Ink Research

Links to internet research:

I found this advertisement from 2003, and I would like to look into human urine and bamboo.

a village lost in the wilderness of the huge Tibetan plateau, nestled between cliffs and whipped all winter long by an icy wind, which hides a unique rare pearl: its printing house." Here the Tibetans print their sacred manuscripts, using traditional hand methods to carve the wood blocks, make the ink, and make the paper. In Chengdu the group visits the memorial to Hsieh-Tao, whom the Chinese describe as the first lady papermaker. During the great Tang Dynasty (8th cent.) she created fancy designs in notepapers (this was the beginning of watermarks in paper),on which she wrote love poems. For another amazing papermaking experience, we drive to Fuyang, the largest center of papermaking in China for both handmade paper and machine paper. Here we visit a village inhabited by Cai Lun's descendants,who make bamboo paper by hand. And we see the unusual method of using human urine in the processing of bamboo. In Anhui Province we see papermakers producing the famous "Xuan" paper, revered by Chinese painters and calligraphers. They believe the handmade paper of Anhui surpasses all others. For details, contact Elaine Koretsky at the Carriage House Paper Museum, 8 Evans Rd. Brookline MA 02445, USA; tel: 1(617)232-1636; email: click here

http://www.paperhistory.org/arch_nws.htm

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This is from an article on soil conditioning in the Ganges but I think I can use the information on an economic projection. It should tie in well with the theory on plague being worsened by weather and manure shortage issues. I have outputs for cattle and pigeons.

The daily per capita availability of night soil, human urine and nutrients contained in it is as under:

Particulars	Faeces (g)	Urine(s)
Quantity (natural condition)	133.00	1200.00
Quantity (dry)	30.30	64.00
Nitrogen	2.10	12.10
Phosphorus	1.64	1.80
Potassium	0.73	2.22

This data shows that night soil and human urine have a great manurial potential with regard to nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Due to this potential, it is considered good manure by the farmers.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5672e/x5672e03.htm

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Nevertheless, Egyptian toothpaste was more pleasant than that used by the ancient Romans. Roman toothpaste around 100 A.D. was made from human urine. Between brushings, urine was also used as a mouthwash. Roman physicians claimed that brushing with urine whitened teeth and fixed them more solidly in their sockets. Indeed, some urines were more highly prized than others. For example, Roman aristocrats paid dearly for urine imported from Portugal. Portuguese urine was reputedly both the strongest smelling and the best whitener.

Urine remained a common ingredient in toothpastes well into the 18th century. This was because early dentists knew that urine is a ready source of ammonia - one of the most effective natural cleaning and disinfecting agents. Even today, ammonia can often be found in modern dental pastes.

http://www.harpercollins.com.au/drstephenjuan/0507news.htm
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HA!! Papermaking!!

nique Bamboo Paper

Donated by Elaine Koretsky
Shipping Weight: two pounds
Estimated Value: $100
Starting Bid: $35

Ten full-size sheets (12.5"x15.5") of paper featured in the Winter 2005 issue of Hand Papermaking. Produced in Cai Jia Wu, China, the bamboo for this paper is harvested, soaked, and cooked in the usual way, but the final stage of processing is unusual. The fiber is further softened in a pit containing five parts water and one part human urine. This paper is dyed yellow to simulate gold and used primarily for burning at religious ceremonies.

http://www.handpapermaking.org/auction/item05.htm

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OHMIGAWD!!! I NEEDED A KID'S URINE!!!

Brown inks : Bistre

Old Master drawings are popularly identified with the handsome brown color of their ink. Formerly these sheets were commonly described with the misnomer "sepia". It is usual today to describe all such drawings as "pen and brown ink" or "brush and brown wash", because, although a number of different inks were used, it is difficult to distinguish between them. Of the two primary kinds of ink, bistre presents more or less the original appearance at the time of use, and iron-gall ink turns from black to brown with time. Bistre was made from chimney soot dissolved in wine, water, or a child's urine. A binder was not necessary. The color of bistre varies with the wood from which the soot was derived, but in general it has a warm, transparent brown tone.

http://www.nyu.edu/classes/miller/guide/bistre.html

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Again, urine is not the first choice...

XX. For the vermilion.

Vermilion becomes very fine in aquavitae, or in child's urine. But it will be still finer, if you put in aquavitae with a little saffron. It is used with whipped whites of eggs.

http://old-crafts.com/colors_and_painting/compositions_for_limners.htm

And Ink!

