NAME: Michelle Lee

DATE AND TIME: September 15, 2014

LOCATION: Home

SUBJECT: Assignment for September 16th


<title id=“p015r_a2”>Casting Metals</title>
<ab id=“p015r_b2”>Candlesticks and small works are cast in a box mold with sand. Having stamped the work, sprinkle it with flour in order to make the copper or latten run better. When the sand has been in use for one month, it is necessary to take some new [sand] because that which has been used, being cooked again+, dries & loses its bond. Yet it is used mixed with the new [sand], because it makes the work less porous. Large works such as artillery, bells and similar things are cast in earth, and copper cast in earth makes less crust and is whiter than when cast in sand. The earth is sandy clay mixed with horse dung and cloth waste. The earth that has been used for casting, which is black, baked and as if burnt, is mixed with artificial sand, and is very good. For softening and making the copper run, once it is melted, one throws in some lead, which does not form an alloy but is found on the surface of the cast.</ab>
<note id=“p015r_c2”>+ by the heat of molten metal</note>
<title id=“p015r_a3”>Casting gold and silver</title>
<ab id=“p015r_b3”>The sand must be made from very dry and arid material, and well-annealed because if it were humid, like founder’s sand, the gold and silver would rub off and bear damage. It is also necessary for the earth to absorb the metal because cast gold or silver become very porous. That is why it must be beaten out again, otherwise it is brittle, as seen in spoon handles.</ab>

Using sand for casting; used for both wax and gold/silver. The latter instructions call for more specific elements of the sand necessary, rather than the sand used for candlesticks. The sand itself must be well-annealed (according to definition, worked on to become more elastic/easier to work with) so that the sand does not damage the silver/gold. The term “rub off and bear damage” is interesting; does that mean that the sand itself would absorb the metal if not of the proper quality? But later on the instructions state that the earth – if it is still referring to the sand – must absorb the metals well. So what sort of phenomenon would occur if the sand were not well-annealed? Also, sand seems like material that anyone can gather for a mold but comes with certain steps to ensure that the mold comes out properly. Also, he mentions clay briefly in the beginning, so one type of mold contains a mixture of clay and sand?

p136v, brass casting

…Do not use another sand than the above mentioned to mold a core, and the mold must become red-hot, like a mold to cast gold, make a lot of vent holes.

More on sand molding; must become as hot as one would cast for gold, it would be interesting to know exactly how hot that would be. Though the instructions refer to the top of the page, I did not see anything about the type of sand necessary to mold brass. However, this seems to correlate to p015r in that casting metals in sand require more finesse and specific characteristics than other materials.

p131r-v, molded wax

Specific instructions not to use molds that cast silver and gold. Makes it sour; what is the meaning in this term? Reference to the temperature, which mentions that the same molds would boil the wax. When referring to the mixture between cerrulite and metal, is the latter referring to metal scraps left over on the mold, perhaps? Followed by the suggestion to use white wax, which won’t leave by-products. Instructions for casting the wax with sulfur and cerussite are different, the former with fire and the latter with boiling water. What could be the difference between the two techniques? Also, this last part:

You don’t need all this to mold flat representations made of wax, because the wax will be completely can be removed completely from the mold, and won’t remain inside the it.

So molds are of a one time basis? Is this assuming that metal casting requires molds to be broken? Also, flat representations vs. presumably more 3D castings, like wax can produce. How would that look like, and what does flat exactly mean? Flat also seems to assume that it does not contain a lot of material, so perhaps an indication of the amount of metal in these castings (in other words, not a lot?).

P132r, Mold made from two casts

Seems like molds can be made from plaster:
id=”p132r_c1”>If your heated mold […], shrinks because of the bad quality of the plaster, open it after the first heating, tighten it, the lute it and clamp it again.

referred to as earth at the beginning:
id=”p132r_b1”>It opens once anealed. To clean it after, fix the clamps again, lute the mold, particularly the joints. Then let the earth slowly dry.

Similar to how sand is referred to earth. Are all natural materials referred to as earth?

