Spring 2015
Caroline Marris, Stephanie Pope, Field Notes for Varnish for Lutes
<title id="p098r_a1">Varnish for lutes</title>
<ab id="p098r_b1">They take a little turpentine and some turpentine oil, or spike lavender [oil], and some amber pulverized and very finely sieved & proceed as with that of mastic, & they add some dragon's blood to color it and turn it red. And others some terra merita [633] to turn it yellow.</ab>
What historical question are we hoping to answer? :
Ingredients/Tools:
Other notes:
PROTOCOL – 98r VARNISH FOR LUTES
Ingredients: turpentine oil, spike lavender oil, pulverized amber, dragon’s blood, (terra merita)
NEW RATIO MEASUREMENTS: 3 ounces liquid, 1.5 ounces amber, color by sight
Before varnishing with spike lavender oil, the wood must be sealed with glue. The manuscript mentions “glue de retailles” several times but has no actual glue recipes. Glue is, however, often mentioned in the same breath as liquid mastic. Mastic is a resin derived from the Pistacia lentiscus tree (‘Arabic gum’) – and is very expensive. We may use ‘gum Arabic’ instead, otherwise known as acacia gum, derived from the Senegalia senegal. Dissolve one part gum Arabic into 4 parts water.
TOTAL OF FOUR EXPERIMENTS
Relevant recipes:
Sealing glue:
<ab id="p007r_b3">Good dragon's blood[180][181] soaked in spirits produces its own mastic or glue. So do verd de vessie[182] and saffron.</ab>
<title id="p007r_a4">Fish glue or usblac and mouth glue</title>
<title id="p007r_b4a">It is made from codfish skin that has been boiled rather than salted. Joiners [183]use it on their masterpieces and guitar makers use it for their more delicate works. It needs to be strongly whipped, then soaked gently in hardly boiling water.</ab>
<title id=p085r_a2">Glue</title>
<ab id=p085r_b2">The Flemish mend their earthenware pots with or colés[486], that is to say massicot, minium and varnish. </ab>
<title id="p159r_a3">
Fish glue</title>
<ab id="p159r_b3">
Beat it very finely and thinly on a well-cleaned anvil, then dilute your glue with spirits, put the mixture on hot ashes, and on a low fire, it will melt very soon. If the glue is not strong and thick enough, add spirits in greater quantity. Do not melt it in a fatty pot, but in a new pot if possible. It melts on fire and dries very quickly on fire. When your glue sets on the work, heat it away from fire, it will stick very strongly. One reworks flowers and delicate things made from silver, gold, tin and other metal with this glue which will not spoil your work.</ab>
Varnish:
Pretty much all of folios 3-4:
<title id= "p003v_a1">To varnish</title>
<ab id="p003v_b1">Turpentine varnish does not need any glue since it is fat and viscous and does not penetrate the wood as the spike lavender [105] and sandarac varnishes would. Lavender varnish [106] does not require any glue on iron and similar materials which cannot be permeated, but on wood and on colors which do not have tempera gum or glue[107], it is necessary to lay one coat of the said glue "de retailles"[108] and allow to dry, then varnish.</ab>
<title id="p004r_a1">Aspic oil varnish[109]</title>
<ab id="p004r_b1a">One must heat lavender spike [110] oil and, as it begins to simmer, put in powdered sandarac gum so that it soon melts. And stir continuously over a charcoal fire until the sandarac is well melted, which you will know by taking a little of the said varnish on a plate and, if it is fat enough when you handle it with a finger, it is ready. And for one pound of lavender spike oil, you should put five ounces of ground sandarac. Some only put in four ounces but this is not as good, nor as fat. The former one dries promptly. To avoid the trouble of polishing their ebony, framemakers varnish it with this. So do guitarmakers. This [varnish] is not as fitting for paintings as fine turpentine varnish, good though it is for the paintings' moldings. When linseed varnish was in use, one would not commonly varnish the landscape of a painting because it would turn the landscape yellow. But with turpentine varnish one varnishes everywhere. Instead of sandarac, you can add to it pulverized mastic drop by drop[111] or otherwise, and it will dry more quickly.</ab>
<ab id="p004r_b1b">If you want to varnish plaster or a wall, first put on your glue de retaille, very hot, because if cold it would not penetrate the wall at all. And when you would have put your varnish on, it would come off.</ab>
<note id="p004r_c1">Aspic oil varnish is not as apt for colors as that of turpentine, because aspic oil eats the colors, since it is too penetrating.</note>
<title id="p004_a2">To remove varnish from an old panel painting that has yellowed and varnish it again</title>
<ab id="p004r_b2">Take some white soap and ashes strained through a sieve, and soak all together in water. And with a sponge, take some of the said ashes and soap and rub the painting with it. And when you see that the old varnish has been taken off, throw a bucket of water at the painting to clean it, then leave it for a quarter of an hour in the sun to dry and revive the colors. Once your painting is dried, you can apply your turpentine varnish.</ab>
