Annotation Plans
Fall 2016
Making & Knowing

Partners: Isabella Lores-Chavez and Charles Kang

Annotation 1: Imitating raw nature
[Plans for our other annotation, on wax, can be found here]

Table of Contents

Primary Recipes of Interest
Preliminary Outline
1. Areas of focus for annotation
2. Materials
3. Manuscript research
4. Historical research
5. Object research
Reconstruction Field Notes
Dyeing Yarn
Subject: Preparing wool and pigments for dyeing
Subject: Dyeing wool
Planing and Sawing Horn
Subject: Planing horn
Subject: Sawing horn
Painting Horn (Medium: Linseed Oil)
Subject: Painting horn sheets (oil)
Painting Horn (Medium: Spike Lavender Varnish)
Subject: Painting horn sheets (varnish)
Scratching, "Gilding," and Oiling Painted Horn
Subject: Scratching, gilding, and oiling horn (oil paint samples)
Subject: Scratching, gilding, and oiling horn (varnish samples)

Primary Recipes of Interest


Transcription
<id>p010r_1</id>
<head><m>Jaspe</m> contrefaict</head>

<ab>Ayes de la <m>corne</m> dequoy on faict les lanternes bien deliée &amp; dessoubs<lb/>
fais la figure de ton <m>jaspe</m>, de <m>cornalines</m> &amp; aultres <m>pierres</m>,<lb/>
qui sera ouvrage plus propre que dessus le <m>verre</m> qui est trop luisant.<lb/>
Et la <m>corne</m> represente un lustre &amp; polyment gras co{mm}e le <m>jaspe</m>.</ab>

<ab>Tu sçais co{mm}e avecq la raclure de ladicte <m>corne</m> les <m><pa>rose</pa></m>s se peuvent<lb/>
imiter. Les <del>corne</del> couleurs pour ce <m>jaspe</m> veulent avoyr fonds avecq<lb/>
la <m>tourmentine claire</m> ou vernis d<m>aspic</m>. <add>Et les couleurs mattes en corps<lb/>
ni sont pas si propres, combien qu'elle soiect fort belles.</add><add>Il fault<lb/>
<m>huiler</m> d'<m>huile d'aspic</m> le revers non painct.</add></ab>

<ab><margin>top</margin>
Le <m>verre</m> tanvre pour cest effect est fort beau.</ab>

<ab><margin>left-top</margin>
Tu en peulx incruster<lb/>
des licts &amp; y peulx<lb/>
sur les joinctures<lb/>
jecter de la <m>limaille<lb/>
de talc</m> ou d'<m>espingle</m><lb/>
sur le <m>ciment</m><lb/>
frais desdictes joinctures. Il les<lb/>
fault joindre<lb/>
avecq de la <m>gomme<lb/>
armoniac</m><lb/>
destrempée en<lb/>
<m>vinaigre</m>. Pour<lb/>
mieulx contrefaire<lb/>
<m>jaspe</m> grumeleux,<lb/>
aplique des <m>laines<lb/>
a gros poil</m> tainctes<lb/>
de diverses couleurs<lb/>
&amp; entresmeslées.<lb/>
Aprés que tu as<lb/>
couche toutes les<lb/>
couleurs, esgratigne<lb/>
sur icelles des<lb/>
lignes obliques,<lb/>
puys couche<lb/>
de l'<m>or</m> &amp;<m>argent</m><lb/>
en foeille.<lb/>
Si tu couches<lb/>
sur la <m>corne</m><lb/>
des couleurs de <m>tourmentine</m>,<lb/>
donnes y un<lb/>
fonds d'<m>argent</m><lb/>
ou de <m>foeille</m><lb/>
d'<m>estaing</m>. Tu peulx<lb/>
aussy limer<lb/>
de la <m>corne</m> &amp; la<lb/>
mesler avecq <m>colle<lb/>
forte</m>, &amp; la coucher<lb/>
sur les joinctures<lb/>
de la piece de<lb/>
<m>corne</m>, puys lunir<lb/>
avecq le <tl>rabot</tl>.</ab>

