Bread molding in the Ms Fr 640
Mentor: Dr. Sophie Pitman (sp3457@columbia.edu)
OVERVIEW
I intend to explore bread molding in the manuscript Ms Fr 640, looking at how bread was used as a medium for casting objects, vis-a-vis (1) other uses of bread in the manuscript and (2) other methods of object-casting. I will be primarily looking at entry 140v in the Ms Fr 640, for casting in sulfur, and moulding and shrinking a large figure, which instructs the reader to use bread-pith (miette de pain) as a mold for sulfur-casting. Through reconstruction, I wish to examine how the ingredients of bread-baking, as well as different methods of “drying out” the bread, affect how both the mold and the sulfur cast “shrink”. I plan to situate this molding technique in the larger historical context of the manuscript, examining other instances of bread (and its constituents) as well as sulfur in the casting of objects in early modern Europe.
GROUP MEMBERS
I will be carrying out most of the background research, historical reconstruction, and writing for the annotation. Katie Bergen will be kindly assisting in recording the reconstruction processes, including: taking photographs and videos.
BREAD MOLDING IN MS FR 640
Bread was the primary staple of early modern Europe. Given its accessibility and commonality, few recipes exist for bread-making. However, cookbooks and craft manuals do reveal the varieties of bread consumed during the period, differentiated according to their baking methods, ingredients, and origin.1 While the Ms Fr 640 demonstrates an “appreciation of the characteristics of different flours”, descriptions of the bread itself are brief.2 As a consequence, the specific material qualities of bread useful for the molding process in entry 140v is unknown to us: What kind of bread was used for bread molding? Did the types of bread and ingredients used affect the quality and structure of the mold? Was the bread-pith extracted from the crust, or was the entire loaf used in the molding process?
This entry in the Ms Fr 640 is also the only record of bread molding of the period. We therefore have no way telling if this method of sulfur casting was prevalent, or unique to the author-practitioner. Nonetheless, it is a rare instance where an intermediary process — the casting of objects into bread molds with sulphur — of knowledge production in early modern Europe is described. Historical reconstruction is thus useful in clarifying the material realities of this rarely discussed step in the crafts, for instance, determining how different types of breads influenced the process and outcome of the mold.
At present, reconstructions of this bread molding process have been extensively done as part of the Making & Knowing Project. I thus benefit from having a substantial corpus of data on present-day bread molding attempts from previous M&K workshop sessions, and plan to incorporate these attempts as data points in my annotation. These attempts however, lack a systematic approach in testing out different types of bread and ingredients and their casting quality, and have had varying degrees of success with the quality of their sulfur cast. Notably, all attempts at “shrinking” or “elongating” the bread-pith to produce various figures with a single object have also failed. I therefore focus on this aspect, examining if the process of varying the shape of the bread mold is possible, or a theoretical conceptualization from the author-practitioner.
RECIPES ON BREAD MOLDING AND SULFUR CASTING
Recipe of focus
<id>p140v_1</id>
<head>For casting in <m>sulfur</m></head>
<ab>
To cast neatly in <m>sulfur</m>, arrange the <m>bread pith</m> under the <tl>brazier</tl>, as you know. Mold in it what you want & let dry & you will have very neat work.</ab>
<ab>
<margin>left-middle</margin>
Try <m>sulfur</m> passed through <m>melted wax</m>, because it no longer inflames & and no longer makes eyelets.</ab>
</div>
<div>
<id>p140v_2</id>
<head>Molding and shrinking a large figure</head>
<ab>
Mold it with <m>bread pith</m>, having come from the <tl>oven</tl>, or as the above, & in drying out it will shrink & consequently the medal that you will cast. You <del>it</del> can, by this means, by elongating and widening the imprinted <m>bread pith</m>, vary the figure & with one image make many various ones. <m>Bread</m> coming from the <tl>oven</tl> is better. And the one that is reheated twice retracts more. You can cast <m>sulphur</m> without leaving the imprint of the <m>bread</m> to dry, if you want to mold as big as it is. But if you want to let it shrink, make it dry, either more or less.</ab>
Other Recipes from Ms Fr 640
Casting
