BnF Ms. Fr. 640, folio 155r
Transcription [tc_p155r, 6 April 2015]
<title id=”p155r_a1”>Mouler une rose</title>
<ab id=”p155r_b1”>Pourceque les branchetes du rosier qui sont aupart aultour de<lb/>
la fleur sont quelques fois fort dilatees & feroient<lb/>
un trop grand moule On les faict et moule a part Et la rose<lb/>
& quelquees boutons a part Et puys on raporte<lb/>
avecq souldure les branchettes & foeuilles de rosier a la<lb/>
queue de la rose a laquelle on laisse expressem{ent} de<lb/>
petits bouts des branchettes Mect la foeuille ou rose<lb/>
le plus bas que tu pourras dans le moule pourceque le sable<lb/>
la releve tousjours Tu en peulx aussy mouler plusieurs<lb/>
foeuilles ensemble estant disposees lune sur laultre les<lb/>
distingant avecq les filets co{mm}e dict est Et pour le regard<lb/>
de la rose tu peulx donner une legere couche de beurre fondu<lb/>
au dos de la foeuille de aulx premieres foeilles de dehors non a celles de dedans be pour laffermir & luy donner force de<lb/>
soubstenir affin que le sable destrempe ne les dilate & escarte plus quil ne fault Tu les peulx bien mouler aussy les foeuilles<lb/>
des rosiers fraisiers & semblables qui sont plates<lb/>
& qui se peuvent aplatir sans les gaster a deulx gects<lb/>
pour ouvrir ton moule quand il est recuit & le nettoyer<lb/>
de la cendre Toute et faire des souspirails &<lb/>
plusieurs gects Et ceste voye est la plus facille<lb/>
Mays laultre se peult faire aussy Et avecq de petits<lb/>
filons de cire adaptes & joincts de foeuille a foeuillle<lb/>
tu peulx fayre des gects Mesmes tu peulx faire<lb/>
despuys le dos de la premiere foeuille jusques un filon de cire<lb/>
qui se raportera au gect Tout cela facilite le gect<lb/>
Aulcu Le principal est de laisser bien froidir les<lb/>
moules recuits plustost que les nettoyer & soufler dedans<lb/>
pour faire sortir la cire pourceque quand le moule est<lb/>
chault la cendre se tient co{mm}e attachee Mays quand il<lb/>
est froid elle sesperd et sort avecq le vent ou quand<lb/>
on retire lalheine a soy par le petit pertuis</ab>
Translation [tl_p155r, 6 April 2015] and suggested changes underlined
<title id=”p155r_a1”>Molding a rose</title>
<ab id=”p155r_b1”>Because of the little branches of the rose bush, which are around the flower, are sometimes very spread out, they would demand too big of a mold. We make and cast them separately, the rose and the rosebuds separately as well. And then one brings them together, soldering the little branches and leaves of the rose bush to the stem of the rose, on which you will have purposefully left bits of the small branches. Put your petal or rose as low as you can in your mold, because sand will always bring it up or raise it. You can also mold several petals together, arranged one on top of the other, separating them with some thread. And for the look of the rose you can give a thin layer of melted butter on the back of the petals, but only on the outside petals, not the inside petals, to stiffen them and give them the strength to withstand, so that the wet sand does not stretch or spread them out more than necessary. You can also mold well the leaves of a rosebush, strawberry plant and similar things that are flat and can be flattened without being spoiled. For two castings, to open your mold, when it has been reheated and then clean the ashes out, make some vents, and [you will be able to do] several casts. This is the easiest way but you can also do the other. And little veins of wax1 that has been adapted and joined from leaf to leaf,2 you can make casts. You can even make a little vein of wax from the back of the first petal, which will join up with the main cast. All of this will facilitate the casting process. The main thing is to let your reheated molds cool down rather than cleaning them and blowing inside them to make the wax come out, because when the mold is hot, the ash almost attaches itself to it. But when it is cold it, it detaches and leaves with air draft or when one draw in one’s breathe through the small opening.
