1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,333 The Making and Knowing Project, makingandknowing.org 2 00:00:03,333 --> 00:00:07,700 Painting in Oil on Taffeta, the Making and Knowing Project 3 00:00:07,700 --> 00:00:10,833 By Sumeyye Yar and Sophie Pitman 4 00:00:10,833 --> 00:00:14,833 I am Sumeyye Yar. I am actually a biologist 5 00:00:14,833 --> 00:00:16,700 but I'm also a maker 6 00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:20,166 who is interested in reconstructing historic scientific tools. 7 00:00:20,166 --> 00:00:23,100 For my project, I reconstructed two recipes 8 00:00:23,100 --> 00:00:29,333 that describe how to oil paint on taffeta without the oil running. 9 00:00:29,333 --> 00:00:35,733 The recipes: there are two recipes in BnF Ms Fr 640 which suggest making a ground layer (a "size") to stop oil from running on taffeta 10 00:00:35,733 --> 00:00:38,066 Folio 42v contains a straightforward set of instructions 11 00:00:38,066 --> 00:00:42,433 "in order that the oil shall not run, make your first layer with honey, water of alum, and starch water" 12 00:00:42,433 --> 00:00:46,166 This layer is painted onto the taffeta, which, once dry, can be painted with oil colors 13 00:00:46,166 --> 00:00:50,200 The recipe on folio 10v is a little different 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:56,366 It suggests you make a “batture” of honey and turpentine of “colle forte.” Colle forte is a strong glue, often made of rabbit skin 15 00:00:56,366 --> 00:01:00,366 Both folio 42v and 10v share two ingredients: 16 00:01:00,366 --> 00:01:05,266 those are honey and alum of water. 17 00:01:05,266 --> 00:01:08,233 Different from those common ingredients, 18 00:01:08,233 --> 00:01:12,866 folio 42v calls for starch water 19 00:01:12,866 --> 00:01:19,733 while folio 10v calls for rabbit skin glue. 20 00:01:19,733 --> 00:01:24,300 What does painting oil “without the oil running” mean? Why would you need to stop it? 21 00:01:24,300 --> 00:01:28,300 The first problem that we identified with oil painting of taffeta was the 22 00:01:28,300 --> 00:01:33,266 transfer of all paints to the back side of the fabric. 23 00:01:33,266 --> 00:01:37,266 Another problem with oil painting on taffeta is 24 00:01:37,266 --> 00:01:41,600 easily visible on this different taffeta sample. 25 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,633 When you look over here, 26 00:01:44,633 --> 00:01:49,300 you will see that when there is no sizing applied on the taffeta surface 27 00:01:49,300 --> 00:01:52,333 an oil ring forms 28 00:01:52,333 --> 00:01:54,866 around the painted area. 29 00:01:54,866 --> 00:01:58,866 Comparing this “no-size-applied” taffeta test 30 00:01:58,866 --> 00:02:01,900 to a “size” taffeta test, 31 00:02:01,900 --> 00:02:04,866 at first glance we don't see much difference. 32 00:02:04,866 --> 00:02:07,633 But when we turn them around, 33 00:02:07,633 --> 00:02:12,000 we see that this “no-size-applied” taffeta sample 34 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,466 lets the paint pass through the fabric. 35 00:02:16,466 --> 00:02:18,966 Versus in this example, 36 00:02:18,966 --> 00:02:21,300 when you look to the right side, 37 00:02:21,300 --> 00:02:25,300 you see that the sizing material formed, 38 00:02:25,300 --> 00:02:32,433 actually, a physical barrier and prevented the oil from seeping through the taffeta. 39 00:02:32,433 --> 00:02:37,233 Oil runs through the fabric and passes to the back side of the fabric. 40 00:02:37,233 --> 00:02:41,766 Neither of these recipes gives us any information about the ratios of the ingredients. 41 00:02:41,766 --> 00:02:44,666 That's why I chose some starting concentrations 42 00:02:44,666 --> 00:02:51,566 and then tried out combinations of different ratios of those ingredients. 43 00:02:51,566 --> 00:02:54,133 What were the results? 44 00:02:54,133 --> 00:02:59,666 I would like to mention that out of eight different tests that I have done for folio 42v, 45 00:02:59,666 --> 00:03:01,700 only one of them actually worked. 46 00:03:01,700 --> 00:03:06,233 And that one was the one with the highest wheat starch concentration. 47 00:03:06,233 --> 00:03:10,233 The rest, which you can see here, did not work. 48 00:03:10,233 --> 00:03:14,233 They were just similar to “no-size” application. 49 00:03:14,233 --> 00:03:17,733 The higher the mixed wheat concentration, 50 00:03:17,733 --> 00:03:22,500 the easier it forms a physical barrier on the surface of the fabric. 51 00:03:22,500 --> 00:03:26,500 Folio 10v seemed to work much better than folio 42v, 52 00:03:26,500 --> 00:03:31,433 because all of the six different tests that I have done for 10v actually worked. 