Azurite

Name: Carl Garris
Date and Time:

2017.[October].[9], [6]:[00][pm]

Location: Dr. Smith's Apartment
Subject: Azurite
I enjoyed a meal with Jo Kirby and the Making and Knowing Team in which we devoured several pounds of mussels in order to attain shells for use in the next day’s experiment.

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Name: Carl Garris
Date and Time:

2017.[October].[10], [2]:[00][pm]

Location: Making and Knowing Lab
Subject: Azurite
I allowed the mussel shells to soak overnight in water. During the afternoon the next day, I ran water over them as I stripped out the remaining bits of flesh still attached inside the shells. I split every shell in half (discarding broken or unopen ones) and brought them to the lab.

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Name: Carl Garris
Date and Time:

2017.[October].[10], [6]:[00][pm]

Location: Making and Knowing Lab
Subject: Azurite
I took around 12 mussel shells and a clam shell for use in Azurite levigation. I selected the lowest grade Azurite, which Dr. Smith had already crushed, and pulled out shards which seemed to contain more Azurite than malachite. I had enough to fill the palm of my hand. I added it to a mortar and ground it with a pestle for around twenty minutes. It produced a fine dust. I congregated some of it into a mussel shell. I then dumped the dust onto a glass plate and added a few drops of water (see notes on red madder) before mulling it with a small muller, which I selected due to the small amount of pigment I was working with. As I mulled it on the glass plate, the blue-colored dust turned rather gray. I continued mulling it, recongregating it to the center of the plate periodically with dental implements. Once it ceased to make sounds of resistance and began to “sing,” producing a sound pleasing to the ears, I ceased mulling. I then began levigation--I filled the shell with water then allowed it to settle, so that there was a dust of azurite on the bottom with a floating film of cloudy malachite over it. I then attempted to dump off the malachite-water from the azurite, going through 10 shells in the process—it was difficult to balance between not pouring off enough liquid and accidentally losing azurite dust in the process. The process took the better part of an hour. I ended up with three grades, the best of which had barely enough pigment to fill a thimble. I therefore decided to use an oyster shell to levigate repeatedly with water without attempting to preserve individual grades. In the oyster shell, I repeatedly added water, let it settle, and then poured off the cloudy water, being careful not to lose any azurite. The cloudy water I congregated in a beaker for later use in possible further levigation. After about an hour, I finished, satisfied with the blue dust congregated in my oyster shell. I could still see bits of malachite over it, but decided it was the best I could do in the amount of time left. It was certainly a beautiful blue color compared to the green-grey I had gotten when first mixing it with water.

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Name: Carl Garris
Date and Time:

2017.[October].[23], [1]:[00][pm]

Location: Making and Knowing Lab
Subject: Azurite

I repeated the mulling process on the pigment as described above, this time washing it with water (adding additional drops of water as I mulled it). As I attempted to congregate it into a plastic container for drying, I noticed that there was still, frustratingly, a film of cloudy green over the blue azurite. I used a dropper to perform additional “levigation,” sucking up the water but leaving behind most of the azurite. I repeated this “levigation” multiple times before leaving the blue azurite in the container, ready to be turned into a paint. Tianna was skeptical of this levigation, pointing out that I would lose azurite in the process, but I figured that that was the idea of levigation—hence the multiple grades which one can produce, as each still contains some azurite. Of course, the makers in the early modern period didn’t have plastic droppers, but they certainly had some equipment more efficient than shells, as Dr. Smith concurred. I left the pigment, curious of what color paint it would produce when prepared in a later session.

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ASPECTS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN MAKING FIELD NOTES

• note time
• note (changing) conditions in the room
• note temperature of ingredients to be processed (e.g. cold from fridge, room temperature etc.)
• document materials, equipment, and processes in writing and with photographs
• notes on ingredients and equipment (where did you get them? issues of authenticity)
• note precisely the scales and temperatures you used (please indicate how you interpreted imprecise recipe instruction)
• see also our informal template for recipe reconstructions

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