Translation
<id>p010r_1</id>
<head>Imitation <m>jasper</m></head>

<ab>Take <m>horn</m> as is used to make lanterns, quite thin, and underneath imitate your <m>jasper</m>, <m>cornaline</m>, and other <m>stones</m>. That will look more appropriate than doing it on glass, which is too shiny. And the <m>horn</m> gives a lustre and a fatty polish similar to <m>jasper</m>.</ab>

<ab>You know how you can imitate <m><pa>rose</pa></m>s with scrapings of the said <m>horn</m>. The colors for this <m>jasper</m> need to have as a base clear <m>turpentine</m> or <m>spike lavender</m> varnish. And matte, opaque colours are not appropriate, no matter how fine they are. You have to <m>oil</m> the unpainted underside with <m>spike lavender oil</m>.</ab>

<ab><margin>top</margin>
Thin <m>glass</m> looks very fine for this effect</ab>

<ab><margin>left-top</margin>
You can inlay beds with it, and on the joints you can throw <m>talc</m> or <m>metal filings</m> on the fresh cement of the said joints. You have to bond them with <m>gum amoniacum</m> soaked in <m>vinegar</m>. To better imitate <m>marbled jasper</m>, apply heavy <m>yarn</m> dyed various colors and intermingled. After applying all the colors, scrape oblique lines into them then apply <m>gold</m> and <m>silver</m> leaves. If you apply colors made of <m>turpentine</m> on the <m>horn</m>, give it a backing of <m>silver</m> or of <m>tin</m> leaf<m>.</m> You can also file <m>horn</m> and mix it with strong <m>glue</m> and apply it to the joints of the <m>horn</m> piece and finish with a <tl>joiner's plane</tl>.</ab>

Transcription
<id>p076r_1</id>
<head>Pour faire <m>boys</m> verd</head>

<ab>

Fault prandre une carte de <m>vinaigre blanc</m> & une once<lb/>
de <m>verd</m> & une once d’<m>alun de glace</m>, tout meslé ensemble et<lb/>
metrés vos matieres en ung pot <m>plombé</m> dessus le foeu sans<lb/>
prandre air, & puys mectre le pot en ung <m>fumier</m> l’espace de<lb/>
quinze jours, et quand il sera hors vous ferés bouillir vos<lb/>
matieres l’espace de trois heures.</ab>

</div>

<div>
<id>p076r_2</id>
<head>Pour faire <m>boys</m> rouge</head>

<ab>

Prenés une carte d’<m>urine vieilhe</m> et trois onces de <m>garan<corr>c</corr>e</m><lb/>
& une once d’<m>alung de glace</m>, et metrés le tout dans v{ost}re pot,<lb/>
& faictes comme du verd.</ab>

Translation
<id>p076r_1</id>
<head>Making <m>Wood</m> Green</head>

<ab>
Take one quart of <m>white vinegar</m>, one ounce of green, and one ounce of <m>rock alum</m>. Mix them together and pour all your ingredients into a <m>leaded</m> pot over fire without taking any air. Then put your pot in <m>manure</m> for 15 days, after which time remove and boil your materials for three hours.</ab>
</div>

<div>
<id>p076r_2</id>
<head>Making <m>Wood</m> Red</head>

<ab>
Take one quart of <m>old urine</m>, three ounces of <m>madder</m>, and one ounce of <m>rock alum</m>, put all of the ingredients into your pot. Then follow the previously described green technique.</ab>

Potentially Relevant Recipes

Preliminary Outline


1. Areas of focus for annotation


The main focus of this annotation will be to investigate the various ways the author-practitioner articulates the imitation of raw natural materials and provides guidelines for mimetically reproducing and staging a manmade double for a natural object or material.

a. This annotation will focus on reproducing natural materials that were prized by early modern collectors, thinkers, and artists in their natural form (with little to no human intervention or transformation of the material). The annotation will pivot around the recipe for Imitation Jasper as the primary case study around which discussions of 1) the terms used for imitating nature and 2) the function of imitated raw materials will arise.
To limit the scope, this annotation will not go into imitation gems (investigated thoroughly in previous lab seminars) or life-casts (also previously researched in good measure).