<head>Sand</head>
<ab>The sand chosen <del>cast</del> for casting should be neither so lean that it has no stickiness, nor too fat. And even if it is found <env><m>in nature</m></env>, however, it is not everywhere. And if you are in a place where it is not found, you can make it, but not with <m>fat earth</m>, for the sand does not want any of that, for it makes it very porous. But you can make it bindable with <m>brick well ground</m> on <tl><m>marble</m></tl>, or <m>plaster</m> or <m>calcinated alabaster</m> or something similar, or the <m>burned marrow of <al>ox</al> horn</m> or <m>burned asphalt</m>. If you grind it quite finely on <tl><m>porphyry</m></tl>, it <del><fr>s</fr></del> acquires stickiness better & then you can burn it with <m>asphalt</m> or mix it with a <ms>quarter part</ms> of <m>tripoli</m>. Guard against <m>bread</m> falling into your sand because it makes it very porous.</ab>
<id>p156r_1</id>
<head>Molding promptly and reducing a hollow to a relief</head>
<ab>You can imprint the relief of a medal in <m>colored wax</m>, & you will have a hollow, in which you can cast <fr>en noyau</fr> a relief <add>of your sand</add>, on which you will make a hollow of <m>lead</m> or <m>tin</m>, in which you will cast a <m>wax</m> relief. And then on that <m>wax</m> you will make your <tl>mold</tl> in a hollow <fr>noyau</fr>, to cast in it the relief of <m>gold</m> & <m>silver</m> or any other <m>metal</m> you like. But to hasten your work if you are in a hurry, make the first imprint & hollow in <m>bread pith</m>, prepared as you know, which will mold very neatly. And into that, cast <m>melted wax</m>, which will give you a beautiful relief, on which you will make your <fr>noyau</fr>.</ab>
</div>
Speed
Clarity
Bread-making
<id>p088r_5</id>
<head><pro>Baker</pro></head>
<ab><m>Dust</m> keeps wheat from becoming weevil infested. And to clean it well when it is stained & like rust, pass <m>ashes</m> through the <tl>sieve</tl> & mix them with the <m><pa>wheat</pa></m>, then boult the whole with a <tl>boulting cloth of <m>rough cloth</m> or <m>canvas</m></tl>. The <m>ashes</m> will pass through & your <m><pa>wheat</pa></m> will stay yellow, clean, & very beautiful.</ab>
Other Sources
Spretson, N. E. A Practical Treatise on Casting and Founding [Electronic Resource] Including Descriptions of the Modern Machinery Employed in the Art. New York: E. & F.N. Spon, 1892, 202-203
Cores are especially useful for forming vacancies in castings...they ought to have as much as may be the quality of firmness of substance and openness of pores. Cores...are commonly composed of rock sand and sea sand. The former, having a proportion of clay in its composition to which it owes its powerful cohesiveness, when dried serves very well as a material for short cores that rest in the green sand at both ends...But when rock sand is used for cores of considerable height...it requires to be moderated by a mixture of free sand as a counteractant to the clay. The clay communicates the necessary cohesiveness to the material of the core; the sand, on the contrary, being loose and open, renders it less binding and more porous. Free sand alone is also employed in the making of confined cores, that they may afterwards be easily extracted, as the sand has naturally no power of cohesion. Wanting cohesiveness, it must be tempered to a proper consistency by the addition of clay and water, yeast, or the refuse of the peasemeal used for light flat mounds...the yeast only in very particular circumstances [is used].
Spretson, N. E. A Practical Treatise on Casting and Founding [Electronic Resource] Including Descriptions of the Modern Machinery Employed in the Art. New York: E. & F.N. Spon, 1892, 348-349
In the Foundry, if the works generally to be produced are small in size, the moulding is done on benches, and the moulders work vis-a-vis at the same bench, which is divided by a longitudinal partition, provided with a shelf for tools. Small and unimportant pieces may be moulded in green sand, large works in loam, but the greater portion of general work is moulded in dry sand. The two sands principally employed are obtained from a place called Fontenay-des-Roses, near Paris; this one is a deep-brown loamy sand, the other is of a light yellow-white tinge. These sands are mixed in proportions carefully regulated according to the nature of the work for which they are intended, and the mixture is reduced to a uniform fineness by being passed between cast-iron rollers. The sand is then damped and sifted…
For Facing Sand a mixture of potato starch and charcoal dust, or fine white flour, is used; but charcoal dust is the favourite material.
