Table of Contents

12/12/14, incuse reverse research
12/8/14, incuse reverse experiments & remelting sulfur-wax
12/5/14, incuse reverse experiments
12/3/14, incuse reverse experiments
12/2/14, incuse reverse experiments
11/25/14, experiment results
11/24/14, experiments
11/21/14, experiments
11/14/14, experiments
11/12/14, Sulfur experiments
11/11/14, Sulfur
11/07/14, Strategy
11/05/14, Sulfur experiments I
11/05/2014, beeswax

12/12/14, incuse reverse research

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 12/12/2014
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: incuse-reverse research


(à/en) Noyau? maybe similar to ‘opnieuw’ = reused (see end 118v)? Referring to mold material (e.g. 124r_a1, 130v_a3, 156r_a1, 169v)?


Related recipes to fol. 92r:
Same process:
fol. 83v, “Molding one part in relief and one hollow side” [Mouler de relief d’une part et creux de l’aultre]:

“It is necessary to cast two parts of very clean copper, latten or a similar metaland then when you mold the hollow impression in sand, leave themetal figure, that you have molded in the box mold, without budging it from its place. Then cast and if there is not enough thickness press a bit and force the figure down into the box mold.
(...)
When you mold, always leave your medal in one of the box molds without stirring it because if your hollow impression is not clean, it will not mold well”


Same result (hollow cast medal):
[NB - # indicates that the translation of that recipe needs checking
fol. 69r, “sand”: “I cast a medal with quite high relief in it [sand made of bull’s feet, red.], and slender, with the thickness of a knife blade or a card. And there being a hollow [creuse] on one side, the obverse, with the relief being on the other side.”

fol. 85r, “Sand Experiments”: “It came out with a quite neat relief on one side & hollow on the other [cave de l’aultre], as much the figures as the letters”

fol. 102v, “Casting” - see citation in conclusions (‘cave’ = hollow)

#fol. 130v, “Fol molding thinly” [Pour mouler tanvre]: “... once you have greased the cavity [le cave] of your first hollowed mold [moule cavé] with butter, apply the paste to it and then the upper part of the second mold.” Athough this recipe is not referring to medals (or any type of object in particular), this method can certainly be used towards that end. However, the hollow reverse of the product would not have the same level of detail as the front, depending on the qualities of the paste onto which the male half of the mold is made. See also fol. 153r, “Thickening a medal you want to mold,” and Cellini’s recipe for making Cardinal seals.

#fols. 153r-153v, “Thickening a medal you want to mould”: very interesting for use of cave and creuse in this one recipe. The former being used five times to indicate the hollow part of the mold (the negative impression in the female half), while the latter is used towards to end indicating the hollow reverse side of the medal obtained with this method: [et tu auras ta medaille aussy tanure et creuse d’un coste que tu vouldras]. This recipe, as in fol. 92v, uses the medal to make the female mold half, but rather than pressing that medal into the male half, it uses a paste (like in fol. 130v - see above) to create the cavity between the two parts of the mold, on top of which the male half of the mold is made. Then, after separating the two halves to remove the paste and joining them again, the medal can be cast and will be one-sided and hollow and as thick as your paste was. Some of these steps are not spelled out literally, but are implied and with the knowledge gained from other recipes and hands-on experience this is what we believe the method consists of. Also related to recipe in the 1629 Ms. in which the author advices to use paper instead of a paste!

Different process but same/similar terminology:
fol. 81r, “earth for molding”: “sheath maker’s earth or the one potter’s use to blanche the pots (...) is very good to cast the hollow parts of what you want in relief [a mouler les caves de ce que tu veulx faire en relief]. It releases better than plaster or sulphur(...)”