<note id="p004r_c2">Make sure the colors do not come off.</note>
<title id="p004v_a1">Black varnish for sword guards, [metal] bands for chests, etc.</title>
<ab id="p004v_b1">Take linseed oil or, for a cheaper option, walnut oil, and rid it of fat with garlic cloves and hog's fenne[112]l (some also add bread crusts), which you will boil in it for a good fifteen minutes. Then add to one pound of the oil thus boiled a piece of black pitch the size of a walnut and as much wheat as can be cupped in two hands [113][114], without removing the garlic and onions, and allow to boil together for a good fifteen minutes. Once the pitch is well melted and the oil becomes opaque, you can remove it from the fire. Then, to varnish, place your iron over a warm charcoal fire and apply with a feather or a brush. When you see that it no longer smokes, it is done and your varnish is dry.</ab>
<note id="p004v_c1a">For an excellent black varnish, add two or three jet beads[115] to the rest.</note>
<note id="p004v_c1b">Some consider walnut oil to be better.</note>
<note id="p004v_c1c">If there is a lot of varnish, it needs to boil for at least half a day, because the more it boils, the better it is. Should the varnish boil over, it is dangerous for it to catch fire and it is difficult to extinguish. So do this in a courtyard or other open space.</note>
<note id="p004v_c1d">In five or six lbs. of oil, one must put one lb. of galipot[116], which costs 4 sols, and some peeled garlic cloves. This varnish is not black in and of itself, but turns black when exposed to fire.</note>
<note id="p004v_c1e">See below, around the 3rd part of this book, after sands, in the chapter on
furbishers.</note>
<title id="p004v_a2">Black varnish without fire, without disassembling harnesses or removing [metal] bands from chests.</title>
<ab id="p004v_b2">Take aspic oil varnish and mix it with charcoal black or lampblack and without fire, it will soak in by itself. Apply the varnish with a brush and it will soon be dry. Turpentine varnish would work quite well but it doesn't dry as quickly.</ab>
<title id="p004v_a3">Iron engraver's varnish.</title>
<ab id="p004v_b3a">Take linseed oil or walnut oil and instead of black pitch you will add some pine resin[117][118] and you must cook it like black varnish on fire. And to apply it, heat your iron and apply just one layer of varnish, and when it no longer smokes, it is dry. Then engrave with a steel point whatever you want. Then take some salt and verdigris and soak it with as much of one as of the other in very strong vinegar, and leave it for XX4[119] hours before using it, and the whole will be soaked. Then spread this liqueur or sauce on the engraved object with a sponge[120]</ab>
<ab ib="p004v_b3b">or linen cloth and leave it thus for 4xx[121] hours and it will be engraved. But if you should want to engrave it quickly, varnish all your work and boil it in the aforementioned liquor, and this will engrave it quickly.</ab>
Many other references to varnish as ingredients in other processes, or even ‘for burns’
<title id="p031r_a3">Water-resistant varnish</title>
<ab id="p031r_b3">Flanders varnish made with turpentine and its oil, or with mastic [oil], can be taken off and doesn't subsist in the rain. But that made with white nut oil, as you do it,[316][317][318] holds in the rain and is very clear and fine and dries quickly. This is why one uses it for painted standards and signs that one carries into the rain.</ab>
<ab id="p057r_b1c">
White turpentine varnish or aspic oil and turpentine one can be colored with some powdered tarre emeriti boiled together and gives a gilt color even more beautiful if it is blackened. It dries within a quarter of hour. Some aloc would made an even brighter color but it takes time to dry while the other one is dried within an hour in winter and summer. </ab>
<note id="p059v_c2"> The varnish is more beautiful on a painting when the color has been completely soaked up. </note>
<title id="p060v_a1"> Varnish which dries within an hour </title>
<ab id="p060v_b1"> White turpentine oil and turpentine and powdered and finely sieved mastic and boil them altogether whilst keeping stirring with a stick until it is dry. And add two liards of eau-de-vie and if you take the mastic larme off, it will be whiter and clearer. There is no need to put some turpentine but only some white turpentine oil and powdered mastic [...] Until it gets thick </ab>
<note id="p060v_c1"> + what you can notice when [...] put on a windy hill it doesn't run. This one is excellent for paintings and is dry within an hour, and doesn't [...] Like the turpentine one. </note>
<title id="p066r_a6"> Matte gold <title>
<ab id="p066r_b6"> Make it with massicot, ochre from ru, yellow ochren in order to [...] The next day apply apply the gold and leave to dry and rest for one day. Then scrub the gilt with a feather or cotton in order to remove the drips. Then varnish with varnish of Flandres, add some brandy to this varnish, in order to make it dry. The varnish dries within one hour, it will increase the [...] of gold. This matt gold is waterproof [...] </ab>