Sand cores are used for all hollow pieces...in bronze statue casting, the thickness of the metal should be nearly uniform as possible, otherwise work will be distorted from unequal contraction; bronze contracts considerably on cooling, the extent depends upon the proportions of the constituent metals employed in its composition...This contraction is found to increase in ratios with the size of the casting.
Cellini, Benvenuto. The Treatises of Benvenuto Cellini on Goldsmithing and Sculpture, 1898, 111.
CHAPTER I. ON THE ART OF CASTING IN BRONZE.
The way I fashioned her was as follows. I made a model in clay of just the size the figure was to be; this done, I estimated that the shrinkage would be about one finger’s thickness. So I very carefully went over the whole, touching it up and measuring it as the art directs. Then I gave it a good baking…
CHAPTER II. HOW THE ABOVE-MENTIONED CLAY IS MADE
In order to obtain a good result you must let it dry, and sift it carefully through a rather coarse sieve...then you mix it with cloth frayings...and take note that here is a wondrous mystery of the craft that has never yet been used by any but me. When the clay and the cloth frayings are mixed and bathed with water to the consistency of a dough…
Salmon, William. Polygraphice : Or the Arts of Drawing, Engraving, Etching, Limming, Painting, Washing, Varnishing, Gilding, Colouring, Dying, Beautifying and Perfuming : In Seven Books ..., 1685, Chapter 31, 257.
Then take of the aforesaid earth or sand prepared (that is, so much moistened with the magisterial water, that being crushed between the hands or fingers, it will not stick but like dry flour, and will stand with the print of the hand closed together) and press it on well in the Flask upon the medal with the fleshy part of your fingers or hands…
P452-453
Of making artificial pearls
The eight way. After dissolution, precipitation, edulcoration...put the pearls into a loaf of bread and bake it in the oven with other bread, so long till the loaf is much burnt, then take them out, and wash them, first in good juice of limons, then in clear spring-water, and they will be as fair as the truly natural. Or after baking, given them to the pidgeons to eat, keeping them close up, and in the dung you will find pearls exceedingly fair…
p289
To make artificial flesh
Take crumbs of the best wheaten bread, as soon as it comes forth out of the oven, being very hot, and as much as you please, put it into a bolthead of glass (without any other moisture than what is in the bread itself) which perfectly seal up hermetically. Then set it in digestion in a temperature Balneo, the space of two months, and it will tbe turned into a fibrous flesh…
P450, book V
Another kind of strong glew for pipes and aqueducts
Tobaco pipe clay, dryed and reduced to powder, and mixt with good store of short flocks, and beat up with Linseed oyl to a stiff paste, like kneaded dough, makes a strong and lasting cement for pipes...
Plat, Hugh. The Jewellhouse of Art and Nature. Printed by Peter Short, 1594, 221-237.
Instructions on casting objects
(medals OR brooches)
(translation by tina sun)
1. Method for molding medals and brooches (Médailles camées) -- The age of mastic, sulfur, and talc, molding with gelatin, strong glue, and bread-pith (mie de pain) -- Good paste to mold rosary
Molding of the inside of the bread (mie de pain) -- Take the inside of the bread while still hot and baked only a little, knead this paste with a rolling pin, add a little bit of aloe so that it doesn't stick to the glass. Once this preparation is done, take this paste of the inside of the bread and use it to stamp the medal. Use as much care to push it into the cavities as possible. Let dry, turn over the brooch, detach the concave part, and use it to pour the sulfur, the plaster, the talc, the chalk, the wax. But if you stamp again with mastic, the bread paste, etc. you risk obtaining unrecognizable shapes.
In general, before molding, examine the brooch or the medla well: if there are a lot of cavities (little holes, in the brooch), you can be sure that the stamping probably won't succeed; the inside of the bread on its own, and mostly the gelatin, will you give you a less satisfying result.