fol. 81r, “Thick paper”: “And after having moulded it into the hollow [moule dans le caue], put a clothover it, and from the back side, rub the back of your paperwith a sharp piece, as if you wanted to polish it and it will mould very neat”

fol. 91r, “Molding with cuttlefish bone”

fol. 118v, “Casting in a box mold”: this recipe uses the terms female and male to indicate which half of the box mold is being used. During the experiments with the entire group the exact method to make a medal’s impression in the molds described here seemed unclear and the suspicion rose that it may also actually be describing a method to cast a medal hollow. After careful study, however, it can be concluded that this is not the case. The author fills the female half of the box mold with sand, covering the medal (although in a note he says he first filled the mold with sand and then pressed the medal in). Than, turning this half of the box mold around so that the medal faces upwards, he draws a line on the back of the medal near the edge* [bord] that continues onto the sand - to indicate where to make the pouring mouth* [pour denoter la place pour faire le gect]. Without removing the medal, he then adds a layer of charcoal onto the still uncovered surface* [contour] of the medal and fills the male half of the box mold with sand. Only after both halves of the mold are made does he remove the medal. Thus, this would make an exact replica of the original medal, rather than a one-sided hollow cast version.
*inserted suggestions for translations


fol. 120r, “Stamped medals [medailles de stampe] made from wax”: wax hardened with rosin is used to make a hollow [cave] imprint of the design into a brass or copper (using the rosin-wax-design as a stamp?). Cave is here used to indicate the negative imprint, which can then be used as a mold, instead of referring to the hollow reverse of a final product.

fol. 124r, “Noyaulx for molding hollow”: an example of where the same terminology [creux]is used for a different process - casting with a core [l’ame].

fol. 152v, "Reworking cast things": uses creux, again for the 'cast things' rather than the mould [Les choses aussy moulées en creux sont fantasques]


#fol. 153r , “Moulding hollow seals or other things”: here various steps are described to go from a relief (positive) image in wax towards the same positive image in a material that is suitable to cast hot metals (like silver) on. The word cave is frequently used to denote the hollow or negative of intermediary steps.These seals seem to be made using only one half of a mold - resulting in a one-sided product, but one that is the flat on the back?

#fol. 156r, “Quickly moulding hollow mould and relief”: frequent use of cave - again to indicate the hollow part of the mold, rather than a final product. This recipe offers a sequence of steps going back and forth between a positive and negative impression (as in fol. 153r) of the original (in this case a medal), to finally make a hollow mold ‘en noyau’. This seems to be a process to ultimately cast a one-side, flat-backed medal in silver or gold. But the real concern is not the final product, but how to get a hollow mould after an image in relief using certain materials. Open question: why not immediately make your hollow mould using the original medal?

fol. 169v, “How to reduce a round form into a hollow [cave]”: again a sequence of steps involved moving from positive to negative etc. in various materials (see also fols. 153r and 156r). Also related to 137v. Exact results unclear, but use of cave again to indicate the hollow / negative molds or impressions made in the process.




12/8/14, incuse reverse experiments & remelting sulfur-wax

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 12/08/2014, 10:00-12:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: incuse-reverse experiments

I. Delft clay
Example of the method followed here
- two mason jar caps (with a wooden construction for alignment glued on to it) firmly packed with Delft clay
- medal pressed completely into female half
- male half pressed onto it, leaving a shallow impression to indicate placement - turned upside down, leaving medal in its place on male half
- medal pressed into male half, halfway, left in
- vents and pouring hole cut
- dusting with lamp black
- medal dusted with lamp black in water - left to dry quickly
- two halves combined, taped together to keep it in place during the pour
- in fumehood castiron ladle with tin heated & poured into hole -- seemed not to go through. Questions:
---- tin not hot enough?
---- pouring hole too small?
---- cavity too shallow?
- after cooling mold opened - turns out to have gone in after all, albeit not entirely. Good impression front and back. Small impurities, esp. on front. Due to the sand quality or the temperature of the tin or something else?
--> downside to casting from above with the mold flat is that taking the cast medal out destroys the mold - when using proper flasks with a pouring mouth between the two halves this can be prevented.

II. Sand from lancaster foundry supply, while still wet
- sand mixed with same ratio: 500 + 50 + 20
- paste made of flour + water, rolled out thinly
- bottom half flask packed with sand, medal pressed in and taken out again
- paste laid over it, pressed slightly into impression with bundle of cotton, buttered lightly. Impression does not come through - thus alignment does not seem to be important for our circular medal. Difficult to cut away the extra of the paste - hard to tell where exactly, and difficult to cut it such that it does not damage the sand or the impression. We use the circular wood part cut out of the shim used in experiment on 12/5.
- second half packed on top of bottom half with the paste-medal still in
- two parts do not come apart because the sand sticks to the buttered paste and ruins the top flask
---> not a good method for incuse-reverse because you loose the impression on the reverse. Does this depend on the type of sand and paste used?