<note id=”p155r_c1a”>You can also give a little thickness at the ends of the stems that are holding up the petals, by lightly oiling them underneath with melted butter, because the petals are big and weigh heavily, and the stem made of lead or tin will not have enough strength [to hold it].</note>
<note id=”p155r_c1b”>I would be of the opinion to mold the rose on its own with a bit of its stem close to its bud, and then to join the rose to a longer one [a stem] made of glazed brass, because the rose bloom is very big and heavy.</note>
<note id=”p155r_c1c”>Moisten your rose with spirits before placing it in the clay. Do not forget to oil the wax cast. And when you have thrown in your wet sand, blow heavily, until it begins to set. The rose came out well. But because the sand was mixed within the petals, soak your work in water for a long time so that when you shake it in the water, the earth comes off.</note>
BnF Ms. Fr. 640, folio 155v
Transcription [tc_p155v, 6 April 2015]
<title id=”p155v_a1”>Rose</title>
<ab id=”p155v_b1”>Pource que la fleur espanouye est vague & ha ses<lb/>
foeuilles confuses & entournees en diverses facons elle<lb/>
ne se monstre poinct belle quelle ne soict paincte & daulta{n}t<lb/>
aussy quelle ha pois on fir que la queue destain qui<lb/>
est aigre & subtile ne pourroict pas susporter On moule<lb/>
la fleur de la rose seule & apart Luy faisant le gect<lb/>
grosset affin quelle vienne b mieulx Puys on couppe<lb/>
ce gect au ras de la queue du bouton dans<lb/>
lequel apres on hante & soulde une tige de fil de letton<lb/>
a laquelle aussy on soulde les foeuilles Mays pourceque<lb/>
lestain estant ainsy tanvre est fascheux a soulder et se<lb/>
peult fondre quelque foeuille Et quaussy les fleurs<lb/>
gectees & principallement la rose ne sort pas belles sans estre<lb/>
painctes On ne prend poinct la peine de soulder Mays on le <lb/>
hante les pieces a raporter & on les colle avecq dela colle<lb/>
Translation [tl_p155v, 6 April 2015]
<title id=”p155v_a1”>Rose</title>
<ab id=”p155v_b1”>Because the rose bloom is rather wavy, and its petals are all mixed up and arranged in various ways, it will not be beautiful if it is not painted, and you must also consider that its weight cannot supported by the tin stem which is sour and fine. One molds the flower of the rose in a separate mold, casting it thickly so that it comes out more easily. Then one cuts the cast at the edges of the stem of the bud, in which you graft and solder a stalk of brass wire to which you also solder the leaves. But because this tin, being so thin, is hard to solder, and may melt some of the leaves and also the cast flowers; [you should consider] that cast flowers, especially roses, are not beautiful without being painted, so one does not make the effort to solder them, but [instead] one grafts the pieces that you want to join together and glues them with fish glue that has been a little moistened and melted until thick. And so that it takes better, you heat the work in tin lightly and for a long time, because if it is cold, the glue will not take. Once your flower is thusly repaired, you follow the joints of the added parts with some esbaucher wax, which is a white wax mixed with much well-ground ceruse, or even better, white lead, melting it and placing it on your work with a small warm bit of iron needle. In the same way you can repair the little filaments that are in the middle of the rose, or the holes that may appear in some of the petals. Then paint your rose realistically. If you cast your rose in gold or silver, you can also rejoin [parts] and solder its. And in those materials, when you have [to] join something very delicate together with the flower, such as a fly or other similar things, fish glue is excellent, and holds very well, fixing it with a few little needles that act as nails. The leaves and buds can be cast in two molds that can be opened once they have been reheated, but not before. Then these things join up [with the flower].</ab>
Annotation: On Molding a Rose
Giulia Chiostrini & Jef Palframan
The recipes “Rose” and “Molding a rose” (Bnf Ms. Fr. 155v and 155r) give advice on how to cast a rose by making a mold for each of the flower’s components and joining the resulting parts.3 This entry explores our reconstruction of techniques for the direct casting of a rose, experimenting with both a one-piece mold and two-piece molds, the latter allowing reuse of the pattern via several casts. A puzzle-like reconstruction of information, excavated throughout the manuscript as a whole, was necessary to construct our experiments, while at the same time this effort was valuable in revealing the significance and extent of the author-practitioner’s experience with and interest in life casting techniques.
Our reconstruction of the procedure reassembles the system of gate, vents, and veins needed for both molds by correlating the clues provided by the author on fol. 155r and fol. 155v with the instructions more explicitly presented in other life casting recipes from the manuscript. The molding technique used for plants are presented on fol. 117r and fol. 145v, recipes related to flowers in general. A description of the two-part mold process is described on fol. 159v, a recipe related to crayfish molding via life casting. Marginalia drawings from fol. 142v and fol. 124v illustrate the system of veins, vents, and gate needed to mold crayfish and lizards, and were helpful in constructing a two-part mold used to cast the bunch of leaves. Several of these recipes will be discussed during the narrative of these experiments. Our careful work of reconstruction not only results in a beautiful rose cast [Fig.1_the final rose flower cast.jpg], but it also reconstructs the author-practitioner’s evolving thoughts on this process as he self-corrects during the course of the activity recorded in the manuscript. This self-reflection reveals the author-practitioner as continuously learning through his own experiments, which appear to be motivated by the aspiration to imitate nature and transform an ephemeral thing into a tangible and fixed artistic creation that will remain unchanged. The use of precise terminology to name veins, vents, and gate in the molding construction (see analysis of the original French text in the first footnote of this essay) alone reveals the extreme attention and sensitivity of the author-practitioner towards the procedure of life casting as a delicate process, mastery of which had to be developed through the author’s self-correction. Following the sequence of the folios, detailed instructions and changes in the procedure that are provided by the author, shows that he is learning through his own making.