--
the art of the moulder can not fail to be favorably received by the public at a time when the taste of the fine arts, generously widespread, has gained all the classes of society, and where the natural sciences are cultivated with ardor.
The manual of the Moulder will, therefore, notwithstanding the attraction attached to the subject which makes it the subject, a book useful to a large number of readers. The light of the author and those of M. Frederic Deniau, a well-known sculptor, who has wished to see the manuscit again, and to enrich it with his personal observations, assure us that this work will not be one of the least interesting. from our encyclopedic collection
1838 publication NOT original from lebrun… there’s even a LETTER FROM EDITOR
When was the original??? When did she pen it? What?
Several editions (of known: 1838, 1850 in encyclopedia of roret)
(Google translate)
New complete manual of the moulder in plaster, cement, clay, wax, gelatine .... follow-up of the molding and the plate of the medals (New edition, revue ... and augmented new processes of molding ...) / by Lebrun and Magnier; by Robert and Valicourt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Magnier
????????
?? ?!?!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Le_Brun
Might be this guy instead
Date of the original issue: 1917
Includes: Casting and medal cliche
This book is part of a patrimonial conservation policy of works of French literature set up with the BNF.
HACHETTE BOOK and the BNF thus propose a catalog of unavailable titles, the BNF having digitized these works and HACHETTE BOOK printing them on demand.
Some of these works reflect currents of thought characteristic of their time, but which today would be considered reprehensible.
They belong to the history of ideas in France and are likely to be of scientific or historical interest.
71/5000
new edition revised and expanded by m. -d. magnier, civil engineer
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6322584h.texteImage
Constant evolution of manuel + diff authors…
1917 ed --preface vi
the manual of the plaster moulder was originally written by M. Lebrun with so much care and so perfect a knowledge of the subject that he was received by the public with a marked favor. it is to preserve him the honorable place he occupies, that we have completed him by the molding and the plate-making of the medals, the work of the pen of another practitioner as modest as conscientious, M. F. -B. Robert, from the Jura Emulation Society.
The meaning of our editorial approach is to allow access to these works without we in any way support the content.
I am so confued the exact same text published in the encyclopedia has been attributed to m.f.b. Robert member of
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_d%27%C3%A9mulation_du_Jura
and also
Augmentée d'un grand nombre de procédés nouveaux
de l'art de faire les médailles en pierre, en verre, en
papier, en'carton, en bois etc. et d'un traité abrégé
de Galvanoplastie apptiquée aux médailles
PAR E. DE VALICOURT.
1843 version
OTHER SOURCES - SECONDARY MATERIAL
Eggert, G., H. Kutzke, and G. Wagner. “The Use of Sulphur in Hollow Ancient Gold Objects.” Journal of Archaeological Science 26, no. 8 (August 1, 1999): 1089–92. https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.1999.0403.
To check if the right consistency for chasing is achievable practically, the forming of the torsion grooves of the rings from the Josefstraße by punches was taken as an example. A smooth ring with open ends was manufactured from a gold sheet using wooden models. Filling in Së-melt yielded a much too brittle crystalline material inside. On the other hand, plastic sulphur formed in situ in the ring is much too soft and elastic for use as a cement for chasing. If the melt is heated still higher and filled into the ring, the sulphur tends to fracture after cooling like cracknel during punching. The best results were obtained when the red brown melt was slowly cooled in the air, until it became fluid again. This was filled into the gold ring, which was cooled by water. Because of the volume shrinkage on solidifying, sulphur was poured in as long as possible to prevent the formation of cavities in the interior, which would collapse during chasing. If the sulphur stands overnight, it becomes too brittle again because the S8-rings, which act as plasticizer in the polymer Sì, recrystallize. In that case the sulphur could be removed from the ring by reheating: the molten sulphur gushes out of the ring and residues burn away with a blue flame.
Sulfur chasing on objects in Roman period — mentions of methods of pouring in the sulphur given “volume of shrinkage” and “reheating” to extract the sulphur.
SCHEMATIC PLAN & SAFETY PROTOCOL
Please refer to document Min Lim Safety Protocol for more information on my intended workflow and safety plans.