<note id="p066v_c5"> To make beautiful matt gold use a bit of varnish or greasy oil, not the one used for the cleaning of the brush, but the one greased in the sun or mixed with white lead. </note>
<title id="p067r_a5"> Varnish over sheets of paper </title>
<ab id="p067r_b5"> The Germans make boxes covered with painted paper and varnish them with egg white mixed with gum and a bit of oil. Do not use aspic oil, but other oils which are similar to olive oil. Egg white holds oil. This way the painters cheat poor peasants. They paint their taffeta banner with this white egg in order to hasten the work, but the first rain will remove everything. </ab>
<title id="p071v_a1">Varnish</title>
<ab id="p071v_b1">Add 4 ? of sandarac and finely pulverized mastic to a half lb of lavender spike oil. First of all, boil your oil in a pot on a stove, and then add the aforesaid gums little by little, stirring continually with a small stick split and quartered at the end. & when you cannot collect any more gum on the end, this says that it is totally melted and your varnish is done. And to make it clearer, put into the concoction a little lump of camphor, it is true that with this it will not be as quickly dry. Heed well that the lavender spike oil be quite clear and not at all fatty, otherwise your varnish will not be worth anything. You can test it, soaking some paper in it and heating it. If the oil, which will evaporate, leaves the paper clean, without a yellow mark, it is good, if not, it is fatty.</ab>
<title id="p073v_a3"> Varnish </title>
<ab id="p073v_b3"> It can be made from two ounces of aspic oil and one ounce of sandrarac. Heat a new pot, then take it off the fire. Then pour the drugs into the pot, then into a flask. Apply over the wood. </ab>
<title id="p073v_a4"> Another recipe to make varnish </title>
<ab id="p073v_b4"> It can be made from one ounce of turpentine of Venice, a quarter of ounce of petroleum oil, one ounce of sandarac and one ounce of aspic oil </ab>
Making varnish </title>
<ab id="p074r_b3"> Take one pound of linseed oil blended with bread crusts and three onions. Then pour the ingredients into a earthenware pot. Place the pot over a coal fire, and let it cook over a medium heat. It should boil for five hours. Take half an ounce of flour glue and boil it like the previous mixture. Stir with a spoon. Then add two ounces of well ground sandarac and boil the same way. Then take mastic, gum Arabic and two ounces of [...], both must be well ground. Blend all the ingredients together and boil for five hours while frequently stirring, then add two ounces of alum of [...] and boil. If you add two ounces of gum Arabic, and if you see that it is not cooked enough, cook longer over medium </ab>
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9059316c/f154.item
<ab id="p074v_b1"> heat until it is cooked enough. Filter it through a rather thick cloth, then remelt it a little. If you see it is too thick to be filtered, add a little of the aforementioned oil, the varnish will be better. </ab>
<title id="p074v_a2"> Making red varnish </title>
<ab id="p074v_b2"> Red varnish can be made from vermilion soaked in very clear gum water. Make two or three coats as previously described. </ab>
<title id="p074v_a3"> Making yellow varnish </title>
<ab id="p074v_b3"> Yellow varnish can be made from gum arabic diluted with water, together with well beaten saffron, which will make the mixture clearer. Leave to dry, then apply another layer and leave to dry as much as necessary. Then take apothecary varnish. Crush each ingredient separately, then wash your hands, and spread the varnish with the palm of your hand. </ab>
<title id="p077r_a4">Recipe for making bronze and many kind of varnishes</title>
<ab id="p077r_b4a">To make an excellent varnish with clear water which you will use with a brush and which [the varnish] dries immediately for applying to paper, a little table, or any other thing</ab>
<ab id="p077r_b4b">First, you will take five ounces of spirits and one ounce of benzoin[425][426]. Crush them between two [pieces of] paper or cards or in a mortar.</ab>
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9059316c/f160.item
<ab id="p077v_b1"> But it must not be too small or fine, then pour both ingredients into a medium flask of glass. Mix the half that is to say two ounces and a half of brandy with the aforementioned benzoin coarsely crushed, and let rest the mixture for one and half a day. Then take the aforementioned brandy and pour it into another flask of glass Pour the other half of brandy into the first flask, with the remainder of the benzoin. When you see it is good, mix the first brandy with the second one, you can use this one for nobler thing. </ab>
<title id="p077v_a2">Other approved varnishes </title>
<ab id="p077v_b2">
It can be made from two ounces of linseed oil, two ounces of petroleum oil, two ounces of the whitest possible mastic, and some rock alum. Grind them all, add a bit of white sulphate, and pour all these drugs together into a new earthenware pot, place it on hot ashes and you will see a beautiful varnish. </ab>
<title id="p077v_a3"> Other varnish </title>