12/5/14, incuse reverse experiments

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 12/05/2014, 9:00-12:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: incuse-reverse experiments

Pouring plan:
- charcoal? Decide to only dust the original medal with soot using a brush. Rest of mold too fragile. Used torch instead. Turns sand red hot, as if red underneath top layer; sands turns a little black, but not very.
- to close molds we use binding wire to keep them together (we have no clamps). Binding lesson Donna, demonstrating the zig and zag.
- sand in mold nr. 1 shrank a little - we cut the shim so that it covers only the sand, not the wooden flask
- top part put over bottom - sand is falling off. Not a good sand/mixture? With minimum pressure the sand seems to have broken. Not certain how disastrous this will be.
- Binding wire did not work. Not strong enough. Cuts into sand.
- Clamps bought.
- Mold nr. 1 caved in. Move on to nr. 3 (MS-method).
- clamps and cast-iron trivets for support on top and bottom. Trivets are round so we decide to put the clamps at bottom to give support during the pour.
- put down to an angle
- melt tin in cast iron ladle using the torch (Joel K.) and poured while still holding torch directed at it
- Now we wait.
- result: good thickness to medal, method seems to work. But, original medal now stuck into the tin. Due to bad sand (?) the tin found its way around and to the edges encapsulating the original. Impression front spotty (sand too coarse?) but relatively clear image.
- Donna is cutting away the 'extra' tin around the edge of the medal, to hopefully get the original out - with success.
- the back has a beautiful, sharp image and comes off clean.
- with a harder material instead of the tin, it would not have been as easy to peel off the extra parts and free the original medal, but with a better mold this may not have been necessary in the first place.

Pour nr. 2 in mold nr. 2
- Clamps again, put to angle
- Donna poured
- Result = incomplete, the tin did not fill the entire cavity. Due to sand or due to method? Impression front is similar to previous pour, impression back is not clear.


12/3/14, incuse reverse experiments

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 12/01//2014, 11:00-12:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: incuse-reverse experiments


II. MS method
1200 + 120 + 48
packing it into mold
medal pressed in deeply
Covering lower half in lamp black using a brush, to help separate the two halves. Filling second half with sand.
Separated nicely. Medal stuck to upper half = perfect. Sand pressed out into pouring mouth -in that area some of the sand from the bottom came off with the upper half.

I. Tuttle-Method
Taking both bottoms out of oven
impression seems even clearer now
put soot black onto bottoms, thinly. Looks like the sand brushes off a little. Sand too brittle? Brush too coarse? Other method? Trying to fill the impression and than blow off the soot black, hopefully leaving enough of it in to help separation? We try one (nr. 1) with this method and one (nr. 2) without any soot black.
1300 + 130 + 52
Nr. 1 -- upper half packed on top of bottom, with some soot black.
Comes off nicely.
Nr. 2 -- upper half packed, without soot black.
Also came off nicely. Difficult to tell whether it worked as well. Less detail visible, but may be because of the lack of soot black to indicate this.

Finally, cutting gates for all three moulds.

N.B. - why aren't the holes in the frame drilled all the way through? They keep being filled with the sand, which is then difficult to take out again.

Plans for Friday
Pour tin into:
1. Tuttle-method, using shim of wood
2. MS/Tuttle-method, using a 'paste' of flour and water as a shim
3. MS-method, leaving the medal in the upper half of the mold


12/2/14, incuse reverse experiments

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 12/01//2014, 10:00-11:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: incuse-reverse experiments

with muller - 7% clay, 2.5 - 3% waterfor hand mixing - 10% clay by weight - 10 lbs sand, 1 lb clay, 4% water (.4 lb water)want to shear clay onto sand
Bret Smith cell phone: 7179897402
I. Tuttle-Method 1sand is very heavy/dense; clay is more powdery, less dense - particles float, clay has stronger smell; poured sand/clay mixture into mixing bowl1000 + 100 + 40 -- try to 'shear' (not sure what that means)Nicely packable beach sand; a little loose still; Trick with making a fist - shape stays, but it also falls apart again quickly.Packing it into mold; leveling with ruler-type-thing.Medal pressen in - takes some force.Medal taken out - this half left to dry out before next step.Cut gate for pouring
Planning:- Wednesday - dry out in kiln + make second half- Friday - pour