PAST ANNOTATIONS/FIELD NOTES
Rozemarijn Landsman, Jonah Rowen, “Sulfur and Additives,” Annotation, Fall 2014.
Emma Le Pouésard, “Pain, Ostie, Rostie: Bread in Early Modern Europe,” Annotation, Fall 2016.
Rozemarijn Landsman, 9/11/2014, Bread Molding Reconstruction Assignment
Nina Elizondo-Garza [Bread making and bread molding], 2017
Nicole Basile[Bread making and bread molding], 2016
WORKING NOTES
https://williamrubel.com/2011/11/24/sir-hugh-plats-manuscript-an-english-bread-circa-1560/
Specifically on bread molding in the manuscript and how its been reconstructed
Stretching to see if it works? 140v
What questions will give insight into the recipe - what am i going to spend my time trying out?
Wheat flour?
Different kinds of flour? Different ingredients? Different kinds of breads?
Leave social class aside - concentrate on practical reconstruction - which ones might shrink better or distorts better
Expense? Inclusion of eggs, milk? Best impression - manchet - cake - close-textured - without leavening
Different kinds of bread?
Any insight into historical past with these different recipes?
Try out the stretching + letting it dry? Does it work?
Bread prints? Stucco to impress in mould
Lasagna method of piece molding - take a slab of bacon fat / pasta dough / clay
This is valuable because (1) prevalence of bread - vagueness in manuscript and by extension (2) vagueness of its properties/how bread is used to cast the object that needs to be clarified. Given the accessibility of bread compared to other types of casting materials, it would also be a useful window to see the types of casting/impression-making that the general populace would’ve (theoretically) been able to do (instead of being restricted to certain types of social class/income).
Preliminary questions
Was the bread used for the molding process a specific type of bread? How did it differ from bread meant for consumption? In other words, is it possible to make good-tasting/edible bread that is also useful for molding?
Does the type of bread baked change the efficacy of the mold?
Was the mold reusable, or was it meant for a one-off purpose?
Were certain objects more suited for breadmolding compared to other methods of molding/casting?
Was bread simply used due to its availability? What specific properties does bread possess that might be beneficial for the molding process?
How does he clamp up other moulds? Secure the object in place? Is the stretching and elongating just a thought experiment?
Try out range of recipes to see how moulds were formed for them - test out elongation and shrinking business
materials ? flour - organically grown flour
Fda requirements - designation of flour - particle sizes?
Lab sign-up sheet?
Bread molding - sophie
Moulding with anything - are they kept? (usually not kept) - shortcuts of a quick kind
Paragraph gesturing towards linguistic analysis?
The language of bread is connected to language of casting - 3 examples
Bread as a material? More thorough investigation of this process
Ubiquitous quotidian material - provides a qualitative language for a craftsman that translates across different traditions - bread is a great way of doing that - something everybody knows
Linguistic / material metaphor + language of crafts - appealing to diff readers?
Dont make it the whole focus
Gesture towrads sulfur - link to annotation
Different experiments i can do?
Must-do experiments + if i have time experiments
Check lab inventory - amounts important as well
---
LEBRUN ENTRY
1st edition - 1828
Litereally the only description is “member of many academies”............
1838 edition
1850 edition (expanded by D. Magnier)
336 MOULAGE EN MATIÈRES DIVERSES.
jet qui ne sont pas de dépouille. Rarement le même
moule peut donner plusieurs épreuves, mais on con-
serve l'argile, qui peut être employée à faire d'au-
très moules.
On estampe encore beaucoup avec de la cire à mo-
deler.
1917 edition (expanded by robert and de valicourt -- not much change from magnier)
On peut mouler a la mie de pain sur toutes sortes de moules, excepte sur ceux en platre non durcis a l’huile lithargiree. Mais il faut toujours qu’ils soient huiles. On n’emploie point de bandelettes pour entourer les modeles; mais si l’on veunt s’en servir, on les fera en carton assez solide pour resister a la pression laterale, et on les fixera avec du fil.
