Paint and finishes.

I love the day after scriptorium when my head is swimming with ideas.

Bodily fluids were and still are an important part of art and painting. Anyone who has been the parent of an exuberant child has probably seen the artistic results of an exploration of a diaper. It isn't pretty, in the traditional sense.

Medieval artists used everything at their disposal to create paints and pigments. They made lovely greens by oxidation of copper sheets in urine to create copper resinate green. Leads white is made by dropping bits of lead pipes in vinegar. This creates lead carbonate crystals, which for white lead, lead-tin yellow, and red lead. "In the 1558 edition of "The secretes of the reverende Maister Alexis of Piemount" there is a recipe for staining wood for use in joinery, using horse manure, alum, gum arabic, and unspecified dyes." (http://www.his.com/~tom/sca/finishes.html) I will definitely be following up on this.