II. Tuttle-Method 2
A little water added to the mixture because it already started to feel too dry - between 5 and 10 gr.Not enough - only one half (almost) filled.Second batch made: 700 + 70 + 28Flecks in sand, probably because not thoroughly mixed, emptied previous filled half back into bowl & added waterMixed for a bit more time, then packed into half of box mold, leveled; still flecks in sandPressed medal into sand again, this time using a long piece of wood instead of hands to get even pressure across surface; removed medal using Exacto knifeCut gate for pouring
left both to dry out in air; plan is to dry both in kiln over the next few days

11/25/14, experiment results

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/25/2014, 10:00-11:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: final experiments sulfur

Sulfur/wax mixtures poured into muffin tins were slightly difficult to remove from tin; the first three poured came out with a bit of chipping using a small prying tool. The last, which still contained chunks of unmelted sulfur powder, was brittle and came out only in pieces. The cross-section of the wax with small chunks of sulfur powder is interesting. The later we poured the mixtures of sulfur and wax, the less wax there seemed to be, and the more separate the materials seem to be; the sulfur seems to have an effect on the wax, but the when the mixture is less wax and more sulfur, the wax seems not to effect the sulfur as much.
We heated the sulfur further after very little wax was left and poured that mixture into the silicon molds; those turned out interestingly as well: the sulfur and wax is stratified in the results. The sulfur is at the bottom of the mold (the front of the impression) and the wax stayed on top (the back). The line between the sulfur and the wax is distinct, with the sulfur remaining a bright yellow and the wax a dull tan.


11/24/14, experiments

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/24/2014, 12:00-14:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: final experiments sulfur

Battery camera died over the weekend - but after sufficient material was shot with it for the timelapse. Images transferred from disc onto laptops.

Experiments sulfur:
sulfur + beeswax to see whether they separate again
make muffins, various thickness
— pure sulfur — already have an extra medal that we can use for testing
— pure wax - idem
— sulfur + wax, same ratio as before — make various thicknesses + one to remelt

1. measuring 42 gr. wax + 34.5 gr. sulfur together in one can
2. slowly melting
— they are not mixing at all, sulfur stays at bottom
3. poured into four muffins. Not enough. Third already pushing it - a lot of the still solid-looking sulfur powder went into that one to cover the entire bottom. Fourth very shallow, mostly sulfur. Remainder poured into pink mold - hardly any wax probably.

11/21/14, experiments

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/21/2014, 9:00-11:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: experiments sulfur

- setup for time-lapse recording of changing colors of sulfur experiments with mixture of sulfur and lamp black:
a. 11.5 gr. sulfur + 1 heaping spoonful of tool spoon lamp black
b. 11.5 gr. sulfur + 1 small (level) tool spoon lamp black

- both mixed as powders, then heated and melted at relatively low temperature ("2" setting on hot plate). Both solidified very quickly, with crystals forming after about ten seconds. Both were very dark and very shiny. The first trial, with nearly double the amount of lamp black, began changing color noticeably within ten minutes of pouring, solidifying. Poured extra mixtures into molds in order to photograph converse sides of "medals" as well, in which crystals are more visible. Set remote control timer to photograph both sets of mixtures every ten minutes over the weekend under light of fume hood as well as light on the side of the lab left on.

11/14/14, experiments

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/14/2014, 9:00-11:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: experiments sulfur

- great results from Wednesday’s pour: although they did not mix/make chemical binds, the result is like a milk-mixture where different substances are spread evenly. Result is less transparent than pure wax but not as bright yellow/green as pure sulfur, and it seems to be less soft than pure wax, yet less hard/brittle than sulfur. Out of all medals cast so far these seem to be the ones one would choose to work with when carving/refining a design.
- the two pours resulted in similar products but with a slightly different tone/colour. The medal that was poured second is a tad darker in color. There seems to be no

- JK: do time lapse for sulfur with pigments - make visible how the color changes when drying and how the sulfur and pigments separate again
—> figure out how, do we need remote control?
http://www.superstokedmagazine.com/article/2013/09/how-to-do-time-lapse-with-a-canon-eos-rebel-t5i-a-how-to-guide/



Today:
I. Wax + Sulfur chunks
II. Wax + sulfur powder
III. Wax + sulfur - play with ratio
IV. recreate mixture Wednesday - to later melt down again and see whether they separate
V. recreate best mixture en make muffins, various thickness, to see how substances separate and how cartable the result is (Make muffin of pure sulfur also - for comparison?)