Voici comment on prepare la matiere: on prend la mie d’un pain sortant du four, ou du moins le plus frais possible. On peut y ajouter de l’alun en poudre tres fine, pour garantir cette pate des mites. On la triture bien, puis on la travaille au rouleau de patissier jusqu’a ce qu’elle soit propre au moulage, ce qui se reconnait quand elle ne tient plus au rouleau, qu’elle est devenue elastique et qu’on peut la manier avec les doigts sans qu’elle s’y attache. Cette manipulation est necessaire pour que cette pate prenne le moins de retrait possible, et qu’elle ne soit pas sujette a se fendre en sechant
On donnera a cette pate telle couleur que l’on voudra, en y ajoutani ces couleurs reduites en poudre tres fine, au fur et a mesure qu’on la travaillera, et jusqu’a ce qu’elle ait la teinte desiree, la craie rouge donnera du brun; le brun rouge, un brun plus fonce; le bleu de Prusse, du bleu; le minium, la couleur orange; le vermillion, du rouge. On augmentera ou diminuera la tiente, en melangeant une plus ou moins grande quantite de poudre colorante. Mais comme ces poudres absorbent en grande partie l’humidite ou les parties aqueuses qui se trouvent dans la mie de pain, on ajoutera, petit a petit, en la travaillant, quelque peu de dissolution de colle de Flandre, extremement legere, comme celle dont nous parlerons plus plon. On l’emploiera dans une proportion telle qu’on conserve a la pate la meme solidite et la meme elasticite qu’elle aurait si l’on n’y eut ajoute ni colle, ni poudre colorante; car si elle etait trop dure, elle prendrait mal les empreintes; et si elle etait trop molle, elle s’attacherait au modele
La pate ainsi preparee, on s’en servira de suite comme nous allons le dire, pour prendre des empreintes, soit en relief, soit en creux. Si on ne l’emploie pas de suite, en tout ou partie, on l’enveloppera d’un linge mouille, pour l’empecher de se dessecher, et quand on voudra s’en servir, on la manipulera un peu. Le modele nettoye et huile comme a l’ordinaire, on prend la quantite de pate convenable; on la travaille en la roulant entre la paume des mains jusqu’a ce qu’elle ait acquis une forme spherique d’un diametre moitie de celui du modele, et qu’il ne paraisse a la surface aucune veine ou fissure. On pose cette espece de boule sur le modele; on etend cette pate petit a petit, en pressant bien partout, a plusieurs reprises, surtout les bords, si le moule est entoure de carton, afin que l’empreinte soit bien nette. Quand on suppose avoir reussi, on place sur le modele et l’empreinte un corps uni, du poids de 500 grammes a un kilogramme, et l’on ne separe l’empreinte du moule que lorsqu’elle est seche. Sans cette simple precaution, les bords se releveraient et se fendraient, et elle prendrait une mauvaise forme. Si on n’a point mis de carton autour du moule, on y replacera l’empreinte, et avec un canif que coupe bien, on enlevera la pate qui excede le bord, puis on donnera le brilliant a l’empreinte, suivant sa couleur, comme nous l’avons indique au paragarphe II du chapitre xxv.
Cette pate devient si dure qu’on a peine a la rompre avec les mains, et que la cassure en est presque aussi brilliante que celle du verre, meme quand on n’a point employe de colle.
---
e Manuel du Mouleur en plâtre avait été rédigé
primitivement par M. LEBRUN avec tant de soin et
une connaissance si parfaite du sujet traité qu'il a
été accueilli par le public avec une faveur marquée.
C'est pour lui conserver la place honorable qu'il oc-
cupe que nous l'avons complété par le Moulage et le
Clichage des médailles, travail dû à la plume d'un autre
praticien aussi modeste que consciencieux, M.F.-B.
ROBERT, de la Société d'Emulation du Jura.
Les procédés de moulage relatifs à des objets extrê-
mement variés ne sont pas suffisants lorsqu'il s'agit
de reproduire des médailles en relief. Ces pièces sont
en général d'une grande délicatesse et d'une exécu-
tion artistique très soignée. Nous avons donc cru de-
voir consacrer à cette branche de l'art du mouleur
une partie distincte qui renferme les procédés spé
ciaux à cette industrie, pratiquée principalement par
les numismates et les collectionneurs de médailles.