Similarly, the goal of our reconstruction is to learn from the author-practitioner’s experience in developing this artistic practice and its variations, considering the significance of his interest in experimenting with life casting as well as in the materials in common contemporary use (including tin, lead, and fish glue).
Assembling and Combining the Texts of the Recipes
While on fol. 117r (“A way to mold flower and herbs”) the author suggests that it is possible to mold a flower or a herb using a one-piece closed mold, in the later fol. 155r (“Molding a Rose”) and fol. 155v (“Rose”) a different casting method is described. Because a rose has several components (flower, stem, leaves, and buds), the author suggests making a separate mold for each of the rose parts, leaving “bits” of the small branches at the stem of the rose intact in order to facilitate connecting everything after the casting process is complete. The reader is instructed to place the flower and its petals as low as possible in the mold, indicating that the mold must be deep and perhaps that the object be oriented in a vertical position. No further instructions are provided regarding such a mold. Other recipes in the manuscript must be turned to for additional information.
Fol. 117r (“A way to mold flowers and herbs”) describes the use of a single mold in the shape of a lute outlined by thick walls. The whole flower is inserted into a “wax stick pointed like a big peg” which is in turn supported by a thick iron wire inserted through the center of one of the mold walls. In this way, the flower is positioned in a horizontal direction without touching the mold walls, surrounded “by air on all the sides.” This airspace is then filled with wet sand described as being “of equal thickness everywhere, and will be two fingers higher than your flower.” Once this wet sand is in place, it must dry before the external clay walls can be removed. This will take a few days, at which point the mold will be dry enough to be put in the oven without cracking. Once in the oven, the original rose will be reduced to ashes, and the wax elements melt, allowing the liquid molten metal to flow through the empty “veins” of the former wax sprues and fill the space left by the live rose. If the mold is made in one piece, it can only be used once, as the mold must be broken to remove the final metal object. If it is designed to separate into two pieces, it can be used again.
In the marginalia of this folio, two drawings show the flower stem inserted into the wax peg and positioned in a lute-shaped mold. Similar text and drawings are repeated elsewhere in this manuscript, including fol. 124v (“Casting a lizard”), fol. 142r (“Casting a crayfish”), and fol. 145v (“Casting herbs and flowers”). In both fol. 117r and fol. 145v the author suggests casting a “fine and delicate” flower or herb in the vertical position, with the additional instruction on fol. 117r to add “two vent holes with two small sticks” to the sides of the wax peg and on fol. 145v to run “a thread through the mold” to keep the object upright.
[Fig.2_a thread through the mold.jpg]
By the time he wrote fol. 155r, the author seems to have refined his mold-making technique, adding specific details like the discussion of a system of wax “veins” or sprues that will help the liquid metal flow evenly between the leaves and petals. The author also suggests making “a little vein of wax” from the back of the first petal to be joined to the “the main cast,” a description corresponding to the wax peg more fully described on fol. 117r. The author seems to assume the reader is aware of the instructions and marginalia drawings provided in previous folios.
There are some particular hints regarding the difficult casting of the delicate leaves. On fol. 155r the author briefly mentions making a two-piece mold that may be reused, while on fol. 155v he specifically recommends using a two-piece mold for the leaves and the buds.
On fol. 155r, the author suggests applying a thin layer of melted butter on the outside of the petals to strengthen them during the pouring of the wet sand and placing a thread between each petal in order to separate them during the casting process. In a note the author suggests applying melted butter to the end of the rose stem as well, to make it strong enough to support the weight of the flower and the leaves once the components are joined. For the same reason, it is also suggested that the stem be cast in “glazed brass” rather than the softer (and cheaper) tin or lead.4
Other suggestions in the notes include the use of spirits to moisten the rose and the oiling of the “wax cast” before pouring in the wet sand, to diminish the adherence of sand to the mold. The reader is still advised to soak the cast object in water in order to remove any trace of sand from the petals. The author also explains how to clean the ashes from the mold, suggesting that it is necessary to wait for the mold to cool down before blowing out the ashes via the small sprues “with air.” If the mold is still hot, the ashes will stick to the remnants of wax.
Tin and lead are suggested as casting metals on fol. 155r, while as mentioned above “glazed brass” is suggested for the stem. By contrast, on fol. 155v the author specifically indicates tin as the medium for stem, flower, and leaves.
The narrative of fol. 155r joins fol. 155v again when the author describes the process of attaching the various parts of the cast rose. The procedure of joining the rose components together is in fact the main subject of fol. 155v. Soldering with brass wire is presented as a first option. However, “because the tin is so thin” it is difficult to solder it without damage. A second “excellent” option, fish glue, is enthusiastically proposed by the author, who points out that as “cast flowers, especially roses, are not beautiful without being painted” there is no point in soldering when the glue will work just as well and be hidden by the paint. He also says the substance may be used to join other elements to the flower (such as a fly).