I. Sulfur chunks passing through melted beeswax
NB: c. 30 ml beeswax = 14 grams; c. 10 ml sulfur = 11.5 gr. (note discrepancy between the two)
1. 14 gr. beeswax melting
2. sulfur 11.5 gr. chunks added
3. one medal poured almost immediately afterwards - we assume that it will be just wax
4. heat turned up; sulfur not melting, but mixture is turning a little red
5. few minutes later, when sufficiently red yet sulfur still largely in chunks, second one poured
6. remainder in can turns really dark red after sulfur melted more; we pour a third with that (looks like seal maker’s mark whisky)
7. wax with sulfur solidifies much more quick than just wax
—

II. Sulfur powder into melted wax
1. melting 14 gr. wax
2. 11.5 gr. powdered sulfur added
3. #1 poured immediately after - forms the mass on bottom, pulpy, powder together in chunks; wax became red quickly
4. #2 poured soon after, sulfur melted quickly
5. #3 poured when room for it (when #1 hardened enough to take out of mold)
6. remained also poured into rest of moulds: #4a angel above #3; #4b angel above #2; #4c harp next to #2 and #4d remaining mold in that silicone thing — the later poured the more of the reddish substance

LABELS:
- date experiment
- ingr. with approximate amounts where relevant
- no. pour

Afternoon plans:
- make ‘name tags’ to photograph medals with
- get ziplock bags
- make outline first essay
- plan incuse reverse experiments
- email joel about camera remote (need it for Tuesday)

11/12/14, Sulfur experiments

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/12/2014, 11:00-12:15
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: experiments sulfur

- our ‘sanguine’ experiment from yesterday again resulted in a product where sulfur and pigments separated

PLANS:
I. Melting both separately, than put them together
Ia. after mixing pour immediately
Ib. heat longer while put together and then pour

II. Melt wax and add powdered sulfur

III. Melt wax and add chunks/a larger piece of sulfur

IV. Just wax = control

Ratio?

Why?
- can sulfur catch fire/is it flammable
- what are eyes? Air bubbles?
- melts more easily (109r)
- they don’t seem to really mix as far as we can tell from the MS
- the ‘substance’ that sulfur supposedly adds to the wax - is this something visible?
- do we want to compare how quickly wax melts with and without sulfur being passed through? Need to then come up with a way of being more precise and timing it

EXECUTION:
I. Melting wax and sulfur separately & IV. just wax
1. melting 40 ml wax
2. melting 10 ml. sulfur (powder)
3. wax melts quickly on low heat
4. sulfur put onto heat - melts slowly, probably due to plastic lining can
5. wax melts more quickly and during the wait we decide to start pouring nr. IV - the control - a ‘medal’ of wax only.
6. 40 ml. is a lot - we decide to change ratio and amounts for experiment I to 30 ml wax to 10 ml sulfur
7. Wax put onto heat again
8. Wax hardens more slowly than sulfur (mixed with pigments or not)
9. sulfur still not melting properly; turning up heat; now it melts more quickly
10. sulfur looks reddish - plastic melting also?
11. not mixing. Oily.
12. Pours easily; rest mixture put back onto heat
— hardening slowly
—


11/11/14, Sulfur

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/11/2014, 10:00-11:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: experiments sulfur

I. Sulfur + soot black
a. 20 ml. Sulfur (plus a little extra to make up for the pouring it into the next food can)
c. sulfur melted - lining can seems okb. heat - slowly, not sure what the lining of the can might do (plastic)
d. pour into designated can + add 0.5 small tool-spoon soot black
e. swirled with back of spoon, not much time to mix because of the sulfur that crystallises almost immediately
f. result poured into mould
— poured easily
— looks much lighter than previous exp. with soot (differend ratio)
— mixed easily, but more stressful, and probably unnecessarily so for the soot black is unlikely to react with the heat
g. result, 10 min. later = green with some yellow specks. Sulfur not mixed in those places?


