Red Madder Lake Making
Table of Contents
Date and Time:
2017.[October].[9], [12]:[15][pm]
Location: Making and Knowing LabSubject: Red Madder Lake Making
Materials:
Ground and Soaked Madder Roots (prepared beforehand by Making and Knowing Team) 6 g
Potash (Potassium Carbonate) 1.2 g
Potash Alum (Potassium Aluminium Sulphate) 3g
Tap Water 400 ml
Coffee Filter 1
pH paper 1
Standard Beakers (1 250 ml, 1 600 ml)
Funnel
Ceramic Plate
Hot Plate
Egg White
Paint Brush (fine tip)
Muller (small)
The goal was to create a red paint with which to paint a red square on gesso. I acquired a 600 ML Beaker and placed a funnel over it. I then placed a coffee filter inside of it. It struck me that a coffee filter was perhaps not the best filtration paper to use as it might take longer and/or be abraded when we did the scraping later (which proved only somewhat true). I acquired pH paper and a ceramic plate. I placed the beaker with the soaked madder onto a hot plate set to 1 and tracked its temperature—I did not want it to get too hot (I was told no hotter than 70 degrees C), I imagined because it would break down the color-giving substances. It took approximately 5 minutes to reach 70 degrees and we allowed the dye to soak out for thirty minutes. After it had soaked out, we removed the bag and added 3g of potash alum, which we stirred in slowly with a chopstick. We turned it up to 1.5 on the hotplate. I noticed its earthy smell, with a hint of what reminded me of spent cigarettes in an ashtray. I prepared a solution of potassium carbonate by combining 1.2 g of potassium carbonate with 120 ml of water. I slowly added this solution to the dyestuff at the advice of Jo Kirby, rather than adding the dyestuff to the solution. I then tested the pH, which was 8 (green), indicating it was rather more alkaline than expected. I allowed it to sit overnight.
Name: Carl Garris
Date and Time:
2017.[October].[10], [6]:[00][pm]
Location: Making and Knowing LabSubject: Red Madder Lake Making
I filtered the madder solution, which had formed a precipitate (a pile of solid dust in the solution), through a coffee filter. Once it had drained through, which took approximately fifteen minutes, I repeated the process, with Jo Kirby’s assistance, three times. I thought perhaps we did not need to do it the third time, which Jo Kirby agreed with. We then allowed it to dry.
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time:
2017.[October].[13], [9]:[00][am]
Location: Making and Knowing LabSubject: Red Madder Lake Making
The red madder being dry and ready for use, I followed Jo Kirby’s instructions to make Red Madder paint. I was very interested in preparing it with egg white, as that was the preferred binding agent for medieval manuscript work, which I study. Before preparing it, I had no conception of how egg would work as a binding agent. I began by separating an egg yolk from an egg white as best I was able (some trace bits of yolk go through and I did not save all of the egg white due to breaking the yolk), then whisked it until it took on enough air to become a foam. I then scraped the madder off the filter and onto a plate using dental implements. I then ground the madder with a mortar and pestle for five minutes—it was a relatively fine red powder by the time I finished. I divided it into 1/3 to be used for oil and 2/3 to be used for egg white, but I ended up using all of it for egg white due to my curiosity. I dumped the madder pigment onto a glass plate and mulled it with a muller after adding several drops of water (the dropper was irregular and the water was ultimately added on an as-needed basis to keep it pasty in tecture). 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 periodically used a dental implement to recongregate the pigment in the center of the plate. Finally, once it seemed well ground, I mixed small amounts of it with egg white to make a paint. I then applied the paint to a gesso substrate. I was struck by the difficulty of applying the paint—the egg-based paint dried incredibly quickly and was impossible to spread as one would an oil paint. Dr. Smith provided the wisdom that I should make a series of small, even strokes in order to apply an even color. Despite my best attempts, my colors came out rather irregular, which Jo Kirby confirmed was my fault rather than the pigment’s. Even the madder paint which was still on my glass palette dried incredibly quickly, meaning that I had to use my madder intended for oil for egg instead so I could have an appreciable amount of red madder paint. I used another student’s oil paint in order to see how it worked, which was much more like I had expected paint to work—I could put a dab down then smear it around, unlike the egg. Working with the
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