b. Of interest will be the actual techniques for reproduction; the strategies for presentation and display that could augment the verisimilitude of the reproduced material; and the approaches towards understanding the original material in the process of reproducing it.

c. The most important kinds of terms to look for within the manuscript are those associated with the idea of the natural or the mirror of the natural. Descriptions of lifelikeness or proximity to "the natural" will be closely considered when referring to products that could mimetically stand in for an unworked or raw natural material/object.

d. Historical question(s): how were imitations of natural materials produced in early modern Europe? What constituted a “convincing” imitation of a "raw" material? What was the status of imitations of natural materials within collections of objects, and within epistemological projects in general?

2. Materials


a. For this annotation, the primary area of research will be the language used to describe mimetic imitations of nature, and the materials or objects from nature that were considered available for imitating or counterfeiting.

b. We will reconstruct the manuscript's recipe for Imitation Jasper, which was previously begun but not completed. Meanwhile, some of the products in question, associated with some of the recipes in the manuscript, have already been recreated in previous lab seminars. This annotation will draw upon insights from previous reconstructions in the lab.

c. Where is jasper found in the modern world and how is it used? How are raw natural materials displayed in modern "collections"?

d. Safety and workflow for Imitation Jasper:

3. Manuscript research


a. There are several recipes relevant to the question of imitating or staging life. So far, they may be broadly entered into two categories: 1) recommendations for creating a “lifelike” painting or portrait, and 2) instructions for transforming a material, through the addition of some kind of color, into a material found in nature, or at least conceivably found in nature (such as the wood of several colors).

b. Relation of the recipes to one another will primarily be based on 1) how the terms relating to lifelikeness are used in each recipe, and 2) the natural material selected for imitation.

4. Historical research


a. Recipe genealogy:

b. Of primary interest will be sources contemporaneous to the manuscript where issues of verisimilitude and lifelikeness appear in relation to manufactured objects meant to look like raw natural materials. We will search these contemporaneous sources for uses of the terms that appear in the manuscript to describe the lifelike or the imitation of natural materials, and compare usages.

c. Historical background: secondary sources.

Previous annotations:
"Imitation Jasper" by Ana Estrades
"Imitation Coral" by Alessandra Chessa
"Casting a Rose" by Giulia Chiostrini
"Too Thin Things" by Shiye Fu and Zhiqi Zhang

FROM PHS: David McClure annotation on dyeing wood here
For material mimesis, see Kremnitzer and Shah annotations on imitation gems

5. Object research


a. Comparative material in paintings? (Still life, primarily, as well as representations of kunstkammern and princely collections)

b. Museum objects, either themselves an imitation of some sort or with an imitation incorporated.

Reconstruction Field Notes

Dyeing Yarn


Name: Isabella Lores-Chavez and Naomi Rosenkranz
Date and Time:
2016.11.18, 12:30 pm
Location: Lab

Subject: Preparing wool and pigments for dyeing


The recipe for Imitation Jasper (10r) mentions using "gros laines a gros poil tainctes de diverses couleurs" to create a better imitation of jasper using painted bovine horn. To try this part of the recipe, we decided to dye sheep's wool with two different pigments. Consulting Jo Kirby's experiments on dyeing textiles, we determined that given our time constraints, we could most feasibly use madder (to dye yarn red) and weld (to dye yarn yellow), both organic pigments which we already had in the lab.

Because the sheets of horn we would work with for the Imitation Jasper reconstruction were not very large, we determined we would not need much yarn for our attempts to lay it onto the horn. We measured out about a fistful of wool (100% undyed sheep's wool) to have plenty to work with (more than what we anticipated using in the reconstruction). This turned out to be 6.2 grams of wool. Because we would be primarily working with red paint for the reconstruction (with the intention of imitating the abundant, naturally-occurring red jasper), we decided to make more red yarn than yellow ran. We made two bundles of wood: one 4 g bundle to dye red and one 2.2 g bundle to dye yellow.