Once the components are joined, “white wax mixed with much well ground ceruse” or “white lead” can be melted and placed on the joins via a “small warm bit of iron,” and also used to fix imperfections such as “little filaments” or “holes on the petals.” White lead also creates a white ground for colors and embellishments. Both materials are poisonous and no longer used in modern industry, so we planned to use titanium oxide, which is similarly used as a white base for pigments.
Experiments
For our first experiment we made a one-piece mold for all the components of the rose: the flower, the stem, and the leaves. For our second experiment, we made a two-piece mold with the intention of reusing the pattern.5 In both cases we decided to solder the rose flower to the stem, intending to conclude the experiments by applying fish glue to fine-tune details of the cast rose and using titanium oxide as a white ground for the application of pigments on the joins of the piece as a whole.
Our choice of the rose flower was determined by the title of both recipes: “Rose” and “Molding a Rose.” While our use of a modern commercial rose might seem inaccurate at first blush, by the sixteenth century, the familiar shape of the modern domestic hybrid rose was already established. The plant itself was of course well known. Leonart Fuchs describes two species of rose in his 1558 L’Histoire des Plantes: the wild field rose, and the domestic rose cultivated in gardens.6 [Fig.3_rose image from Fuchs’s manuscript.jpg]The wild rose is noted for its single layer of five petals, but various subspecies of the two basic rosa were already being hybridized to obtain different colors, fragrance, and petal formations.[Fig.4_a rose flower image from a sixteenth century sheet.jpg] Elsewhere in sixteenth-century literature, illustrations of domestic white roses may already be seen with several layers of petals.7 The author of this manuscript does not specify the use of a wild or domestic rose, but the marginalia drawing of fol.155r shows a flower with more than five petals, pointing us towards a multi-layered hybrid for our test subject.[Fig.5_drawing from fol.155r.jpg] Our modern commercial rose, rich in petals, is thus a relatively authentic choice to represent a hybrid rose flower of the sixteenth century.
At the beginning of both experiments we cut the rose blossom and a bunch of leaves from the stem, leaving a small bit of the flower stalk on each to facilitate the joining process.
After that, we proceeded with the preparation for casting the three rose components according to the information collected from fol. 155r (see above). As earlier suggested on fol. 145v, we immersed the flower upside down in “a tall glass” of spirits to moisten it before placing it on the clay of the mold.
Spirits prevent the sand from bubbling and not to make little holes on the borders of the mold if the thing to be molded is very damp, the holes and farts and bubbling does not make it in the place of the mold which is thick but at the borders which are more delicate.
On the back of the petals and leaves, and on the stem, we applied a thin layer of melted butter using a brush, while wheat oil was applied on the wax peg and veins of all the three molds.8 This ensured a smooth surface for the sand to flow through. The author does not specify a type of vegetable oil, but he mentions wheat oil in previous recipes involving casting delicate things.9 Melted butter was also used to coat the stem, as we were curious to experiment with it elsewhere on the rose.10
Although the author suggests the use of just one thread to separate each petal, we found this difficult and instead placed several short threads, trying to reach the deepest area between adjacent petals (see fig. 7). In this way, we also opened up space that allowed the application of melted butter to small petals that would have otherwise been hidden.
Regarding the system of wax veins or sprues, we connected the outside of the first petal of the flower to the main cast as suggested by the author on fol. 155r, while adding two other thin wax sprues to connect the entire flower to the clay base of the mold.11 A similar procedure was used for the stem, making a wax sprue that connected the top of the stem to the mold base.
[Fig.7_system of gate,vents,and sprues.jpg]
While the flower and the stem looked well positioned and stable on the base of the clay through the wax peg (supported as they were by the two wax sticks on the side), the bunch of three leaves seemed weak. [Fig.8_leaves one piece mold.jpg] The melted butter applied on their obverse seemed to make them heavier and more fragile than they really were. The system of wax veins built to support them in a vertical position, as “fine and delicate objects” should be when cast as earlier described on fol. 117r, did not help when the sand was poured into the mold.12 As soon as the sand touched the base of the mold, the wax peg detached from the clay, the little wax sticks and the sprues (connected as shown in the marginalia drawing on fol. 155r) were destroyed, and the leaves lost within the mold. This failure encouraged us to experiment instead with a two-part mold for the leaves. We were encouraged by fol. 155r, in which the author-practitioner says to open the molds and clean the ashes out. This implies that he is suggesting a two-part mold for the leaves, using the same method he recommends for the life casting of small animals such as crayfish, found later in the manuscript.13
In our second experiment, we laid down the bunch of leaves on the base of the mold, building thick clay walls all around.14 We did not use melted butter on the leaves because there was no need to stiffen them in this position. On the contrary, we needed to prevent the clay from getting attached to the reverse of the leaves. For this purpose we used spirits, following the instructions provided earlier by the author on fol. 112v (“Affixing and arranging animals”).