Followed by instructions for annealing the mold itself, called:

p132r, how to anneal the molds

No direct reference to the material of the mold, but it does caution against temperature; though you want to heat the mold and then cool it down, it must not be too hot or else it will crack.

It also notes that if you are to make cracks when heating the mold:
do mark the belly of your mold, in order to place that side at the bottom, against the burning charcoals, because if the intensity of the heat made the mold crack, it would be better that it do so on the bottom part instead of the top part.

So why would it be better? And where is the belly of a mold?

One instruction on how to repair the molds that crack:
p133r
Reapply lute and dry it but if this is for casting silver or gold [use] lute with the rest of sand which has been used because this is the best netting. If your mold is broken in refiring you can augment it with clamps and lute.</ab>

Use lute for the cracks (a clay or mud substance): a recipe for the best lute below:

<ab id=”p142v_b3”>I have yet to find a [recipe for lute] that is made more quickly than this one, nor better. Take some lean earth, [the kind] of which founders of artillery and bells use to make their trasseaulx and molds, which is lean and sandy. Soak it moderately like a very thick mortar. Mix into it about half of its quantity of horse manure and then beat it well. Afterwards mix in a third part of discarded cloth waste or cloth shavings and beat it well again. You can reheat your mold as soon as the lute is ready.</ab>

p132v common quarry sand

<ab id=”p132v_b1”>In a frame, If you cast it hot, sand will bubble; thus you have to just dry it.</ab>

<note id=”p132v_c1”>I have tried to prevent molds blended with sand from cracking when annealed, and thus not get any with flaws that crack.</note>

Author notes that he is having difficulty with molds mixed with sand cracking when annealing. Does not note that he was successful, perhaps has not found something to address this problem. What would the mold have been mixed with?

p132v crocum ferry

At first thought it was a type of clay, but this also is a type of sand that has almost magical properties. Author describes the sand as basically a miracle material. Some excerpts of the amazing properties:
You can add any quantity of crocum, your mold will not be damaged because it
is a friend of gold.
Crocum ferry does not make the mold harder, but makes it firmer. When your mold is soft and fat under your nail, it means that the crocum is good, very fine and well prepared.
id=”p132v_c2b”>You can add this sand to the molds you want to use to cast silver, because it make molds firmer, and when you scratch it, you will find it a bit rougher than the other molds not made from this sand. You mold very clean with this sand.

Description about the “friend of gold” sounds very alchemical (oo, excuse to look up alchemy and alchemic studies). Also, this tidbit that is smack inbetween:
id=”p132v_c2a”>Sand is better made with distilled vinegar.<lb/>

I wonder what kind of sand, and why vinegar?

Also:
id=”p132v_c2c”>You can use this one for all molds, because it prevents them from cracking and bursting when heated. This sand withstands several casts for molding flat medals. Sand from steel or needle filings is redder and better.</note>

again, the usefulness of crocum ferry (also, crocum in modern day terminology is listed as referring to saffron, but am not sure if that is what is being referred to here. If it is, then sand? If not, what kind of sand is crocum referring to?)
The last sentence in particular is interesting; he writes that steel and needle fillings are sand. So perhaps grinding materials into a grainy substance counts as sand? Also adds more to the materials that molds are made out of.

<title id=”p135r_a2”>Softening gold</title>

<ab id=”p135r_b2”>When you have molded an animal in the first part of the mold, do not let this part dry out before you have removed the said animal, because when the mold dries out it will shrink and it will also make the animal shrink. Keep it therefore in a damp & humid place until you have done it.</ab>

Careful/conscious of the effect of heat on the mold, and the expansion/shrinkage that happen from continued heat

p135v
<note id=”p135v_c1b”>If you wish to cast some large work, or of important [dimensions], create at the bottom or at an extremity of the forge a wind oven where you may hold your mold in the sand so red.</note>

Again, another type of sand (red sand). Also, the volume of instructions regarding gold outnumbers other materials, though other materials are also repeated in different instructions several times. Perhaps this not only reflects gold’s precious quality, but also that there are so many various ways of casting these materials that they have so many different “recipes” that lead to an assumedly successful result.

