’t drip when held on the stirring stick but also didn’t have any visible gum chunks to it.

I tested this mix on a small piece of paper, no butter. The viscosity held well on paper.

I had observed in Jordan/Katz reconstruction that the gummed ink had chunks in it that made the writing seem not fluent. I figured that working in layers from thin to thick with increasing the gum in the mix as I went, enabled me to build more body into the text without loosing the flow.

I also concluded that using a brush in the beginning helped the ink adhering to the paper. However, after the first layer, the use of a wooden stick and the quill worked better building up the letters.

I prepared the second mix: gum arabic+venetian red pigment and water. Although this was a of two powders with a little bit of water as opposed to the iron gall ink and gum arabic powder in the first one, the result was more fluid then the first mix.

Fu/Zhang who had used this mix had also added wheat oil to the mix. I judged that was a misreading of the recipe on 142v as the author/practitioner mentions wheat oil as a substitute for butter to thicken the wings of the butterfly in Molding grasshoppers and things too thin. I only used gum pigment and a little water. The result was slightly different in consistency then the ink version but yielded good results.

Encouraged by the test strips, I sketched out the writing to be done on the paper for both mixes.

I applied first the ink in 5 layers. In the fourth and fifth layer, I added more gum to the mix. The water also went from warm to cool in the mix as time went on,.

I repeated the same steps with the Venetian red pigment and gum. Once again, the mix had more liquid flow compared to the ink but was thick enough to build in layers just like the ink mix.

I left the writing to dry. In an hour, it already created a dry skin but was still wet on the inside. In three hours, it felt like it was already hardened enough to move to the next step: Making a two-part mold

For this step, I first trimmed the paper furthermore to reduce the surface area of the paper to facilitate the metal casting.

I prepared the set up for the mold-making with following materials:

-clay for the bed

-bees wax for sprue system

-plaster for making the mold

I made the clay bed for the writing and the sprue system to be placed on.

I shaved some beeswax to use to make the sprue system and tested it out modeling it.

At this point, I had to make a decision. The sprue recipe consisted of a mixture of 1:3 rosin and wax. The rosin I had ordered online had not arrived yet. I considered proceeding with wax only so I can already pour the plaster on the writing. Ultimately I decided to wait for the rosin. I covered my clay bed with plastic to keep it wet.

Name: Baris Gokturk

Date and Time:

2018.12.10, 10am-8pm

Location: Studio at Prentis Hall, Columbia University

Subject: Molded Letter Paper

The rosin arrived. I also checked out broken molds and iron filings to add to plaster of paris and one egg following the plaster recipe from Dr. Smith.

My plan for this day was to mold the lettered paper on both sides My clay bed was already ready. I unwrapped the plastic, the clay was still moist.

I pressed the lettered paper face up into the clay. The underside of paper still had a lot of butter thickening the paper and perhaps acting as a release agent.

Next, I built the sprue system around the piece out of a mix of beeswax and rosin.

I started preparing the plaster by crushing all molds with the mortar & pestle. My recipe was 2 parts plaster ,1 part ground tile , ½ part iron oxide ,1 egg.

Once the plaster mix ready, I poured onto the walled clay bed, where the piece of paper with raised letters situated. I coated the letters and the paper with brandy before pouring plaster.