We made a conversion table to track the ratios we would need of wool to water to potash alum, the mordant we decided to use to prepare the yarn for dyeing. We already had alum in the lab, and according to Kirby, potash alum was a common mordant in the medieval and the early modern period. It is also the kind of mordant that doesn't significantly alter the color of the pigment, and it ensures a relatively lightfast dye to the textile.

For the process of soaking the wool in the mordant bath, we used:

20161118_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Dyeing Yarn_004

First, we made a solution of 1.2 g of potash alum in 310 mL of water in a beaker. We heated the solution on a hot plate until it hit 40 degrees Celsius (until the salt had dissolved). Then we added the 6.2 g of wool and heated the mordant bath to 90 degrees Celsius for one hour, closely monitoring the temperature the entire time to keep it at 90 degrees Celsius.

20161118_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Dyeing Yarn_001

After an hour, we took the wool out of the mordant bath. We rinsed it very carefully first with lukewarm water (a combination of water heated in a water boiler and cold water from the tap), and then with cold water from the tap. To avoid causing the wool to felt, which happens as a result of thermal shock, we placed the wool bundles in a colander in a bowl and poured water into the bowl along the periphery of the bowl, allowing water to rise slowly into the colander and avoiding putting the wool in direct contact with the poured water. We did a total of six rinses for both wool bundles. We then put the two bundles together in a mason jar with distilled water, to keep them wet until we were ready to put them in dye baths.

Following Jo Kirby's recipes, we prepared the pigments to be used for the dye baths. We put 8 grams of ground madder onto a piece of polyester netting and tied it up to create a small bag, like a tea bag, to drop into the dye bath for red dye. For yellow dye, we picked out small pieces of weld and measured a total of 2.2 grams of weld, gathered in a piece of polyester netting which we then also tied into a bag. We measured out 400 mL of distilled water for the madder and 220 mL of distilled water for the weld into two separate jars. We then dropped each polyester netting bag of pigment into its respective jar, to allow each pigment to soak in the water overnight.

20161118_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Dyeing Yarn_00320161118_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Dyeing Yarn_007

Name: Isabella Lores-Chavez and Charles Kang
Date and Time:
2016.11.21, 1:00 pm
Location: Lab

Subject: Dyeing wool


With the mordanted bundles of wood ready for dyeing, we prepared our two dye baths. We transferred our polyester netting bags soaking in water from the jars in which we'd left them to 500 mL beakers. We put each beaker on a hot plate, with each polyester bag still in the red and yellow solutions respectively. We then heated each solution to 37 degrees Celsius and let the dye extract at that temperature for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, we removed each polyester netting bag, wringing each out to allow all excess liquid to drop back into each beaker. We then raised the temperature to 70 degrees Celsius.
20161121_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Dyeing Yarn_00220161121_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Dyeing Yarn_005

With the solution at 70 degrees Celsius, we added the bundles of wool to each beaker: the 4 g bundle to the madder dye bath and the 2.2 g bundle to the weld dye bath. We dyed the wool for 30 minutes at about 70 degrees Celsius, closely monitoring and maintaining the temperature as much as possible and stirring the solution occasionally.

20161121_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Dyeing Yarn_007161121_Kang-Lores-Chavez_Dyeing Yarn_006

After 30 minutes, we removed the beakers from the hot plates. We then washed each bundle of dyed wool using the same technique we used after the mordant bath, to avoid causing the wool to felt. We rinsed each bundle of dyed wool until the wash came out clear. Both bundles of yarn came out of the dye baths very brightly colored, in a much more vibrant red and yellow than we could have ever expected!