<title id=“p139v_a1”>Casting wax to mold an animal that one has not got</title>

Casting wax with a wax mold. Once again, white wax is mentioned for the mold, and it is again written that white wax is firmer and doesn’t leave much filth.

p139v


Now, concerning this mold of pulverized white plaster & reheated in the manner of the sand from the preceding recipes, you should have made it long ago because it is used many times.

Mixture of white plaster and sand for the mold
<title id=”p142v_a2”>Moulds</title>

Though there isn’t more information about the mold material itself, it offers more insight to the maintenance of the molds themselves, which meant that the craftsman had to know these maintenance procedures and had to have the resources to make syre the molds are kept in appropriate conditions. Below:

<ab id=”p142v_b2”>Make some notches in [the molds] that enter more into the inside of the mold than the outside because in this way, they have more strength. Take care to keep from reheating them suddenly in a burning hot fire, because this will make them break.</ab>

<note id=”p142v_c2a”>It is not at all necessary to reheat the molds two times when the animal can pull away without burning, as do toads, which can very well be molded hollow like all thick animals. However, it is always good to redden the mold once.</note>

<note id=”p142v_c2b”>Do not keep [molds] in a humid place, nor an enclosed [place] if they are not well dry, because they will mold. The same with dried animals.</note>

<note id=”p142v_c2c”>Reheat your molds with lighted charcoal first in the forge so that the fire is not too hot and does not break the molds. And do not heat it too much where the mold is tenuous, like at the place where it is thick.</note>

Conclusions:

There are certainly molding materials that are better for certain casting materials, such as the specific sorts of sand to use, or the crocum ferry sand. Also, the quality of the mold material seems to correlate with the casting material value. However, since most of the molding materials called for were of sand or a certain variety of sand, I am not sure specifically of a concrete hierarchy. As for the sorts of meanings and values a 16th century caster is placing with molding materials: definitely alchemical thought, in terms of what materials “fit” with each other, and references to gold (as noted above). What seems to be of importance is the harmony of the materials that are being used for the mold, as well as how well the craftsman can manipulate the materials at hand. Though there are instructions as to how to deal with cracking molds, repairs, etc., it is fairly clear that it is a learning process that most craftsmen have their own methods of dealing with. Also, that this is somewhat of an individual experience, since there could be several different solutions.

NAME: Michelle Lee

DATE AND TIME: September 17, 2014

LOCATION: Home

SUBJECT: Some Research for Bread Molding


Discussion in class about what sort of bread to use, and the matter that little actual bread recipes are difficult to find because of its utter common-ness, directed me to take a look at some bread recipes myself. It does seem like it is one of the most important aspects of the bread molding in general, above all because the mold itself is what is doing the casting. Besides, the instructions are extremely simple for bread molds:

<ab id=“p140v_b1”>

To make a clean cast in sulfur, arrange the pith of some bread under the brazier, as you know how to do. Mold whatever you want & leave it to dry & you will have a very clean work.</ab>

<ab id=“p140v_b2”>

Mold it with the pith of the bread just out of the oven, or like that aforementioned, & and in drying out it will diminish & by consequence so too the medal that you have cast. You can, in this way, in lengthening out or enlarging the imprinted bread, vary the figure & from one face make several quite different ones. The bread straight from the oven is best. And that which has been reheated twice shrinks more. You can cast sulfur without letting the imprint on the bread dry, if you want to cast it as large as it is. But, if you want to let it diminish, let it dry either more or less.</ab>

From reading other molding instructions, it really does seem like the bread molding is the most elementary out of all the other sorts of molds out there, with low risk, low cost, and the most efficiency. Also, it is an accessible way of molding, since bread was an absolutely essential basic

However, from reading this recipe, it really does seem like the bread needs to be like the ordinary bread that everyone eats. I know some classmates made bread just from flour and water; however, it seems like the instructions expect the bread to be something readily available, and baking specially made bread (no matter how elementary) for the molds seems more unlikely, since no one would eat bread that was just flour and water. I assume the bread would be edible, since it would be taken out of the readily made supply of bread that is already made, or maybe a little extra if there is any.

