[Verdigris]
Table of Contents
Date and Time: 18 Sept 2017
2017.[September].[22], [08]:[00][pm]
Location: Apartment at 121st and BroadwaySubject: Verdigris
Using the two jars provided by the Making and Knowing Team, I prepared two verdigris growing experiments. The first I prepared using vinegar. I selected red wine vinegar from a local market. I filled the jar to approximately 1/3 of its total volume and then suspended the copper over the liquid. I did this suspension by bending the copper sheet over the rope, hanging the rope accross the top of the jar, and then screwing in the top.
prepared a second jar using urine. The urine jar was initially over full, but I emptied it down to approximately 1/3 and then prepared the copper just as I had done for the vinegar jar.
Name: Carl Garris
Date and Time: 18 Sept 2017
2017.[October].[4], [08]:[00][pm]
Location: Apartment at 121st and BroadwaySubject: Verdigris
I examined the copper without opening the jars. The vinegar was producing verdigris, but the urine had not appeared to have had any effect. I suspect this difference may be the result of my urine being basic rather than acidic, as pre-modern urine seems to have been.
Name: Carl Garris
2017.[October].[13], [9]:[00][am]
Location: Making and Knowing LabSubject: Verdigris
Materials
Dental tools
Glass Plate
Muller (small)
Paint Brush (fine point)
Gesso square
The goal was to produce a blue-green paint to paint a blue square on a gesso square which would green over time. Using the vinegar-based Verdigris jar, I prepared Verdigris paint. With the help of Tilmann, I scraped the verdigris from the copper using a dental tool in large, firm strokes. I bent the copper sheet in order to better scrape it. I was surprised by how easily the majority of the verdigris came off of the copper. I aggregated the scraped verdigris onto a glass plate. I then added several drops of water (see in the entry for madder) and mulled it very carefully on a glass plate. I used a dental tool to reaggregate the verdibris in the center of the plate multiple times—it dried incredibly quickly so I moved on to mixing it with egg white after only three mullings. I used a small muller as I felt it was easier to work with a small amount of pigment than one of the large ones. I added a few drops of egg white and mixed it well with the verdigris. It produced a bluish paint which I then painted on, in two coats, to a gesso square. The finished result was a sort of blue turquoise square—it painted much better than the madder, possibly due to my better understanding of the technique, but more likely due to the pigment itself. I then left the prepared paint square, observing its changes over several weeks as it slowly greened.
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