[Making verdigris at home]


Table of Contents

[Making verdigris at home]
2017.[October].[13], [09]:[00][am/pm]
2017.[October].[16], [11]:[00][am/pm]
Name: Nina Elizondo-Garza
Date and Time: Sept 23, 7:52 PM 2017
Location: Home
Subject: First notes regarding Verdigris experiment

I enrolled a bit late in the class, so my verdigris experiment is slightly delayed compared to other students. I set up my experiment on Thursday, September 21st in the afternoon (around 4:00 PM). Detailed notes to follow. Here is a photo of what it looked like at the beginning.
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I used the copper given to us in class and flattened it out slightly to get the most surface area to work with, and suspended it above 7% acidity white wine vinegar. I read some of the historical recipes available on the google drive (e.g. merrifield) and by using google to find other historic recipes, as well as contemporary ones, so I could get a better idea of what I was meant to do.

Generally speaking, they consistently mentioned that 1) the higher acidity of the vinegar the better, 2) if the verdigris experiment is kept in a warmer place it will do better (as evidenced by how so many recipes say it should be buried in fresh dung or left in the sun), 3) do not let the copper touch the vinegar. So I kept all this in mind and got the highest % vinegar I could find, carefully suspended the copper above the vinegar by taping the edges of the string down to the outside of the glass using masking tape, and left it in the same warm cupboard as my sourdough starter from the bread molding experiment.


Name: NEG
Date and Time:

2017.[October].[13], [09]:[00][am/pm]

Location: Lab
Subject: Verdigris lake

Since the last update I had abandoned the verdigris alone in a cupboard and hadn't bothered it at all. To my surprise it had turned very blue --vinegar included. This could possibly be due to the warmth, as it made a sort of 'greenhouse' effect of condensation and evaporation?
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I removed the copper from the vinegar (on first opening the jar to do this, the smell of vinegar was UNBELIEVABLY strong) and brought them both to class (the coppery vinegar needed to be disposed of properly, after all). Then, we set about to scrape the verdigris off, keeping in mind the proper safety precautions since this substance is a skin irritant.

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Using a metal palette knife. It was not a great auditory experience.
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Once it was scraped, we mulled it a bit with water on a glass slab to grind it down. Each of us was surprised to discover we had a shockingly small amount of verdigris to experiment with. I ended up mixing mine with Sumiyye's to have more to work with --the colors of our verdigris was pretty much the same, so it wasn't an issue of changing the pigment.
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We mixed it with egg white, egg yolk, and I even tried mixing it with oil, to make pigment. We painted it on gesso and on a card and let it rest. It was a really nice turquoise color. Mixing it with egg and making any sort of verdigris tempera was a BAD move. It did not take to the egg well --it was too watery, and difficult to work with. Apparently, it was also unconventional for the time period to do so, so --it's better to just stick with oil.

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The darker color is the oil-based verdigris paint on gesso. It was very satisfying to paint with. We painted a few of the panels and let it be.


Name: Nina Elizondo-Garza
Date and Time:

2017.[October].[16], [11]:[00][am/pm]

Location: Lab
Subject: Verdigris degradation :(

The verdigris turned green! Such is the way of the world. I expect it will turn greener as time goes on.
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On the gesso, ours are are from squares 7C to 7E. The other, greener squares are from previous sessions. Note 7E -- the short brush strokes are indicative of an ill-fated attempt to make verdigris tempera.

ASPECTS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN MAKING FIELD NOTES