Recipe:

Sugar Casting, fol. 126r

<title id=“p126r_a1”>Mouler fruicts en sucre<lb/>
et animaulx </title>

<ab id=“p126r_b1”>Le sucre est gras et diceluy on gecte bien choses rondes<lb/>
& gros muscles Mays malaisem[{ent}] choses subtiles & delicates<lb/>
Toutesfois essaye le sucre fort clarifie Il fault tremper<lb/>
toute une nuict ou un jour le moule de plastre plustost que gecter<lb/>
le sucre affin quil soit bien abreuve deau & ne boive pas<lb/>
le cirop Il fault aussy quil soict bien en despouille<lb/>
Car le sucre est aigre & brusc En fin ne pense de gecter<lb/>
rien en sucre qui ne soict bien en despouille Et qui ne se<lb/>
puisse nettement mouler en deulx parties pour souvrir<lb/>
quand besoing sera Si tu veulx mouler un raisin Il le<lb/>
fault prendre co{mm}e touts aultres fruictz en sa vigueur<lb/>
naifve Car sil est fretri Il ne viendra de mesme Advise<lb/>
doncq de faire tes moules en la naturelle saison de<lb/>
que chasque chose Le raisin co{mmun}ement quon veult<lb/>
gecter en sucre se faict artificiellement ou avecq de la<lb/>
cire ou terre ou avecq des grains mesmes raportes<lb/>
avecq de la cire fondue sur quelque plaste & chose pleine<lb/>
de facon quils soient bien seres et en despouille & ne<lb/>
facent qune moictie Ou bien si tu as de ces raisins quon<lb/>
apelle chauches ou sauvignons qui ont le grain fort<lb/>
presse Enchasse la moictie diceluy sur dans la plaste<lb/>
dardille Et gecte sur laultre moitie et sil y a quelque<lb/>
grain qui ne soit en despouille arrache le Note quen<lb/>
sucre ne mesmes en metal le raisin qui ha les grains clairs<lb/>
& separes ne se peult bonnement gecter pourceque les bouts de<lb/>
la grappe seroient si subtils mesmement si le raisin est gard[e]<lb/>
quil ne pourroit soubstenir les grains massifs Par ain[sy]<lb/>
il fauldroit gecter creux Ce que tu ne pourrois si le raisin
nest reserre des grains & moules sans les avoir espars & clai[r]<lb/>
semés</ab>
<title id=“p126r_a1”>Molding fruits and animals in sugar</title>
<ab id=“p126r_b1”>Sugar is fatty, and, with it, round things and large muscles are cast well but fine and delicate things [are cast with] difficulty. However, try well-purified sugar. The plaster mold must be soaked in water for a full night or a full day before casting sugar so that it [the mold] is saturated with water and does not soak up the syrup [the sugar mixture]. The [plaster] mold must also be stripped very well from it [the sugar], because sugar is sour and brittle. Thus, do not cast anything with sugar which is not stripped easily from it, and which can not be neatly molded in two parts to open as will be needed. If you want to mold a grape, you must get it when it is very fresh; because if it is withered, it [the cast] will look the same. See to it, thus, that you make your molds in the natural season for each thing [fruit]. Grapes that one wants to cast in sugar are man-made, either with wax or earth or with grapes molded with melted wax, on some dish [plaste & chose pleine] in a way so that they are pressed closely together and easily stripped from it. And only a half [of the grapes] should be molded. Or, if you have some of those grapes called chauches or sauvignons which have well-pressed grapes, set half of the grapes in the dish of clay, and cast on the other half, and if any grape is not stripped from it, pluck it out. Note that a grape whose grapes are set apart and separated cannot mold well in either sugar or metal because the ends of the cluster are so fine. Similarly, if the grape is kept, that it cannot hold the bunched grapes. Therefore, a hollow should be cast, which you will not be capable of if the grape is not close together and without having them spread apart.</ab>

Questions and related recipes:

What is the process of "sugar attacking itself?"

Almidin?
(Starch, as we found out)

Will the plaster mold dissolve in the cold water?