161121_Kang-Lores-Chavez_Dyeing Yarn_008161121_Kang-Lores-Chavez_Dyeing Yarn_009161121_Kang-Lores-Chavez_Dyeing Yarn_010

We set each bundle to dry on paper towels on two ceramic plates.
161121_Kang-Lores-Chavez_Dyeing Yarn_011161121_Kang-Lores-Chavez_Dyeing Yarn_012

Planing and Sawing Horn


Name: Isabella Lores-Chavez and Donna Bilak
Date and Time:
2016.11.30, 1:30 pm
Location: MakerSpace, Columbia University

Subject: Planing horn


Using a carpenter's workbench at the MakerSpace at Columbia University, we secured our sheet of horn (about 5 x 11 cm, and about 5 mm thick) tightly between two metal pegs. We then used a small planer to shave off layers of the horn, little by little, to make it thinner. The planer was at times difficult to use, as the blade of the planer didn't always catch the surface of the horn. Sometimes, on the other hand, it shaved off large scrapings at once. It took real physical effort to move the plane over and over across the surface of the horn to shave the surface as evenly as possible.

20161130_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_01020161130_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_007

Once we had the horn evenly at about the thickness we wanted (about 3 mm thick), we used two different kinds of sandpaper (rough and fine) to smooth down the horn, as there some places where the surface was raised but not fully cut by the blade of the planer. We bent each piece of sandpaper around two or three fingers and then, with a circular rubbing action, we sanded down the surface of the horn. We could also use the sandpaper to thin the horn further in a few places where it was of an uneven thickness. Over the course of an hour total, we brought it down to about half the thickness we started with.

Name: Isabella Lores-Chavez, Charles Kang, and Donna Bilak
Date and Time:
2016.12.01, 3:15 pm
Location: Lab

Subject: Sawing horn


With the horn down to the thickness we wanted, we needed to cut it into several pieces in order to have multiple sheets of horn on which to test the various recommendations for imitating jasper in fol. 10r. We decided to use a jeweler's saw in the lab to accomplish this. First, we used a ruler to measure the sheet of horn, which was about 11 cm long. We used a ruler to measure out the places where we would cut, to end up with five sheets of horn (each about 2.2 cm long). With a nail and the ruler, we marked a straight line across the surface of the horn at wherever we intended to cut it, to have a guiding line as we used the saw. We then set up our work station, with a peg firmly attached to the countertop, and a jeweler's saw ready to be fitted with a blade.

20161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_00120161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_002

We fitted the jeweler's saw with a blade with relatively fine teeth, as we anticipated that the horn would not be extremely difficult to cut through, and given how thin we had gotten it to be after planing. We then used the saw to cut straight across the large sheet of horn, a total of four times, to end up with five sheets of horn to use for our reconstruction. We used a large file to smooth out the cut edges of each rectangular sheet of horn.

161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_ImitationJasper - 3161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_ImitationJasper - 6


Painting Horn (Medium: Linseed Oil)


Name: Isabella Lores-Chavez and Charles Kang
Date and Time:
2016.12.1, 4:00 pm
Location: Lab

Subject: Painting horn sheets (oil)


We set up our station on a clear countertop in the lab. For mixing paint, we used two glass plates, two glass mullers, and two palette knives. For our pigments, we used ground verdigris (made 1.25.16, from 7% red wine vinegar) and madder (made by us in the lab in October). For this first trial of the actual reconstruction of the basic Imitation Jasper recipe, we used three of our rectangular sheets of horn and linseed oil (administered with a plastic dropper). To test the part of the recipe that suggests applying yarn to the painted horn, we cut three threads of red yarn (about 5 cm long) to have ready to press onto the horn sheets.

First, we ground the verdigris to a finer powder using a porcelain mortar and pestle.

161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_ImitationJasper - 1220161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_009

Then, on one glass plate, we mixed the ground verdigris with about 5 drops of linseed oil. We then used the muller and palette knife to grind the pigment well into the oil, to achieve a smooth green glaze. Using an oil brush, we painted one entire side of one rectangular sheet of horn. [make a note about the texture/imperfections of the horn; also about the handling of the oil paint]

161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_ImitationJasper - 13161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_ImitationJasper - 14161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_ImitationJasper - 1620161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_019

When one side of the horn sheet was completely painted, we pressed one thread of red yarn onto the horn, testing to see whether it would stick. As we suspected, the yarn did not stick to the horn, at all. We tried a few variations on "applying" the yarn: we dipped it into the red paint and then dragged it across the surface of one half of the sheet, and we dipped it in paint and dabbed it onto the surface. None of the alternatives seemed to "marble" the painted surface; at times, frustratingly, the yarn merely removed much of the paint layer that we had just applied. We had to reapply the paint sometimes in order to have enough color on the surface of the horn to test the effects of the yarn.