Today, I continued with my learning about cheese. Luckily, the baroness is teaching me via email and phone. Between my car and her bum foot, we are both stuck at home. It isn't so bad. I am learning a lot. The haloumi and teleme are pressing in the refridgerator and I am boiling down the mysost as we speak.

It has to reduce by 75% before the next step. That is taking a lot longer than I expected because of the electric stove. I will probably be editing this post as I go. I am excited about this because it is a whey based cheese instead of a milk based cheese.




Well, you knew it was coming Susan. Yes! Time to make ink! I found an old iron pipe that was not galvanized and set about soaking it in some old urine. The recipe prefers first morning urine, but I actually am running low on that and saving it for other projects. It should be done in a stoneware jar, but I do not have those either.

I decided to cruise around the internet and find out where I got this recipe. It was at the time when all of my search came from the internet. I remember it because when I was at Penssic a few years back, I asked a merchant about it. He pulled out a manuscript that had been eatten away by the ink. He thought the one he had was an iron gall ink. Anyhow, he said urine-based would do the same thing only faster.



On another note, Magge and Graywolfe gave me Caroline Holmes The Not So Little Book of Dung which was just released. It has interesting pictures and I will review it after I read it.

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Ok, so on to the collection of internet notes... (For those of you who are new, I paste notes in here and links so I can look them up later.) Every time I look for notes on why I am doing something, I find a gazillion more links that show how little I know.

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Red ochre, the most common red pigment, was rarely used in manuscripts, but commonly used in wall painting. Vermillion was obtained from cinnabar, or through a chemical reaction of heating mercury and sulfur together to produce mercuric sulphide. Mixed with white lead it formed a flesh color, olchus or membrana. Red lead, minium or sandaraca, was prepared by heating white lead for several days. It was necessary to stir the pot every two hours, and it was suggested that one forego sleep for several days. It was recommended that vermillion be added to the lead to make it more brilliant. Brazil wood dye was the most useful red pigment for manuscripts. Wood shavings were soaked in a solution of lye, wine, or urine for several hours and then alum was added. The intensity of the color was a result of the quantity of alum added. Pigment was mixed with glair for red ink or for glazing over illumination. It could be precipitated into a powder and then mixed with gum to be made into paint. Purple was derived from a mixture of azurite and brazil wood, or the juice of bilberries and alum. A common purple pigment was folium, derived from the seeds of turnsole. It was used in the form of clothlets, and cheese glue was used as a medium. White was obtained by the use of white lead even though it was poisonous and turned black in the presence of certain other pigments. It was made by placing plates or strips of lead above vinegar. The white lead was scraped off, and wine was used as a medium. It could not be mixed with vermillion or orpiment, and so in those instances other white pigments such as ground bones or egg shells were used. Orpiment (an arsenic compound) was widely used for yellow, even though it was poisonous and rather coarse. Because it was so coarse it was customary to add another pigment, yellow ochre, to it which would give the painted surface a smoother appearance. Yellow ochre was rarely used by itself in manuscripts, as it was more appropriate for wall painting. Saffron was also used to produce a yellow pigment, though it was not permanent.

http://web.ku.edu/~bookhist/medbook1.html


Oh and lookie!!! Persians! I need to bring this up with Master Jim. I don't think I can get mango leaves so I will see if the substance is available in India. This is also a serious published study and a must have for the collection. Journal of American Institute for Conservation 1991, Volume 30, Number 2, Article 2 (pp. 125 to 144)

Organic yellow pigments were not found in this analysis, but they may have been used. Indian yellow, a brilliant, stable, yellow pigment prepared in Bengal from the urine of cows fed on mango leaves, may have been used by Persian painters. Saffron, a rich golden yellow powder from the flower of the plant, Crocus sativa, that was cultivated from Sassanian times in Iran, probably could have served directly as a pigment (Laufer 1919, 320). The Persian painters may have found this powder particularly useful in combination with gold pigment. Because saffron has always been dear, less expensive colors such as the orange from safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) or the yellow from shoots and roots of tumeric (Curcuma domestica and Curcuma longa) were often combined with saffron as adulterants (Laufer 1919, 309–10; Wulff 1966, 191). Wulff (1961) has indicated that both colors were employed in Persian textile production as well. Iranian textile dyers employed yet another yellow prepared from Persian berries (Rhamnus infectorius) as a lake; it might have been used as a pigment, too.

http://aic.stanford.edu/jaic/articles/jaic30-02-002.html

A&S strikes Vinhold

Luckily, no one reads this blog....

