Workflow and Safety Protocol for Starch Glue

In the manuscript, the recipe for gilding on parchment says, “Layer of gold leaf on parchment or paper: Make a very transparent starch glue (colle d’amydon) with little body. And apply six or five layers, and when the last is almost dry, apply your gold.” However, the author-practitioner does not provide a recipe for the colle d’amydon, which intimates that it was a fairly common or well known recipe. There are no recipes for starch glue in MsFr 640. Several contemporaneous recipes describe how to make the glue using varied methodologies.
In the Cotgrave French to English dictionary from 1611, the description for amydon is “a fine wheat flower steeped in water; then strained, and let stand untill it settle at the bottome; then drained of the water, and dried at the sunne; used for bread or in brothes is very bourishing; also starch made of wheat.” While this entry discusses “amydon” and not the glue version of the substance is still significant because it discusses how it is made. However, this recipe seems to be for culinary rather than artistic purposes.
In Cennino Cennini’s Il Libro dell’Arte, describes a recipe for a “Batter or Flour Paste” implying that culinary recipes could be used in a crafting context. The recipe is situated in a section dedicated to other types of glue, including cement and fish glue. He says that the flour paste is “good for parchment workers and masters who make books; and it is good for pasting parchments together, and also for fastening tin to parchment.” This usage of starch paste on paper and one usage involving a metal and paper. For this reason, I think using this Cennini recipe is the most authentic. It must also be noted that Cennini does provide a recipe for gilding on parchment; however, this recipe differs considerably from the one in MsFr 640.
Katherine Sander’s article on production of starch glue by conservators confirms that modern book conservators have varied methodologies of creating starch glue. All conservators cooked their paste (unlike in the Cotgrave). Some soaked the wheat starch in water for from 30 minutes to twelve hours. Soaking does not result in a chemical change, although some conservators say that the process results in either a tackier or smoother glue. Cooking times varied between ten minutes and and forty five minutes. The author claimed that the best results came from soaking the starch for one hour and then cooking for thirty five minutes.
The author provides a similar recipe for creating brown gold on paper. “Brown gold layer on paper Prepare your underlayer of starch soaked in water and your gold will turn brown very well. Clear starch water aid down on paper, then dried, and so by three times, is a good base for brown gold on paper and is not thick.”


(uses Eau d’aymydon)
(other uses of eau d’amydon)




Materials Needed:


Tools Needed:


Workstation Setup:


Outline of your Experiment (what will be your workflow, start to finish? ):
  1. Get water from tap and fill kettle. Turn on kettle. Wait until water is boiled.
  2. Pour water into large beaker.
  3. Slowly pour flour into boiling water while stirring.
  4. Put mixture on hot plate and allow to boil and remove from hot plate.
  5. Put in small amount of salt for longevity.
  6. Cover container with cellophane and secure with rubber band.
  7. Label and place in fridge.


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