161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_ImitationJasper - 1720161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_02820161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_02920161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_032

Next, we ground madder in a mortar and pestle. Then, on the other glass plate, we mixed ground madder with about 6 drops of linseed oil. We used the muller and palette knife to grind the pigment well into the oil, to achieve a smooth red glaze. Then, using an oil brush, we painted one entire side of a second rectangular sheet of horn.

20161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_03620161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_04120161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_04320161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_04420161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_04520161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_047

With this painted sheet of horn, we again tried pressing one thread of red yarn onto the horn to see if it might stick. As with our attempt on the horn sheet painted green, the yarn did not stick. We tried the same variations on this sheet of horn as we had on the previous one, including dipping the yarn in paint and dragging it across the surface or dabbing it against the horn. We attempted these variations only on one half of the sheet, to preserve one half merely painted as a point of comparison.

Finally, on the third sheet of horn, we used both oil brushes to paint alternating diagonal lines of red and green on one entire side of the sheet.

20161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_04820161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_051

Given that we knew from the previous two experiments that the yarn was unlikely to stick, we moved straight to trying the dragging method, dipping the red yarn (in a kind of mini mop shape) into the green paint and dragging it across one half of the horn. We didn't see a very interesting patterning effect from this technique, so we repainted that half of the horn (again, in alternating diagonal strokes of red and green). Then we dipped one end of one thread of yarn into the green paint and dragged the single strand across the surface of half of the sheet of horn, to attempt yet another technique of "applying" to the horn the yarn "tainted" with color.

20161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_05020161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_053

We set all three sheets of horn to dry on a ceramic plate in one of the fume hoods in the lab.

20161201_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_055

Painting Horn (Medium: Spike Lavender Varnish)


Name: Isabella Lores-Chavez, Naomi Rosenkranz, and Pamela Smith
Date and Time:
2016.12.8, 3:30 pm
Location: Lab

Subject: Painting horn sheets (varnish)


To paint our remaining two sheets of horn with spike lavender varnish, we set up station in the fume hood. We worked on newspaper, to avoid getting the varnish on the surface of fume hood. Using glass plates, mullers, and palette knives, we mixed the pigments with spike lavender varnish to make red and green varnish. We used a glass dropper to add varnish as needed to mix the ground pigments completely. We had strands of red yarn handy, to try applying them to the horn while the varnish was wet.
20161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_001

Using an unassigned brush with a wooden handle, we paint one entire side of one rectangular sheet of horn with the green varnish. Although it looked like a relatively loose liquid, the varnish was rather viscous and very sticky. While painting the horn, the varnish felt much more resistant to spreading than the oil paint had. As soon as we finished painting our fourth sheet of horn with green varnish, we applied a strand of red yarn to the surface (on one half of the sheet of horn). It certainly stuck to the horn much more than it had on the horn painted with oil, but it still did not completely stick. We left it as it was to dry, curious to see if once dry it might be more firmly adhered to the horn.
20161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_00420161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_00620161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_01720161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_02520161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_031

We used a second unassigned brush with a wooden handle to paint the entire side of the remaining sheet of horn with the red varnish. Again, the varnish felt sticky and resistant to spreading, despite its shiny liquid appearance. This time, to try another alternative to the yarn application, we used a chopstick to dip a strand of yarn directly into the spike lavender varnish, then immediately applying it to the sheet of horn (again, covering only half the sheet of horn). Soaked with varnish, the yarn seemed to stick much more to the horn. We used the glass dropper to wet it with a few more drops of varnish, to help attach it further.
20161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_03420161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_04120161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_04620161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_04820161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_05120161208_Lores-Chavez-Kang_Imitation Jasper_054

We left both samples of painted horn in the fume hood to dry.