II. Sulfur + soot black
a. 20 ml sulfur + 0.5 stsp soot black added on top - both in designated can from the start
b. put onto heat, unmixed
c. melts slowly — seems to be due to the type of can. Beans rather than pumpkin. Thicker/different type of lining. How does this effect experiment?
d. lumps on sides
e. when (finally) pouring, not nearly enough to fill mold, not as liquidy
— darker than previous exp. - surprisingly, because ratio should have been similar (as certain as we can be with primitive tools)
— inside can may have lost its ‘shine’


III. Sulfur with sanguine
a. 10 ml. sulfur in designated beans can put onto low heat
b. 2 stsp venetian red + tip of stsp added to melted sulfur
— starts to smoke
c. mixed with spoon
— feels powdery
— much thicker than sulfur with nothing
— much darker in color than previous sanguine exp.
d. poured into mold
— crystallises quickly
— holes formed quickly - part of crystallisation?
— gas/bubbles/air seemed to have gotten in
IV. Sulfur with sanguine
a. 10 ml sulfur + 2 s red + tip black - mixed
b. mixture put onto heat
c. taken off of heat - postponed until tomorrow.

11/07/14, Strategy

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/07/2014, 9:30-11:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: experiments strategy/planning

Strategy
Weekend: try bleaching wax

Tuesday 11/11 (bring cans & scales)
- try mixing when sulfur is melted at different points
- sulfur + soot (less soot - double amount sulfur)
- sulfur + sanguine (more red, less black)
- verdigris if we have time
—> draw conclusions

Wednesday 11/12
- sulfur and beeswax
- beeswax + pigments?
- how to mix beeswax and sulfur? what does ‘passing through’ mean?
- try mixing sulfur powdered
- try putting in chunk of sulfur into melted wax and see what happens (still on heat)

Friday 11/14
- Incuse-Reverse

Tuesday 11/18
- Incuse-Reverse

Questions for Joel and PS:
- copper blue vs. verdigris
- sulphuric acid
JK: they would’ve called sulphurs acid something like ‘oil if vitriol’
- cleaning
- testing differences: JK: scratch test? test how much weight it holds
- JK: how to get a good mixture where they don’t separate during or afterwards? Try different temperatures
- buy commercial sand? PS: yes, as a control. Use Delft sand already available. Look for commercial sand without oil used as binder. If time, would be great to also use an authentic sand.

11/05/14, Sulfur experiments I

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/05/2014, 9:30-11:00
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: Sulfur

Experiments:
1 = Sulfur with Soot
1a - Sulfur ca. 10 ml. + 2 small tool-spoonfulls (tbd) store-bought furnace black (‘soot’)
1b - mixing it in pot - small amount of soot seems to have great effect (smaller particles?)
1c - heating it - low/medium heat (2) - melts really fast, 15 seconds, started smoking, when completely oily we poured
1d - one mould filled
1e - hardening/crystallizing quickly - a hole appears in the middle

2 = Sulfur with 'sanguine'
2a - Sulfur ca. 10 ml. + 2 small tool-spoonfulls of store-bought venetian red + tip of that spoon tool of soot
2b - mixing it when still dry powder -
2b - heating it in pot, same heat as above but melts a lot slower; smoking again; red colour not at all visible; black takes over - even small amount, bits of greenish oil in between
2c - pouring it - hardens almost immediately,
2d - not enough liquid to fill the mould;
2e - sticky substance stuck at bottom pot, bubbles/hilly, burning? Terrible smell, worse than other exp.
2f - extremely difficult to clean

3 = Sulfur pure
3a - just Sulphur
3b - melts and runs better

11/05/2014, beeswax

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman & Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 11/04/2014, 21:30
LOCATION: NY, NY
SUBJECT: beeswax

Wax Craft: T.W. Cowan, et al., All About Beeswax. Its history, Production, Adulteration, and Commercial Value (London: 1908)