--
PREFACE - manuscript of 1850, published 1887
The Plaster Moulder Manual had been written
originally by Mr. LEBRUN with such care and
such a perfect knowledge of the subject he has
was welcomed by the public with a marked favor.
It is to maintain the honorable position
cupe that we have completed it by the Molding and the
Plaque of medals, work due to the pen of another
practitioner as modest as conscientious, M.F.-B.
ROBERT, from the Jura Emulation Society.
Molding processes relating to extreme objects
are not enough when it comes to
to reproduce medals in relief. These pieces are
generally of great delicacy and
artistry very neat. We therefore thought
see devote to this branch of the art of moulder
a separate part which contains the special processes
to this industry, practiced mainly by
numismatists and collectors of medals.
--
Lebrun - membre de plusieurs academies
Lebrun’s other publication
MOULAGE A LA MIE DE PAIN.
On peut mouler à la mie de pain sur toutes sortes
de moules, excepté sur ceux en plâtre non durcis à
l'huile lithargirée. Mais il faut toujours qu'ils soient
huilés. On n'emploie point de bandelettes pour en-
tourer les modèles ; mais si l'on veut s'en servir, on
les fera en carton assez solide pour résister à la pres-
sion latérale, et on les fixera avec du fil.
Voici comme on prépare la matière : on prend la
mie d'un pain sortant du four, ou du moins le plus
frais possible. On peut y ajouter de l'alun en poudre
très fine, pour garantir cette pâte des mites. On la
triture bien, puis on la travaille au rouleau de pâtis-
sier, jusqu'à ce qu'elle soit propre au moulage, ce
qui se reconnaît quand elle ne tient plus au rouleau,
qu'elle est devenue élastique et qu'on peut la ma-
nier avec les doigts sans qu'elle s'y attache. Cette
manipulation est nécessaire pour que cette espèce de
pâte prenne le moins de retrait possible, et qu'elle
ne soit pas sujette à se fendre en séchant.
On donnera à cette pâte telle couleur que l'on vou-
dra, en y ajoutant ces couleurs réduites en poudre
très fine, au fur et à mesure qu'on la travaillera, et
jusqu'à ce qu'elle ait la teinte désirée. La craie rouge
donnera du brun ; le brun-rouge, un brun plus foncé ;
le bleu de Prusse, du bleu ; le minium, la couleur
orange, et le vermillon du rouge. On augmentera ou
diminuera la teinte, en mélangeant une plus ou
moins grande quantité de poudre colorante. Mais
comme ces poudres absorbent en grande partie l'hu-
midité ou les parties aqueuses qui se trouvent dans
la mie de pain, on ajoutera, petit à petit, en la tra-
vaillant, quelque peu de dissolution de colle de
Flandre, extrêmement légère, comme celle dont nous
parlerons plus loin. On l'emploiera dans une propor-
tion telle qu'on conserve à la pâte la même solidité
et la même élasticité qu'elle aurait si l'on n'y eût
ajouté ni colle, ni poudre colorante ; car si elle était
trop dure, elle prendrait mal les empreintes ; et si
elle était trop molle, elle s'attacherait au modèle.
La pâte ainsi préparée, on s'en servira de suite
comme nous allons le dire, pour prendre des em-
preintes, soit en relief, soit en creux. Si on ne l'em-
ploie pas de suite, en tout ou partie, on l'enveloppera
d'un linge mouillé, pour l'empêcher de se dessécher,
et quand on voudra s'en servir, on la manipulera un
peu. Le modèle nettoyé et huilé comme à l'ordinaire,
On prend la quantité de pâte convenable ; on la tra-
vaille en la roulant entre la paume des mains jus-
qu'à ce qu'elle ait acquis une forme sphérique d'un
diamètre moitié de celui du modèle, et qu'il ne pa-
raisse à la surface aucune veine ou fissure. On pose
cette espèce de boule sur le modèle ; on étend cette
Pâte petit à petit, en pressant bien partout, à plu
sieurs reprises surtout les bords, si le moule est en-
touré de carton, afin que l'empreinte soit bien nette.