Scratching, "Gilding," and Oiling Painted Horn

Name: Isabella Lores-Chavez, Charles Kang, and Pamela Smith
Date and Time:
2016.12.12, 11:30 am
Location: Lab

Subject: Scratching, gilding, and oiling horn (oil paint samples)


With the sheets of oil-painted sheets of horn nearly dry, we decided it was time to test the part of the recipe that recommended scratching lines into the pained horn. We used a sharp metal tool to scrape oblique lines into the surface of the horn. This immediately removed the paint color, leaving fine lines in the bright green or red color of the horn. We scratched several lines, all diagonal, some crossing each other, to mimic the patterned appearance of jasper.

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After we had scratched several lines into the horn, we decided to apply the transfer gold leaf while the paint was still a little wet. The process was very delicate, as the transfer gold leaf is sensitive to all movement around it, easily lifting off of the waxy paper on which it comes. At first we attempted to brush the gold leaf onto the horn, and had to look up how to use transfer gold leaf. We found out that we needed to press entire sections of the gold leaf onto the object for gilding. We pressed each sheet of horn carefully onto the square of transfer gold leaf, applying it to only one half of the horn (along its longest edge). We wanted to have one half of each sheet unembellished to compare the effect of the gold leaf. After pressing the horn onto the gold leaf, we turned the horn and the gold leaf over, setting the sheet of horn on the counter and rubbing the transfer gold leaf against it to ensure it would stick as much as possible to the horn. We then used a small brush to brush away the extra bits of transfer gold leaf that had not attached directly to the surface of the horn. Sometimes we could brush these small bits of gold leaf into the small gaps where the gold leaf had not stuck to the horn. There were parts of the horn that seemed too dry for the gold leaf to attach properly, so we determined that it would be best to apply the transfer gold leaf to the horn painted with varnish before the varnish had completely dried.

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Finally, after gilding each sheet of horn, we set our three samples onto a structure we built out of chopsticks on a ceramic plate, to allow each sheet to lean with the gilded and painted side facing down so we could oil the unpainted side. We returned to the fume hood for this part, as the spike lavender oil is strong and inhalation of it should be avoided. We used an oil brush and a glass dropper to deliver a few drops at a time of spike lavender oil onto the brush. We then applied the oil to the unpainted side of each sheet of horn, using long downward strokes, and watched as the horn became immediately more translucent.

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Name: Isabella Lores-Chavez, Charles Kang, and Pamela Smith
Date and Time:
2016.12.15, 1:00 pm
Location: Lab

Subject: Scratching, gilding, and oiling horn (varnish samples)


We returned to the horn to repeat the final steps of the process with our samples of horn painted with varnish. We found that the yarn on the sheet of horn painted with varnish (the yarn that had been dipped in varnish) had stuck pretty firmly to the surface of the horn, while the yarn on the sheet of horn painted with green varnish was still barely attached in a few places.

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We used the same sharp metal tool to scrape the same set of oblique lines into the paint of the two remaining horn samples. We then applied the transfer gold leaf, this time leaving each sheet of horn on the counter and applying the gold leaf onto it, then rubbing the gold leaf to facilitate its sticking to the surface of the horn. We applied the gold leaf to about half of each sheet of horn, this time from the shorter end of the sheet. Again, we used a brush to get rid of any excess transfer gold leaf and to move small pieces of the gold leaf into any gaps on the surface of the horn. We found the gold leaf stuck a little more easily to the horn because the varnish was still wet.

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Finally, using a similar set-up as before, with chopsticks on a ceramic plate, we prepared an oiling station in the fume hood. We used an oil brush to apply spike lavender oil to the unpainted side of each sheet of horn, again watching the immediate effect the oil has on the translucence of the horn.

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The sheet of horn painted with red varnish produced the most compelling and persuasive effect of patterned stone, through a combination of the lines scraped into it, the gold leaf backing (which highlighted the scraped lines and also brightened the red varnish), and the oiling that augments the translucence of the horn.

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