And hot water softens it [plaster] more than cold water [which] does not penetrate it [plaster] as [it does] mixed plaster because it [plaster] is stronger and mixed plaster is spongier. Medals are cast from this powdered, reheated plaster, [and the medals] will be waterproof as though they were varnished. In Germany, people hang these medals on houses. See to it that the water is very hot, and if the water is boiling, it will not endanger [it]. All molds [made] of plaster only or molds [made of] mixed plaster are stripped from it.

p125r_b1">When you mold something in order to cast with wax, first mold only plaster, you mold with plaster [that is] only reheated after [it] has been pulverized. Because, once [it] has been reheated on the stone slab, the outside[832] is burnt, and the inside remains nearly unburnt[833]. Transparent grey plaster is not strong, but the good one [plaster] becomes white once it has been soaked, and [it] sets well quickly. Nevertheless I have found the grey [plaster] to be quite firm and hard after it has set, but it takes longer [to work with it]. Know the nature of each. You will never mold very neatly if you do not soak until it is quite clear and liquid, your plaster or the core[834]'s sand. Soak it straight away after it has been reheated.
Will the pear come out hollow?

"sugar is fatty?"
"sugar is sour and brittle"


p126v_c1a">Sugar hardens very much, nothing harder is known. It provides a mould which suck the mixture and which attract gold much better.

125v --Casting snakes & herbs and flowers is a strange matter, since the cavities that are between the two shells require several pieces. To cast in sugar without making a casting, they are molded from plaster, as works for anything you like.

NAME: Celia Durkin and Sofia Gans
DATE AND TIME: April 1, 2015, 9:00AM
LOCATION: 260 Chandler
SUBJECT:

Initial molding in plaster

Materials:

• a ripe pear
• a bunch of red grapes
• beeswax
• clay
• plaster of paris

Pear

• Began making the base with new clay, with intention to make a two-piece mold. The manuscript says not cast, but to pour half the plaster into the open mold.
• Pressed the pear into the clay, made a clay wall about 2 inches high. We did not put a knob or gate in, as it will be poured into the open mold.
• Mixed plaster, potentially too liquid. Poured plaster into the clay base, and left to dry.

Grapes

• The recipe is very clear that there can’t be any aspect of the fruit that would catch plaster and cause it to get stuck in the mold. Since he mentions “grapes molded with melted wax” as something separate from man-made grapes molded in wax or clay, we decided to dip our bunch of grapes in melted beeswax to fill in the gaps in the cluster. Whatever huge gaps were still left we filled in with clay.
• We took a thick slab of clay and rolled it out so it was still about 2” thick
• We made a hollow in the clay deep enough to contain the lower half of the bunch of grapes, since he makes it clear they should be molded in 2 pieces. ("set half of the grapes in the dish of clay, and cast on the other half”)
• we filled in the gaps around the grapes fully with soft clay so that the plaster wouldn’t leak into the lower hollow.
• We built up our mold walls as in our life casting molds, to about .5 inches above the top surface of the bunch of grapes.
• We mixed the plaster by hand rather than following the measurements on the bucket, making it feel liquid. We then poured to the top of the mold and jiggled to release bubbles.
  • We didn’t use other mold materials, because he mentions in a note: "Do not mix anything in the mold except the reheated plaster, as you know"
  • Observation: there was one area that had a lot of bubbles, and I worry that some plaster make have leaked into a part of the mold that was supposed to remain hollow.
  • Observation: the top layer of the plaster looked especially liquid-y, and the remaining plaster residue in the pouring bowl didn’t seem to set very well, so I’m mildly concerned that we didn’t use enough plaster, and therefore it won’t set very well.
    • 20 minutes later - it’s damp but definitely setting

NAME: Celia Durkin and Sofia Gans
DATE AND TIME: April 6, 2015, 9:00AM
LOCATION: 260 Chandler
SUBJECT:

Molding second part of the 2-piece mold

Materials:

• plaster of paris
• clay

Releasing the clay base:

• Plaster was not too liquid, had solidified and pear separated from both clay and plaster very easily.
• clay base separated easily from the grapes. A tiny bit of plaster had leaked under the grapes but it didn’t cause any issues releasing the grapes from the clay.