53 00:03:31,433 --> 00:03:35,433 Remember that the only different ingredient between 10v and 42v 54 00:03:35,433 --> 00:03:40,700 is that 10v uses rabbit skin glue versus 42v which uses wheat starch paste. 55 00:03:40,700 --> 00:03:46,866 Under these conditions it seems like rabbit skin glue functions better than wheat starch paste. 56 00:03:46,866 --> 00:03:51,833 And let me show you some examples. Here, you again see on the left, 57 00:03:51,833 --> 00:03:57,700 “no-size-applied” taffeta, and on the right you see a "batture" mix applied 58 00:03:57,700 --> 00:04:01,533 and when I turn them around, 59 00:04:01,533 --> 00:04:05,533 you see that "batture" completely blocks 60 00:04:05,533 --> 00:04:09,966 the transfer of the paint on the backside of the taffeta. 61 00:04:09,966 --> 00:04:12,866 And this was the case for all the tests, 62 00:04:12,866 --> 00:04:17,033 no matter how I changed the concentrations of ingredients. 63 00:04:17,033 --> 00:04:23,366 As long as I used rabbit skin glue at a concentration of 6% up to 10%, 64 00:04:23,366 --> 00:04:25,266 it worked. 65 00:04:25,266 --> 00:04:29,866 To sum up, comparing my findings to the findings of the previous group suggested that 66 00:04:29,866 --> 00:04:35,033 the choice of taffeta is actually very crucial for a successful application of these recipes. 67 00:04:35,033 --> 00:04:40,600 In addition to the choice of taffeta, of course the ratios also play an important role, 68 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:45,133 but the binding oil is also very crucial 69 00:04:45,133 --> 00:04:49,533 and it seems like 100% linseed oil worked the best. 70 00:04:49,533 --> 00:04:54,033 What were oil painted textiles used for in the early modern era? 71 00:04:54,033 --> 00:04:58,033 Our historical research suggested that oil painting on taffeta 72 00:04:58,033 --> 00:05:05,033 might have been used on banners that were carried in festivals, processions, and royal entries. 73 00:05:05,033 --> 00:05:08,533 As a showpiece for a completion of my project, 74 00:05:08,533 --> 00:05:13,000 I decided to paint out the shield of the Bethune family, 75 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,633 which is found on the binding of our manuscript. 76 00:05:17,633 --> 00:05:21,666 And you can see here that the paint went on smoothly 77 00:05:21,666 --> 00:05:27,166 after applying a “batture” mixture that was prepared according to one of the tests 78 00:05:27,166 --> 00:05:30,033 the test mixtures that I used. 79 00:05:30,033 --> 00:05:32,066 And when I turn it around, 80 00:05:32,066 --> 00:05:37,233 you can see that there is no transfer of the dye to the backside of the taffeta. 81 00:05:37,233 --> 00:05:40,766 One of the great findings of Sumeyye’s annotation 82 00:05:40,766 --> 00:05:44,766 was that it tells us a little bit more about the kinds of ephemeral art 83 00:05:44,766 --> 00:05:48,300 that we know that people experienced in the early modern period. 84 00:05:48,300 --> 00:05:53,366 Things like painted banners that were carried in triumphs and in processions. 85 00:05:53,366 --> 00:05:57,366 But these things have often been lost to us. They were very delicate, 86 00:05:57,366 --> 00:06:01,366 they often weren't saved or collected by museums later on. 87 00:06:01,366 --> 00:06:05,366 But one of the great things about our manuscript is that it reminds us 88 00:06:05,366 --> 00:06:09,366 of the kinds of practices that artists were having to think about, 89 00:06:09,366 --> 00:06:14,666 like how to stop oil running through a fine taffeta when they were making these objects. 90 00:06:14,666 --> 00:06:18,666 So it's been a great finding for the lab with our focus on ephemeral art 91 00:06:18,666 --> 00:06:28,100 and to get us thinking about the kinds of practices that the author-practitioner was doing every day in his workshop. 92 00:06:28,100 --> 00:06:32,000 For more about this experiment and the Making and Knowing Project, please visit www.makingandknowing.org 93 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,033 Research project by Sumeyye Yar Supervised by Sophie Pitman Filming and editing by Sophie Pitman 94 00:06:34,033 --> 00:06:36,066 Music by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue), used under a noncommercial license. 95 00:06:36,066 --> 00:06:38,033 Images of the Triumph of Julius Caesar from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Images in the public domain. 96 00:06:38,033 --> 00:06:40,033 Many thanks to the rest of the Making and Knowing Team 97 00:06:40,033 --> 00:06:42,000 (Pamela Smith, Tianna Uchacz, Tillmann Taape, Naomi Rosenkranz, and Caroline Surman) 98 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,966 as well as our many collaborators and students for their support and ideas.