So, we have our troops somewhere. Our baroness says we need a banner for that so we made her one. There are several pictures of it. I have done a few silk painting pieces but this is the first one that I felt a part of. I hope you all enjoy it.

Did you think I was done?

HA! No. This is my primary way of showing Susan what I am doing, so she gets to see loads o projects. I am making good on my intention to learn illumination and calligraphy. It has been years since I picked up a pen and this time I decided to work with a dip pen. Might as well learn it the right way.

You will notice that the fonts are different and the penstroke is completely off in my first attempt in about say... years? The black pen is my great grandfather's dip pen that I found in his desk. I was using stamp ink on a flat surface. It is a ball tip, so it doesn't pick up the look that I want. The purple is a shaefer with a cartridge.







Ah ha! Here we go! I ran to Michael's and got a Chronicle dip pen with five round hand tips to learn uncial. I don't know that one at all. I guess that is obvious from my practice pages.

Master JimBear was so sweet. I called him and he was kind about walking me through what I needed and curbing my shopping habit. I can't be trusted in that mode and I think he knew it. I wanted to buy everything I needed for my project day so that there were no holes between blogging and production. I limited myself to a Chronicle dip pen and set of nibs, calligraphy paper and sumi ink. He said no to brushes and such, and will try and pick some up for me in LA.



To my county hours... I think that is what this is!

I started this when we first had some stuff to take home from the calligraphy and illumination workshops. I expanded the 8x10 drawing to fit my water color pad. I taped it in the window and did some tracing. The first time I colorded in the bits, I didn't really understand acanthus leaves.

I am repainting all of the acanthus so that I understand the twist and thrust of the leaves. Undersides are red and overs are green. It is sloppy, but remember, this is my first time ever using a water color since like second grade.

The piece has ink spots from my calligraphy, and I think I will figure out something cute to write on it and hand it off to someone as a letter of appreciation.

After

Before

This is the urine vat after 2 hours in the sun and an infusion of sugar. As you can see, it is noticably darker than it was when I started. I hope this shows in the pictures. The cloth is turning color and it is taking on a cast of muddy green. I hope the oxidation works. Keep your digits crossed!

Other projects!

Proof that I can do lampwork! These are various beads I have made over the last 3 months. Obviously, I am just learning and this is going to take a great deal of skill. The two beads on the right are supposed to be fish. Hey, bald guy could tell they were fish so they are fish!

The pink one has ruby dust in it. I think it is ruby glass dust but it is pretty and I love the colors. It is also diachromatic. The brown and white one has a copper fall leaf in it. I think it is spiffy. The two dark beads have diachromatic glass in them. I have found mentions of that effect in beads from throwing in mica dust. I am going to have to look around for some information on that and see if I can find something to add to my body of knowledge. None of these projects was done today. I have been busy making....

Cheese!

Behold the power of Cheese! Here we go with the feta. I did EVERYTHING wrong. I kept going. I boiled the milk. I didn't get everything going in time. I went to get my son at work and left the stove on when it should have been setting UNHEATED for an hour. It was at a mild rolling boil when we got home. GAH!!! I had already put the yoghurt in it! Oh damn. I put it in an ice water bath and cooled it back down to 92 degrees, then I added more yoghurt. I had to hope for the best. My son is a professional chef and tried to get me to give up.


One hour later, I added the junket tablets. I hoped it would work and went to bed. I got up in the morning and read the recipe again. I needed to know if it was time to toss it. I opened the stock pot and gave it a shake. Solid!!! The curds passed the knife test! I carefully cut them up and began to warm them. I got it too hot twice, but that happens with an electric stove. I reduced them down, and hung the curds as seen in the picture.

My next move was to wait 4 hours. I wanted to curds to be very dry for my feta. I am going to be doing some special food that will need a very dry and salted feta. See? I am excited and thinking ahead. The curds are a bit too yellow, which I attribute to the milk having boiled and then cooled. Hey, think sterile!

I picked out brown bits that had snuck in and added about 1/2 teaspoon of Trader Joe's sea salt. Then I tried some. OH! It tasted like feta! How exciting. The whole thing was coming together like it was supposed to do!

Now for the bad part. I wanted to make a horse poo shaped cheese. But, I can't. You see, it isn't even really poo shaped. I was so sad. Eibhlin did the actual research for me and showed me the picture. It turns out that it is an ordinary hockey puck of cheese. No road apples. The French Cheese Book by Tomoko Yamada, Yohei Maruyama, and Kazuko Masui is the book that is shown in this picture.