If, once you have placed your animal on sheet of clay, you are distracted with other occupations, rub your animal with spirits and under the belly so that it does not stick or attach itself to the [clay] of earth.
We spread spirits on both sides of the leaves with a brush before laying it down on the clay.
Our next challenge was to construct a system of wax sprues, connecting the leaves as illustrated by the author in the marginalia drawing of fol. 155r. However, we didn’t make the two souspirails (vents) at once.
According to fol. 155r, our vents had to be made after the object being cast was burnt.
For two castings, to open your mold, when it has been reheated and then clean the ashes out, make some vents, and [you will be able to do] several casts.
The author suggests incising the vents directly in the mold after opening and cleaning it of ashes.15 [Fig.11_observation on the efficient use of spirit.jpg]
Finally, registration marks were incised into the wall of the mold next to the gate to ensure we refitted it correctly.[Fig.12_registration marks.jpg]
Among several kinds of sand suggested for casting in Bnf. Ms. Fr. 640, the author-practitioner specifies one type on fol. 159v (“Carnation”), writing that when it comes to molding flowers and delicate things “the sand has to be very thin, and you must blow very strongly.” In the following fol. 160r (“Sand to cast flower”) the author suggests mixing plaster, crushed brick, and stone alum to make sand for molding flowers and leaves. Elsewhere in the same folio, he notes:
In casting with thick sand, flowers crumple; it squeezes them into a mass. For this reason, be sure to dilute your sand very thinly, and blow on it so the flowers are not entirely covered. When you dilute your sand, do not only stir it with the small shovel, but beat it as you would egg white.
Based on previous experiments in the lab during the semester, we decided that the mixture described earlier in the manuscript (“Casting in silver”) from fol. 121v , was most suitable for our use. It is the most detailed recipe and was suggested for another example of life casting; in this case an animal.16 For our final sand recipe we used a proportion of two parts plaster of Paris to one of brick dust and increased the quantity of sal ammoniac from two teaspoons to four.17 Consequently, this mold took much longer to dry before it could be put in the oven and the leaves burned.[Fig.13_sal ammoniac on the mold surface.jpg] We also had to add more sand than we expected to the mold, and the final cast of the rose shows a sharp line on the outside of the first petal marking this addition.18[Fig.14_added sand and its effect on the flower cast.jpg]
When it comes to the metal used to cast the rose components, the author let the reader choose between tin or lead on fol. 155r, while he assumes that tin will be used for the casting of all the rose elements on fol. 155v. For all our experiments we decided to use an alloy of tin and lead as the author recommends earlier on fol. 116v (“Fine herbs, flowers, and greeneries”), considering that we already experimented with a flower casting with pure tin during Andrew Lacey’s residence in the lab (March 2015).19
For our work we used an equal amount of tin and lead. As a result, the cast rose and its stem are overly heavy when compared to a small medal cast in pure tin during previous class experiments. This result has the advantage of resolving the author’s concern that the stem, if cast in tin or lead, would be too fragile to support the weight of the rose’s blossom.20 It is possible that this is why the author changed his opinion on what metal should be used in life casting during the writing of the manuscript. A mixture of tin and lead is suggested earlier on fol.116, but by fol.155v the author seems to share Vannoccio Biringuccio’s low opinion of the alloy.21 The latter author says in his Pirotechnia that tin is “not better for any work when mixed than when pure, except for the advantage of the master, who…sells lead that is worth little for tin that is worth much.”22
The beautiful appearance of the final rose cast was defined by the richness of those “live” details of the flower that the butter froze, and the metal fixed in a metal artistic creation.23 Additionally, as already mentioned, casting the bunch of leaves in a one-piece mold was a failure, while the bunch of leaves cast in the two-piece mold resulted in a detailed cast object. [Fig.15_cast objects in one piece mold.jpg] This also proves the efficacy of laying the fragile leaves down in the mold, and of using spirits to keep sand from getting stuck in it.[Fig.16_cleaning the mold and incising the vents.jpg]
Two strips of copper were used to press and hold together the two halves of the mold, which was wrapped in cheesecloth dipped in a thin plaster mix during the pouring of liquid metal.[Fig.17_pouring metal.jpg] Unfortunately, despite the warning on fol. 116v (see footnote 19) we ran out of metal during pouring. Our final cast object thus shows a fracture in one leaf and a small broken stem.[Fig.18_leaves cast in two piece mold.jpg]
Given the final weight of the components, we had no choice but to solder the stem, the rose flower, and the bunch of leaves together, melting the small parts of sprues removed during cleaning. Fish glue would not have been strong enough to keep the rose together.24 However, we believe it would have been useful in fixing the fracture that appeared on the leaf.25