<ab id="p077v_b3"> Take the same quantity of petroleum oil and aspic oil, add sulphate and melt everything on hot ashes Take the material according to the quantity you want to make. In order to apply this varnish, make 3 coats over the thing you want to varnish. </ab>
<title id="p077v_a4"> Other varnish </title>
<ab id="p077v_b4"> A beautiful varnish can be made from one ounce of aspic oil and blood of rat. </ab>
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9059316c/f161.item
<ab id="p078r_b1"> Melt this drugs all together into a new earthenware pot. When it is molten, filter the mixture through a clean cloth. </ab>
<title id="p078r_a2"> Other varnish </title>
<ab id="p078r_b2"> Take one ounce of aspic oil, heat it over coals, then take half an ounce of blood of rat coarsely ground. Then pour it into aspic oil, then blend your mixture with a stick until it is molten. Then pour it into a flask of glass. When you want to use the varnish, place it over a medium coal fire . Before applying one coat of this varnish, apply one coat of very clear glue. Apply your varnish with a brush. </ab>
<title id="p078r_a3"> Making red varnish </title>
<ab id="p078r_b3">
Red varnish can be made from vermilion soaked into gum water, and another water. Make as the other varnishes, then apply as previously described. </ab>
<title id="p079v_a1">Making varnish</title>
<ab id="p079v_b1">Take some mastic, blood of a copperhead snake[427][428], gum arabic, and aspic oil, as much of one as the other,[429] and melt them all together. Before applying your coat, lay a coat of quite clear glue and let it dry.</ab>
<title id=p085r_a1">Green varnish for copper medals</title>
<ab id=p085r_b1">After casting them neatly, cover them with glass salts, which we use for sand, and moisten it. Within three or four days they will be green. Oil them after, and place them under some manure.</ab>
<title id="p088r_a3">Varnish</title>
<ab id="p088r_b3">Turpentine oil: turpentine & good eau de vie, to dry it out; heat it without mixing on the stove, so that it mixes of its own accord in melting. After, test it on a very clean blade, & you will know from this whether it has enough body and whether it doesn't flow too much.</ab>
<title id="p096v_a3">Yellow varnish</title>
<ab id="p096v_b3">Whiten vigorously and clean the hilts well. After that, with a feather, you coat them entirely, when they are cold, with nut oil. Then, turn them over a nice charcoal fire typical of[630] the furbishers' furnace without letting them touch the charcoal or ashes. And when they stop smoking, it is done.</ab>
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10500001g/f199.image
<title id="p097r_a1">Black varnish</title>
<ab id="p097r_b1">It is explained at the beginning of the book where you can read what can be done with some galipot[631].</ab>
<title id="p097v_a1">
Mastic varnish dried in twelve hours </title>
<ab id="p097v_b1"> Some use 2 ? of mastic, half ? of turpentine and half of turpentine oil, some unlimited eau de vie since it evaporates when it is heated and make however a more desiccative varnish. But I made it like this: I use some unlimited turpentine oil and add a very few of turpentine since it remains humid and gets spoiled if we add too much of it, together with some eau de vie and heat this in an varnished ecuelle the said oil, and when it starts being quite hot, I put some mastic finely powdered and sieved until around the two third of oil and leave this heat until it is all melted, which is quick on hot ashes. When it is all melted, try some on your knife and if you see that it is too thick, add a little of turpentine oil, and if it is not enough, add some mastic. And in that way it will be done, and cover it so no dirt get into it. When you want to make some, pay attention to separate and choose the mastic white and pure of any dirt and dust and black mache[632]. And if you clean it and dry it to get it well white and neat, it will be even better, because if you don't purge it properly its dusts and marks will be also powdered into it, will stick to the varnish and when you will apply it on some white or other pink, it will seem dusted and stained. Once you choose it right, powder it in a mortar and sieve it finely and then mix it with oil as aforesaid. But if you want to make some more scrupulously, take a drop from the mastic as you know, powder, sieve and mix, and you will have something peculiar for small creations. Pay attention when you are varnishing to not breathe on it for it will make the varnish white and thick. </ab>
<note id="p097v_c1a"> It dries almost as you are working on it. </note>
<note id="p097v_c1b"> We note that this varnish is not thick enough when it doesn't hold on oil paintings as its consistence is like water. Add therefore some powdered mastic and heat it until it is ready. This varnish is very white and good and doesn't give headaches as the aspic one. </note>
<note id="p097v_c1c"> As some, instead of turpentine oil, use some spikenard oil which is not as good. </note>
<note id="p097v_c1d"> This varnish is to be applied cold on the canvas with a clean finger end and it must be quite thinly apply.