I decided then that my feta can be any general round shape. I didn't have a can or round big, so I used a flower pot! Don't worry, I keep one around the kitchen for kitchen duties. Terracotta is a handy thing to have in your kitchen.



The pot is lined with an old cotton dishtowel. I wanted to make sure I got it packed down tight in there. I need a firm curd for when I pack it down.









I then squished it down after this picture, and smashed it a bit more. Then I added a thin metal plate and a weight that is actually a tin of oatmeal. I haven't thought of a heavy object that would fit in there. I should see if the old iron works.

The whole thing needs to sit in the refridgerator for a few days to drain the curd. Then it goes into a brine bath until I use it. YAY!

Project day!

I am so excited that this weekend I have taken some time to actually pull out some of my research materials and do this up right. I have been fermenting indigo in urine for several weeks and was hoping to find a piece of silk to dye. It took longer to find the silk than anything else.

I know it doesn't look like much and I am convinced the fermentation stopped at some point. The key is to get the fermentation going to break down the indigo powder. It seems that it stalled. I put the fabric in and I think the mixture was too cold. It should be about 80 to 90 degrees. I was not too concerned though. Living in Napa Valley has taught me a lot about fermentation. It also told me that we had another problem.

Three healthy adults and I contributed to the urine vat. The problem is that I am hypoglycaemic and they are healthy. We needed a diabetic for the extra sugar in the urine. I have had problems with the vat fermenting and I knew it wasn't stalled for heat before. It has been extremely hot here and I have even taken the vat into the blockhouse. So, what I decided was we were short on sugar. I looked it up on the internet and found that a lot of people who do this use mollasses or sugar. I used white sugar because I didn't feel like finding the mollasses. Hopefully, that will kickstart it. I have it back out in the sun.

I will check it in a few days. I would normally check it in the morning but I am heading up to Portland tonight. If it doesn't dye I will wash the fabric and start over. If it does work, it will be insanely dark. Either way, I think I win.

How about for my next project? I decided that I will need an adorable muller like Master Jim Bear has. I really enjoy the feel of things. For example, I wear more natural fibers because they don't make me crazy with the tactile sensations. A muller makes regular gouche less grainy and it makes me happier. Anyhow, I thought I would whip one up with my new glass bead skills. I thought about the color a lot. I should have been thinking about technique.

As you can see on the graph paper, the piece is not very long. It ended up being very lumpy. It looks like there were bubbles in the glass but there are not really any bubbles. It is lumps of clear glass that didn't really turn the way I wanted them to turn. As you can see, it wasn't a pretty piece by any stretch of the imagination, but it did have a serviceable handle and foot. I was going to etch the foot for a better grip on sediment in paint.

Then....

Loser's Excuse:

It shattered. This isn't because of bubbles but because it was a weakly made piece of glass that was not properly oriented. The foot fractured off first, which I thought it would do. It wasn't structurally well-positioned and I had touched it to metal too many times and didn't anneal it properly when it came out. That was the only piece of the muller that touched metal. It is also why the whole project failed.

The rest exploded right after I took the first picture. The problem was that I was trying to do everything without any use of metal or graphite tools. That is just plain silly. For the next idea, I am going to make a sturdy stringer to ballance the foot while I twist the handle and roll it over graphite the whole time. I still think it could be done with lampwork.

By the way, the indigo looks great! It is darkening up as we speak. Sugar and heat save the day!

A&S pictures! Whooo hoo!

My friend Kate took pictures of me teaching a class on urine and poo. Here is a picture of me with my mouth closed. It is wide open in the other pictures.

It was a gorgeous day and the classes were loads of fun. My parents and neice even showed up! My step-mom is determined to spin wool. She bought a spinning wheel from New Zealand and plans on doing it. I tried to talk her into spinning some wool for me so I could dye it in indigo. She keeps wrinkling her nose about the urine. I don't know why.



This is a close up picture of the verdigris I made in a jar at home with my very own pee. This does not show the color well-enough. I will get another picture later. Unfortunately, it is in my truck which is at the shop right now.

I am really stoked about the color and I plan on making something with it in the future. I may just be a little panel with only verdigris on it, but I wanted to show everyone what it looked like. I think it turned out really well. I hope to scrape some bits off for Master JimBear. YAY for giving presents!


This is the coyote head I got from Wolf and D out in New Jersey. I had the opportunity to finally meet them face to face two weeks ago. After all these years of emailing back and forth, we finally hooked up in DC. I was beyond thrilled. I carefully didn't mention our poo leather exploits until they brought it up and complained about the stench! HA! I did thank them again and I will be foisting my glass beads on them.