[Fig.19_soldering and final rose.jpg]
Conclusions
Our conclusions coincide with those expressed on fol. 159 (“Carnation”), where the author-practitioner says that while it is possible to mold any kind of flowers in a one-piece mold with successful results, if several casts are desired, the flower should be cut into its components and a one-piece mold made for the stem and flower and a reusable two-piece mold for the leaves.26 The text from this late folio in the manuscript expresses not only the author-practitioner’s technical achievement in flower casting, but it also communicates his increased confidence in the process as a way to finally fix the ephemeral in a physical object. The development of the author-practitioner’s skill in casting delicate things was studied and reconstructed in the foregoing essay by means of the detailed information about molding, casting, and materials used in creating life casts of plants and animals throughout the manuscript. The research presented here aims to provide a better understanding of life casting techniques especially in relation to the evidence in the manuscript that the author was learning through his practice, while also contributing to the study of casting practices for small and delicate things in early modern Europe, considering the scarcity of primary sources available on the subject.27
In sixteenth-century Europe, flowers like roses were associated with the concept of physical beauty subject to the damage of passing time.28 From this perspective, our work of reconstruction of the author’s experiments demonstrates that the life casting process is far from being merely a sequence of technical steps. On the contrary, life casting is an unique opportunity to give immortality to an animate, delicate thing that preserves its intrinsic values. This artistic practice thus becomes one of the author’s main preoccupations throughout the whole manuscript. His intensive effort to make life casting a perfect process through experimentation with “veins,” “breathing holes,” and many varieties of alloys and molds reveals a goal to suspend the ravages of nature in order to capture and fix the ephemeral form of a living rose in metal.
References
Biringuccio, Vannoccio. The Pirotechnia, The Classic Sixteenth-Century Treatise on Metals and Metallurgy. Translated by Cyril Stanley Smith and Martha Teach Gnudi. Massachusetts: Cambridge, 1966.
Cennini, Cennino. Il Libro dell’ Arte. Translated by D. V. Thompson. New York: Dover, 1960.
Cotgrave, R. Dictionarie of the French and English Tongue. London, 1611. http://www.micmap.org/dicfro/search/cotgrave (accessed April, 17 2015)
Fuchs, L. L’Histoire des Plantes. Lyon, 1558.
Lein, E. Ars Aeraria: Die Kunst des Bronzegiebens und die bedeutung von bronze in der florentinischen Renaissance, Mainz, Germany: P. von Zabern, 2004.
Harkness, P. The Rose: An Illustrated History. Italy: Firefly Book, 2003.
Platt, H. The Jewell House of Art and Nature: Containing divers rare and profitable Inventions, together with sundry new experimentes in the Art of Husbandry, Distillation, and Molding. London, 1594.
Smith, P. “Making as Knowing: Craft as Natural Philosophy.” In Ways of Making and Knowing: The Material Culture of Empirical Knowledge, edited by P. Smith, A. R. W. Meyers, and H. J. Cook, 17–47. Michigan: The University of Michigan, 2014.
Smith, P. and Beentjes, T. “Nature and Art, Making and Knowing: Reconstructing Sixteenth Century Life Casting Techniques.” Renaissance Quarterly 63 (2010).
Theophilus. The Various Arts. Translated by C. R. Dodwell. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.
Thompson, D. V., The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Paintings. New York: New York, 1956.
1 Translating filons de chire requires some consideration. In a first translation, these two terms refers to “wax vents,” meaning the two vents necessary for air circulation during the metal pouring. However, in R. Cotgrave’s Dictionarie of the French and English Tongue (London 1611) filon means “a vein of metal in a mine,” and thus is this case must refer to “a vein of wax” or sprue within the recipe, perhaps implying its transformation in “a vein of metal” after the casting process is complete. Another term used by the author to indicate a sprue is cire abougie, candle wax (fol.142r, how to mold a crayfish). Piede de cire (fol.117r), means “wax peg,” while gect, (fol.155r), which according to the same dictionary mentioned above means literally “cast,” refers to this latter translation in the sentence “…[you will be able to do] several casts.” Our interpretation of the author’s instructions regarding the system of veins (or sprues) translates gect as “wax peg,” as in the sentence “You can even make a little vein of wax from the back of the first petal, which will join up with the main cast.” As we understand it, a vent is indicated instead by the phrase “…deulx souspirails avecq deulx petits bastons” (fol.117r), “…two vent holes with two little sticks.” Souspirail may be translated in English as “an overture, or passage, for air to come in and out,” according to Cotgrave’s 1611 Dictionarie.