Quand on suppose avoir réussi, on place sur le mo-
dèle et l'empreinte un corps uni, du poids de 500
grammes à un kilogramme, et l'on ne sépare l'em-
preinte du moule que lorsqu'elle est sèche. Sans
cette simple précaution, les bords se relèveraient ou
se fendraient, et elle prendrait une mauvaise forme.
Si on n'a point mis de carton autour du moule, on
y replacera l'empreinte, et, avec un canif qui coupe
bien, on enlèvera la pâte qui excède le bord, puis on
donnera le brillant à l'empreinte, suivant sa cou-
leur, comme nous l'avons indiqué au § 2 du chapi-
tre VIII.
Cette pâte devient si dure qu'on a peine à la rom-
pre avec les mains, et que la cassure en est presque
aussi brillante que celle du verre, même quand on
n'a point employé de colle.
--
One can mold with bread pith on all kinds of molds, except on those made of plaster that were not hardened with lithargirée [litharged?] oil (TS edit: which is a type of oil used in paints for instance that dries faster than other types of oil paints). But they must always be oiled. One does not use strips to bind models; but if one wants to use it, one will make them from carton strong enough to withstand the lateral pressure, and fix them with thread.
Here is how one prepares the material: one takes the pith of a bread as it comes out of the oven, or at least the freshest possible. One can add very fine powdered alum (ML: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum) to protect the dough from mites (TS edit: semi-liquid, semi-solid state, don’t know how to translate into English, it’s like a more-solid-than-glutinous consistency, I think?). One manipulates it well, then works it with a rolling pin until it is suitable for molding, which can be recognized when [the paste] no longer sticks to the rolling pin, has become elastic, and can be worked with the fingers without it sticking. This manipulation is necessary for this kind of dough so that it shrinks as little as possible, and does not become prone to splitting (cracking) while drying.
One gives this dough such color as one wants by adding these colours as a very fine powder, little by little as one works, and until it has the desired hue. Red chalk
yields brown; red-brown, [yields ]a darker brown; Prussian blue, blue; minium (TT: lead red) [yields] the color orange, and vermilion, red. One can increase or decrease the hue by mixing a greater or lesser amount of coloring powder. But as these powders absorb much of the humidity or the aqueous parts that are in the bread pith, one adds, little by little, while working it, some small amount of solution of Flanders glue, extremely light, like the one we will discuss later. One uses in a proportion such that on preserves in the dough the same consistency and elasticity that it would have if one had added neither glue nor coloring powder; because if it was too hard, it would not take impressions well; and if it was too soft, it would cling to the model.
The dough thus prepared, one will then use it as we are about to say, to take impressions, either in relief, or in the hollow. If one does not use it immediately, in whole or in part, one wraps in a wet cloth, to prevent it from drying out, and when one wants to use it, one manipulates it a little. Once the model is cleaned and oiled in the usual way, one takes a suitable quantity of dough; one works it by rolling it between the palms of the hands until it has acquired a spherical shape of a diameter of that of the model, and such that no veins or cracks appear on the surface. One places this kind of ball on the model; one spreads the dough little by little, pressing well everywhere, several times, especially on the edges if the mold is surrounded with carton, so that the impression is quite neat. When one supposes to have succeeded, one places on the model and the impression a solid object that weighs 500 grams to one kilogram, and one only separates the impression from the mold when it is dry. Without this simple precaution, the edges would rise or would split, and it would take a bad shape. If one has not put carton around the mold, we will put the impression back into it [the mold] again, and with a knife that cuts well, one removes the dough exceeding the edge, then one gives a gloss to the imprint, according to its color, as we indicated in paragraph 2 of chapter VIII.
This dough becomes so hard that it is difficult to break it with one’s hands, and that the break is almost as brilliant as that of glass, even when one has not used any glue.
See Emma Le Pouésard, “Pain, Ostie, Rostie: Bread in Early Modern Europe,” Annotation, Fall 2016. for historical context on bread↩
Le Pouesard, “Pain Ostie Rostie”, 10↩