Pliny: "Pliny calls white wax cera punica (Punic wax), and refers to its preparation and bleaching in the following words: - 'the best wax is known as Punic, or Carthaginian wax, the next best being a wax remarkably yellow in colour and permeated with the smell of honey. (...) The Punic wax is prepared in the following manner: - Yellow wax is first blanced in the open air, after which it is boiled in water from the open sea, with the addition of some nitre. The flower of the wax - or, in other words, the whitest part of it - is skimmed off with spoons, and poured into a vessel containing a little cold water. It is then again boiled in sea-water by itself; this done, the vessel is left to cool. This operation is three times repeated, and the wax is then left in the open air, exposed upon a mat of rushes, to dry in the light of the sun and moon respectively, for while the latter adds to its whiteness, the sun helps to dry it. In order, however, that the wax may not melt, it is covered with a linen cloth; thus refined, if it is boiled once more, the result is a wax of the purest whiteness. Punic wax is also considered the best for medicinal preparations'." (pp.17-18)

"Beeswax, when pure, though usually pale yellow in colour, is sometimes nearly white, and the difference in colour is due, as Dr. de Planta has pointed out, to pollen consumed by the bees. For instance, when bees are collecting polen and honey from heather, the pollen being white, the wax is also white, whereas, when collecting from sainfoin, the pollen being orange-coloured, the wax also partakes of this colour." (p. 50)

"During the process of bleaching, wax parts with 1 per cent. of carbon, and absorbs 1 per cent. of oxygen. The cerotic acid from bleached wax contains more oxygen and less carbon than obtained from unbleached wax, whereas the myricine in either remains the same. Hehner says he has 'every reason to believe that the changes due to some of the bleaching processes alter the composition of the wax more deeply than is generally supposed'." (p.51-52)

"Some of the primitive methods of separating wax from its impurities were extremely crude; even now the natives of different countries from which we obtain wax are most careless in its preparation, so that the imported article when put on the market here is not seldom full of foreign substances.
The common practice is to break up the combs and strain the honey from them, after which they are placed in a cauldron of water. As the combs generally contain pollen and brood, they are allowed to soak for a time in order to soften the pollen and cast off skins of the cocoons. A fire is then lighted under the cauldron and the mass boiled, being stirred meanwhile with a stick to cause the combs to go to pieces. When the wax is all melted that which floats on the top is ladled out on to a canvas or other strainer placed over a pan containing a little water. [...] When cool enough the refuse is squeezed with the hands to remove what wax remains, the débris being thrown away. But a good deal of pollen with small particles of rubbish passes through the strainer. In dealing with best samples the wax is re-melted in clean water and strained again. This method is a very wasteful one, it being impossible to impart sufficient pressure by squeezing to extract all the wax, consequently a good deal is thrown away with the refuse. The crude method described also frequently ends in the wax being discoloured from burning.
A better plan, that of boiling in bags, will be described later [...]" (pp.53-54)

"All wax should be carefully preserved in a case or cupboard capable of being tightly closed, and in which sulphur should be burnt from time to time. Sulphur fumes destroy the eggs and larve of the moth." (p. 56)

"For many manufacturing purposes colour is of little importance [...]. Certain industries, however, require a white wax, and bleaching is therefore necessary in order to remove all colouring matter from the commercial product." (p. 78)

- refining and bleaching wax independent trade (Hamburg 17th cent. 14 bleaching houses)

"Chemical processes, as a rule, more or less injure the wax." (p. 79)
--> bleaching done in open field
--> "cannot be carried out in towns, where the air is charged with dust and tarry soot, which clings to the wax and gives it a brown tint impossible to remove." (p.79)

Refining done by steam, "some refiners in melting wax use a small quantity of sulphuric acid, and thus facilitate the separation of certain impurities, which subside in the acidulated water." (p. 81)
Expediate process by adding tartar and borax to water (p.84)

"When a fine, white wax is required the usual way of bleaching is by means of light, the colouring matter being destroyed under the influence of the sun's rays. In practice the wax is cut into thin shavings, so as to expose as much surface as possible to the action of air and light, the latter being the principal agent in the operation." (p. 86)
- frequently turned over
- watered from time to time
- repetition process exposing different parts
--> 10-60 days depending on season, weather, color wax
"The wax is not only whitened but hardened in the bleaching process, and its melting-point raised by 1 deg. Fahr. Such wax is white and translucent and has neither taste nor smell. [...]
A common practice in bleaching is to add 1 to 5 per cent. of tallow, which makes yellow wax bleach much more rapidly. [...] universally allowed, not being considered an adulteration (...)
In lieu of tallow, 5 to 10 per cent. of essence of turpentine is sometimes employed." (p.87)