NAME: Shiye, Zhiqi
DATE AND TIME: 2015.04.20
LOCATION: Lab
SUBJECT: Molding paper with writings on it


Recipe
<ab id="p142v_b1">If you have a piece of written paper to mold, which is very thin, after you have made afirst casting and it has taken, add a little thickness to the back of your paper with some melted butter, whichis the most appropriate means there is, and [this method applies as well] for strengthening the wings ofeither a butterfly or grasshopper, or any delicate part of an animal for which you need to add somethickness. Be advised [however] to apply this melted butter underneath the wing or whichever place, so thatit is not seen. To give thickness to a pansy or other flowers, butter is not good, thus [one uses] wheat oil,which dries quickly and holds firm. Wax would not be appropriate [in this case] because it is too hot, havingbeen melted, and it makes the thing to which it is applied draw in. But butter is good [to work with] and easyto handle.</ab>


<ab id="p142v_c1a">If you write on paper or on cardboard, and your piece of writing has been made withgum, the wetness of the clay pack or of the soaked sand for the noyau will moisten it [and] ruin it.Thus, write with cinnabar mixed with oil, on oiled and stamped paper.</ab>


Materials: Ink, Gum power, Venice Red pigment, wheat oil, turpentine, linseed oil, paper


Based on the Molded Letter Paper Annotation written by Raymond Carlson and Jordan Katz last semester, we continued to apply the same materials including paper, ink and gum. In addition to that, we also tried out the recommended combination---cinnabar and oil. Since there is no cinnabar in the lab, and we find out that cinnabar distinguishes itself from other color dyes only because its reddish color, we substitute cinnabar with Venice Red, which is more practical and handy in lab.


Procedure: As mentioned before, we were quite confused about the “oiled and stamped paper” at first. If our interpretation of stamped paper is correct, then we should focus on the process of oiling paper. Before we started to oil the paper we on which we would write, we carried out an experiment to see the difference between oiled paper and non-oiled paper when it encounters soaked sand, which is plaster in this context. We got two small pieces of paper, one without oil and one with oil applied on both sides of the paper [Fig. 1 Two pieces of paper, one oiled and one not oiled]. Then we put both pieces into plaster and waited for five minutes. Five minutes later, we took both pieces out of the plaster. The one without oil was soaked and plaster just clung to the surface of the paper. While for the oiled paper, the oiled surface was so good at resisting the soaking of the liquid-like plaster that the surface of it came out smoothly, with only litter plaster staying on it [Fig. 2 The outcome of the paper after five-minute soaking in the plaster]. As a result, the oiled paper was more waterproof than the non-oiled paper.
Soon after figuring out the puzzle of oiled paper, we encountered another question about oil. As we mentioned before, the vocabulary of the manuscript is sometimes ambiguous. Here comes an example about the word “oil”. What kind of oil did the author indicate to in this recipe? So if the manuscript has some inherent consistency, then previous recipes on oil-based varnish making could serve as a clue for the oil in this specific recipe. As mentioned before, in varnish making recipes, plant oil, turpentine oil, walnut oil, and aspic oil are mentioned. Also, considering the oil we have in the lab, we finally settled down by trying out three types of oil: wheat oil, linseed oil and turpentine oil.
We first made a sketch of a Chinese character道(Taoism) on the paper. Then we tried four combinations of ink or color dyes with gum or oil.
1.Ink [Fig. 4] and gum powder
2. Venice red [Fig. 6] and turpentine oil
3. Venice red and wheat oil
4. Venice red and linseed oil


Combination 1 (10 ml of link and 2 teaspoons of gum powder) came out exactly the same as last semester’s. The gum is viscous when mixed with the ink. However, the mixed liquid is uneven no matter how much we tried to stir it . As a result, it is hard to apply this sticky and uneven mixture to the paper. The outcome is not desirable since the ink-gum mixture made the whole character lumpy, which is not good for casting.


Combination 2 (two teaspoons of Venice red pigment and 10ml of turpentine oil) worked better than combination 1. The pigment and the oil mingled with each other evenly. When applied to the paper, the combination dried quickly. When being moved, some dried-out particles fell off the character . This combination is not sticky and viscous enough for the casting.


Compare to the previous two trial, combination 3 (two teaspoons of Venice red and 10 ml of wheat oil) proved to be the best one. The pigment dissolved in the wheat oil so well. Furthermore, this combination is viscous enough to hold on to the paper so that the pigment would not fall off when dried. When stirring with the paintbrush, we could feel the force of the combination against the brush. The force dispersed evenly, much better than the previous two. Also, when lifted with the paintbrush, the combination clung to the paintbrush and its moving traces could maintain for about ten seconds, a manifestation of its viscidity.
Combination 4 (two teaspoons of Venice red and 10ml of linseed oil) came out as good as the third one. The viscidity is almost the same as combination 3.


Comparing the effects of the writing on paper using all four combinations above, we came to the conclusion that wheat oil and linseed oil is the best option in this context. Writing with combination 1 did made the character rise up, but the rising surface is too lumpy to for a good cast. Although combination 2 solved the problem of uneven surface, it went to another extreme that the writing actually did not raise that much and after it dried out, some particles fell off. Compared to 1 and 2, combination 3 and 4 worked better. The character rose up evenly. The only disadvantage of the latter two is that the character dried out much more slowly and the oil started to permeate to paper.



ASPECTS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN MAKING FIELD NOTES