2 While initially the word foeuille was interpreted as petals, the previous Rose Molding annotation conducted by Carlson and Katz in Fall 2014 found “leaf” to be a more accurate translation, and it is thus used here. See the Fall 2014 Annotation by Carlson and Katz.
3 Raymond Carlson and Jordan Katz’s 2014 annotation, Rose Molding, discusses the cultural meaning of such rose casting within the artistic context of sixteenth-century France.
4 It’s not clear what “glazed brass” means. The author-practitioner probably means gilded brass, but further study of contemporary metal casting and materials is necessary to confirm this.
5 We decided not to proceed with casting the buds, as the process would have been the same as that used to cast the leaves.
6 See Leonhart Fuchs, L’Histoire des Plantes (Lyon, 1558), 448–450.
7 For a discussion of the introduction of a multi-petaled white rose into sixteenth century Europe, see Peter Harkness, The Rose: An Illustrated History (Italy: Firefly Book, 2003), 128. Unfortunately, there is not an illustration available of this rose in this book, and sixteenth-century illustrations of roses are rare.
8 The significance of the use of melted butter can be investigated from a cultural perspective too. According to Pamela Smith, (“ ‘Making as Knowing’: Craft as Natural Philosophy,” in Ways of Making and Knowing, The Material Culture of Empirical Knowledge, ed. by Harold Cook, Amy Meyers, and Pamela Smith et al. [Michigan: The University of Michigan, 2014], 17–47), eating butter is recommended in several sixteenth-century metalworking texts as a prophylactic against poisonous metal fumes. The author’s preference for butter instead of wheat oil may thus reflect a desire to extend this perceived power to the object being cast, to make it strong enough to resist the pouring sand.
9 on fol.129r, the author recommends brushing the petals with wheat oil instead of butter. In the recipe under discussion (fol.155r), he mentions melted butter, and in a later text (fol.154v), determines that wheat oil should “not” be used to strengthen flowers, but rather that melted butter should “coat” the backs of flower petals. As explained on page 6 of R. Carlson and J. Katz’s Annotation Rose Molding, Fall 2014,” “the author self-corrects” as the manuscript develops.
10 As reported by Pamela Smith and Tony Beentjes, “Nature and Art: Making and Knowing: Reconstructing Sixteenth Century Life Casting Techniques,” Renaissance Quarterly 63 (2010), the author specifies the use of butter on other delicate objects: grasshopper wings (fol.142v); hair on a rat (fol.152r); pansy petals (fol.110v); feathers on bird (fol.157v); flies’ wings (fol.156v).
11 The wax peg at the base of the mold functioned as the metal pouring gate.
12 See passage on fol. 117r: “[…] But if it is fine and delicate, plant up standing up with the wax peg so that the sand will always raise it up, it being very clear.[…]”
13 See fol. 159v description of how to mold a crayfish and burn its ashes out: “Try to make one side as thick as the other, that way the two parts will be equally reheated. You can open this kind of mold, in order to clean it, when you mold some animals, like crayfish, which burn. When your mold is reheated, do not wait too long before casting again, because it gets damp and loses its strength.”
14 Following what we learned experimenting in molding roses during Andrew Lacey’s residence in the lab (March 2015), the construction of our one- and two-piece molds required a base one inch wider than the cast object, while the walls had to be two inches taller than the object to assure that the sand completely covered and surrounded the cast object.
15 We applied spirits on the reverse of the leaves again. This time, we wanted to assure that the sand flows easily on their surfaces.
16 Bnf. Ms. Fr. 640, fol. 121v, “Casting in silver”: “You should place the animals as said and similarly compose the sand by taking four measures of plaster, two measures of annealed bricks, and one measure of annealed stone alum. Mix it well, and once it is ready and you wish to mold, take three measures from the sort of dish used by peasants to eat. Add pure annealed stone alum that has been ground in a mortar to this sand, as much as you will be able to grab with your four fingers and thumb or with a small joint. Then, mix well and dilute [this mixture] with a bit of sal ammoniac and the rest of common water. And stir it with your palette so that it all becomes like a thick sauce or light mustard. Once you have applied spirits with a brush on the animal, cast as well, and hit the table for the mold to shake and proceed similarly as the others. Do not forget to put crocum because it prevents mold from breaking and it is appropriate with every metal.”
17 Our protocol for the sand recipe was based on experience gained during the previously mentioned March 2015 lab. residency of Andrew Lacey. The increase of the amount of sal ammoniac is explained by the fact that the two-piece mold built for the bunch of leaves was much larger than the one-piece mold made for the previous experiment with the leaves.
18 Vannoccio Biringuccio’s 1540 volume Pirotechnia suggests yet another sand recipe, a powder made of ground pumice and iron scale to mold “every smallest thing, however thin it might be.” Although he does not specify if this includes life casting, it would be interesting to further investigate rose molding with Biringuccio’s dry powder recipe. See Biringuccio, Pirotechnia, trans. Cyril Stanley Smith and Martha Teach Gnudi (Massachusetts: Cambridge, 1966), 324–325.