Making grape mold:

• built up clay walls again
• filled in undercut areas of grapes
• mixed plaster again without measuring, still a little liquid but a similar consistency to the first pour, which hardened just fine.
• painted grapes with brandy as a separator
• poured and shook to remove bubbles
• it had hardened nicely after 45 minutes

Making pear mold:

• Used plaster half mold as base, built clay around it, and poured plaster in the second half of the mold.
• The pear was given no separator. Also, the pear had a rupture in the skin. We had the choice to coat it with wax, but we decided not to, so as to preserve the imperfections in the mold detail.
• Used the same batch of plaster as the grapes, rather than mixing 2 batches

NAME: Celia Durkin and Sofia Gans
DATE AND TIME: April 8, 2015, 9:00AM
LOCATION: 260 Chandler
SUBJECT:

Opening and soaking the molds

Pear

Opening the Grapes

• I used a chisel and hammer to break apart the molds
  • the one poured on day 2 broke apart into 3pieces, although it separated easily from the grapes
• getting the grapes out of the bottom half of the mold was hugely difficult
  • I broke through the wax layer and began to pull out grapes one by one. Eventually all of the grapes were removed and I was left with a layer of wax against the mold which was firmly stuck
    • I used a blowtorch to heat and melt out the wax, which worked very well
    • ended up charring the plaster slightly

Soaking the molds

• to soak the molds, we filled large bowls with cold water and set them outside on the windowsill for just under 24 hours to ensure that the water stayed cold
  • we were worried that the molds would disintegrate, so we did a little test with a fragment of plaster, and it seemed to fully hold its shape
  • the molds released a lot of bubbles when we put them in the water

NAME: Celia Durkin and Sofia Gans
DATE AND TIME: April 9, 2015, 9:00AM
LOCATION: 260 Chandler
SUBJECT:

Heating and Pouring the Sugar

Materials:

• Dominos white sugar
• water
• Hot plate
• wooden stirring spoon

State of the molds:

• the molds stayed together super well and seemed fully saturated
• in order to make a second half for the pear mold we decided to use the base of the grape mold, which was flat and fully wet
  • we had to file down the top of the pear mold to make a flat surface for the other side to seal with

Heating the sugar:

• we boiled sugar and water in a 2.5:1 ratio for an hour
  • by the end it began to bubble furiously
  • threads were evident when we picked up the spoon and shook it
  • we made a few test pours on one of our broken sugar molds. when the threads were really apparent the sugar began to harden when it was poured. Prior to that it stayed a syrupy, sticky consistency

Pouring the sugar:

Pear

• we poured into the open mold about a quarter of the way
• we placed the bottom of the grape mold flush with the pear mold and flipped it back and forth
  • some hot sugar ran out the sides
  • when we determined it had flipped enough, we set it down

Grapes

• by the time we poured the sugar for the grapes, it had begun to attack itself.
• we poured into the open mold, and the sugar was bubbling so furiously that it sprang up over the sides of the mold and continued to spread
  • we saw that when it cooled, it was relatively smooth and hard, so we decided it was probably ok
  • almost immediately after we poured the grapes, the sugar ceased to be liquid.
    • We didn’t have the materials on hand to properly remedy the sugar attack as the author mentions in the manuscript.
      
      
• we let both molds cool for several days

NAME: Celia Durkin and Sofia Gans
DATE AND TIME: April 13, 2015, 10:00AM
LOCATION: 260 Chandler
SUBJECT:

Opening the molds

Pear

• when the mold was opened, we were surprised to discover that next to none of the sugar had stayed in the mold. There was a tiny splash of hard white sugar at the very bottom, but most of the mold was entirely empty and looked totally untouched. Whatever sugar had been in it had clearly collapsed back on itself.
  • this chunk of sugar was fused to the bottom and would have been impossible to remove without breaking it or the mold

Grapes

• It became very clear very quickly that to get the grapes out of the mold I would need to break the mold. They were too tightly fit in otherwise.
  • I took a hammer and chisel to it, and relatively quickly the mold split in half. At that point a small chunk broke off, but the rest was fairly easy to remove intact
• It was very hard. Bubbles that had been trapped when pouring were readily apparent on the surface. It generally looked kind of gross, and not at all like a beautiful table decoration.

Conclusions from first trial:

• The experiment will need to be run again. Changes to be made:
  • The grapes should perhaps be a smaller bunch, or even more tightly molded together to make them easier to release.
    • perhaps I will mold individual grapes, to be assembled later into a bunch?
  • Use a separator more vigorously.
  • Be more careful in opening the molds initially. Let them dry for much longer on terra-cotta in the fume hood.
  • Do research on making candy, and heat the sugar far less than we did.
• Things that did/didn't correspond to the manuscript
  • the sugar did indeed attack itself, and now we know what that means, but we didn't have the materials on hand to counteract the effects.
  • the sugar does not release easily, even from wet molds.
  • plaster doesn't dissolve at all in cold water.
  • grapes are indeed very difficult to mold.

• 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

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