</note>
<note id="p097v_c1e">
The Italians don't varnish their paintings since they apply very thickly their paints and these take some time to be dry inside even though they look like a dry skin and crust outside. </note>
<note id="p097v_c1f"> The varnish is applied with one's finger in order to thinly apply it, for when it is thick, it turns yellow. </note>
<title id="p099v_a6">Varnish</title>
<ab id="p099v_b6">Some make the mastic varnish with two ounces of mastic and one of clear, white turpentine oil and some spirits as aforesaid; heat that on ashes until it melts and then leave it still and put it in another vessel to remove dust.</ab>
<title id="p101v_a4">Varnish</title>
<ab id="p101v_b4">The Germans boil the minium intensly in linen oil, and to make it as thick as varnish, they mix it with heavily pulverized yellow amber. </ab>
The other ingredients are all mentioned quite often. Notes on ‘dragon’s blood’ to start with:
<ab id="p007r_b3">Good dragon's blood[180][181] soaked in spirits produces its own mastic or glue. So do verd de vessie[182] and saffron.</ab>
<title id="p029v_a6"> DRAGON'S BLOOD </title>
<ab id="p029v_b1"> Have a well chosen drop of it which shows its transparent red and put it in a glass bottle with enough quantity of the best eau-de-vie possible and close it very quickly so it doesn't blow out or it will be worth nothing otherwise and leave it so for a long time, because the longer it stays, the more beautiful and better it will be and it will dissolve if it is good otherwise it will turn like some lie-de-vin. When you want to use some, make a small hole in the bottle stopper and pour some and close it again each time and apply it on gold. Good dragon's blood can be found [...] this one is no worth if it is sophisticated, and broken it shows on its edges some transparent scale as light red enamel, it is also lumpy in some points like small rubies. The eau-de-vie must be very [...] </ab>
<note id="p029v_c6a"> The darker dragon's blood is the best and the larme is the most dying one, which you can find in bits as big as pitch and big nuts which seems [symbol] </note>
<note id="p029v_c6b"> I put it in some ordinary eau-de-vie, adding some aqua fortis to give it strength. At the beginning the water turns slightly coloured, but it just looked like some tragacanth gum with which they sophisticate I think the dragon's blood. </note>
<note id="p029v_c6c"> When it is applied on gold, it is prone to break, this is why some apply on it some turpentine oil. Cold stops the water from pouring into and taking the colour off. And for that, you can hold it by the fire. </note>
<title id="p102v_a1">Painting on crystal or glass</title>
<ab id="p102v_b1">They paint without any traces of oil[667], except for faces where they outline the nose and the mouth in very fine black work. Then they make strokes and highlight them in white, and then they apply a coat of flesh-tinted color. As for the background, they do it in natural azur to make it more beautiful, or lacquer for a quickly-done red, or for a finer red, dragon's blood[668]. But it is necessary to apply it little by little so that it is smooth and of one color, and in the same way for other colors. Then they apply underneath it, a leaf of topaz, gold or silver.</ab
<title id="p165r_a5">Dragon's blood</title>
<ab id="p165r_b5">You can imitate dragon's blood with lacquer, which surpasses it in beauty, if [when] diluted in oil, you use it to ice gold or silver[1035]. Diluted with varnish, it fades.</ab>