19 Bnf. Ms. Fr. 640, fol. 116v, “Fine herbs, flowers, and greeneries”: “[…] You need more than 3 parts of tin for one part of lead. If this material is thick and fat, you need 3 parts lead. Heat the mostly tin mixture, which must become red and very hot. When you want to cast, remove your crucible from the fire, and add two or three grains of resin for one and a half or two pounds of lead or tin. With the resin, also some fat looking-glass tin, the size of an auclane with its shell, mix and cast. Make sure you have more metal than you need; some metal should be set aside. If you haven’t enough metal, keep casting and finish your cast, it will set, however it will not be so neat. Dip your mold into water, and dismantle your mold carefully with a point. Make an elongated cast in order not to damage anything. If you mold something very thin, you must make your cast with mostly tin.”
20 We decided not to experiment with casting the stem in brass as suggested by the author on fol.155r, because brass is hard to melt and would require equipment that was not available at the time in the laboratory.
21 See above, n. 19.
22 Biringuccio, Pirotechnia, 211 n. 17.
23 The detailed result of the casting was visible only after a long period of carefully cleaning the space between the petals from remnants of sand. As instructed by the author, we soaked our work “…in water for a long time so that when you shake it in the water, the earth comes off.” A sharpened metal needle was also needed to remove all the sand from the rose.
24 Because of time constraints, our experiment did not further investigate fish glue. If time had permitted, we intended to compose this glue from codfish skin as described on fol. 7r: “It is made from codfish skin that has been boiled rather than salted. Joiners use it on their masterpieces and guitar makers use it for their more delicate works. It needs to be strongly whipped, then soaked gently in hardly boiling water.” Future reconstruction of this fish glue will be helpful in determining its properties as an efficient repair material for delicate cast objects, as described for example on fol.156v: “If it happens that you have some defects with your fly’s wings, hammer some very fine tin, or gold or silver, if you cast it, and shape with scissors the amount you need for your wings. And then apply it with tweezers and glue it with fish glue, applied like it is shown underneath. And before doing thing this heat your work lightly so that its coldness does not repel the glue, which will dry quickly, heating it from afar. Then cover lightly the joints of whatever you’ve attached to the cast with some esbaucher wax, which is a white wax that is mixed with a lot of ceruse or white lead, melting it with and warm iron tip. You will also cut little bits of harpsichord string and will glue them with the aforementioned glue when they are dry. That is the say, the feet, having been reworked thusly, you will make them bigger with this same melted wax so that they are equal in proportion [with the rest].” Although the author refers to an image “shown underneath,” there is no drawing in the actual manuscript that would help visualize the application of the fish glue, making practical experimentation even more valuable.
25 Fish glue had other useful applications. Cennino Cennini mentions it in the context of restoration: “this glue is made from various kind of fish…it is good and excellent for mending lutes and other fine paper, wooden, or…” Daniel V. Thompson, The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Paintings (New York: New York, 1956) 58–61 describes a similar application of the fish glue for mending parchments, while also stating that “the chief importance of both size and fish glue in illumination was to act as a binder for the grounds upon which gold leaf was made.” The use of fish glue in repairing illuminated manuscript is also mentioned in the medieval De Diversis Artibus of Theophilus, which presents directions for grinding gold and mixing it with fish glue. Theophilus, The Various Arts: De Diversis Artibus, trans. C. R. Dodwell (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), Ch. XXXIII.
26 In another contemporary source describing the life casting of flowers and plants, Hugh Platt, also describes both types of mold. Platt doesn’t suggest a two-piece mold exclusively for use with leaves, but implies this technique should be applied to the whole flower or plant being cast. It would be interesting to experiment with creating a two-piece mold for a whole flower and to thus verify why our author-practitioner is so determined to cut the flower in pieces and use a double mold only for the leaves. Unfortunately Platt’s instructions are very vague, and would be hard to understand without previously study and experimentation with the manuscript under discussion in this essay. This example reinforces the thoughtful and detailed nature of our author-practitioner’s life casting procedure. Hugh Platt, The Jewell House of Art and Nature: Containing divers rare and profitable Inventions, together with sundry new experimentes in the Art of Husbandry, Distillation, and Molding (London, 1594), 50–56.
27 There are a few primary sources describing life casting techniques for small things. However, the instructions provided are never so detailed as those in Bnf. Ms. Fr. 640 manuscript, and they are dated to the early seventeenth century. See for example, Edgar Lein, Ars Aeraria: Die Kunst des Bronzegiebens und die bedeutung von bronze in der florentinischen Renaissance, (Mainz, Germany: P. von Zabern, 2004), 42-45
28 See Carlson and Katz in Fall 2014 annotation On Molding a Rose.