2020 Essays

To Shrink an Object: Bread Molding in Ms. Fr. 640

Lim, Min

“To Shrink an Object” examines the process on fol. 140v for varying the shape or size of an impression in a mold made from bread, which is subsequently cast with sulfur. It situates this bread molding recipe in its historical context—of bread molding methods as well as uses of bread and bread making in craft and artistic practices—in the period of the manuscript’s compilation. The reconstruction tests the viability of this process, specifically, the entry’s instructions to dry the bread in order to reduce the size of an impression in a bread mold, and thus of the subsequently cast object, in relation to the original pattern used to make the imprint. Reconstruction shows that the types of bread used, along with the preparation of the bread pith, influence the extent of the shrinkage. Reheating a bread mold also hastened the shrinking process that occurred when imprints were left to dry naturally. The longer the molds were reheated, the more the impressions decreased in size.