Diana, Yijun and I will be meeting tomorrow to make the bread, and we have starter – thanks to Diana for reaching out to the bakery owner of Silver Moon (around the 15th?), and for making some starter as well (though it seems like it won’t be completely ready by tomorrow, though we could maybe use it in time for Tuesday?). The link for the starter recipe she used is http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337.

To find some bread recipes, I took a look through several websites until I decided to go onto the diy history website from the University of Iowa. I found the transcribing project to be a godsend, since I am quite terrible at paleography. I wanted to try and match up recipes to the same century as our manuscript, but alas, there were none earlier than the mid 17th century.

I went ahead and took a look at Robert Godfrey receipts, 1665-1799 and English recipe and housebook, 1689-1732. However, the latter was not fully transcribed and had only a few pages up, so there was nothing I could report for the field notes here. The Robert Godfrey manuscript had more material.

Robert Godfrey receipts, 1665-1799
There was a recipe for an excellent cheese, which I thought was a fairly basic recipe, on page 13. on page 15, there is the following (as of yet unconfirmed transcription) recipe for biskett:
To make Biskett; 15 Take a peck of flower, take a pound of Butter & break it in cold one quarter of a pound of [Annyseeds?] 1 ounce of Caraway seeds & a little cloues & mace & a quarter of a pound of suger a quart of good Ale yest theis are all to be beaten upp with cold water very stiffe & thouroughly kneaded then take the quantity of an Egg of the paste for euery Biskett then mould them too & fro & flower them a little & [driue?] them flatt two & two together to be very thinn then prick them on both sides as they lie double very well then take them asunder & fling them into the ouen letting the side you prick them on be next the ouen ye. best seasoned ouen for hem wilbe presently after manchett is drawne or yf you heat an ouen purposely then you must heat it reasonable hott & lett it stand till it is come to the same temper as when manchet is drawn, this proportion will make at least 6 douzen;
(just an interesting tidbit: a recipe for jumballs is on page 16 and it doesn’t require dried egg yolks)
And on page 25, a recipe for cake bunns:
To make Cake Bunns
Take a quart of fine flower twice scarsed 8 spoonfuls of ale jest 6 spoonfuls of new milk luke warme then strew the yest & milk into your flower & put in a little salt then work youre paste as stiffe as you can work it then wrap it up in a warme cloth & let it lye a quarter of an houre by the fire when you see it light & tender take it upp and work it as stiffe with flower as it was before then work in it half a pound of Butter until you find it very tender under your hand & whilst your oven is a sweepinge work in some Caraway comfits then make them up in Little Rowles & cut them on both sides puting them on flowered papers & pricking them on the top. Clean through & let not your oven be to hott.
FINALLY hit what seems to be an actual bread recipe, specifically for French bread! Here, on page 33:
To make French Bread. Take a quantity of the finest flower you can gett and mingle it with milk and water of equall quantity and double the quantity of yest wch is used to be put in other manchett and mingle it so stiffer then you use to mingle it for a puddinge it must be laid in dry flower the space of 6 houres where it may be kept warme the oven must be hotter then for other manches then rowle it up in flower and put it in little dishes then put it quickly out of the dishes uppon the peele and put it in the oven quick it must stand 3 quarters of an houre it will rase best when it is hott yff hee puts salt in the bread it wilbe the heavier.
(a note about this manuscript; a lot of perfume recipes almost randomly disbursed throughout, which is filled with baking recipes otherwise. Thinking about why fragrance and baking were combined together, without as much thought to organization)
Maybe useful? Pg. 48
To Make A Breakfast Cake Take a quarter of a peck of fine flower wett it with a pint of cold cream 6 spoonfull of good east and eggs into the flower mead it as stiff as white bread and sett it before ye ffire to rise after that work one pound of Carraway Comfits together one pound of sweet melted butter betwixt your hands into your paste and make and make it up into a light cake and strew a few carraway comfits of the top of it putt a few sweet meats in it if you please.

I still do get the sense that all the recipes, even the French bread one, are not for daily occasions, or at the most on a semi-daily basis.

September 18, 2014

Diana Mellon, Michelle Lee, Yijun Wang
Bread Molding Recipe, bread-making