DISCLAIMER:
You are EXPRESSLY WARNED against imitating the craftsmanship techniques shown in this documentation! The techniques documented in this topic for the production and use of adhesives as well as the handling of other materials and substance mixtures (component mixtures of different types of substances or components) can, under certain circumstances and with the appropriate disposition, lead to health problems. For example, the substance rosin (german: "Kolophonium"; particularly when heated) is potentially highly allergenic and asthma-triggering, depending on a person's disposition.
In this topic, the author in no way wants to call for a trivializing use or handling of alcohol (in any form).
The procedures, mixtures of substances (or mixtures of components and their applications described here) that the author discusses in this topic can potentially put a lot of strain on a person's health - depending on their individual disposition.
The author strongly advise against imitating the procedures and applications discussed by the author in this topic. The procedures presented here in the topic by the author are in no way recommended by the author for imitation, do not represent recipes in the sense of "recipes" (e.g. for cooking or similar), are in no way suitable for consumption and do not represent any special form of "Cosmetics" (in the sense of the term) or "craft instructions" or similar. The author also does not provide any instructions for the production and mixing of usable colors and paints or similar and their use.
The author is a master craftsman trained in restoration in certain areas and carries out the preliminary tests and experiments documented here with the greatest possible adherence to safety aspects and the constant use of personal protective equipment.
Any imitation of the procedures and craftsmanship or artistic contexts discussed by the author in this topic is strongly discouraged. In particular, any imitation of the content and procedures discussed in this topic by the author by minors (in the sense of the term depending on the jurisdiction of a respective country worldwide) must be prevented.
Some of the methods presented here by the author for the production and research of adhesives from natural materials include, under given negative conditions, the potential risk of the development of salmonella cultures on, for example, carrier materials, which is why the preliminary tests and experiments documented here are carried out by the author with the greatest caution and test objects in a timely manner destroyed and properly sterilized and disposed of.
The possibilities of producing adhesives from natural materials and the associated techniques and methods of material treatment and processing discussed by the author in this topic serve scientific purposes and thus in particular the reconstruction of historical adhesive production, bonding and coating techniques (in particular with foil metals).
Any imitation of any request to imitate the techniques and procedures presented and discussed here in the topic by the author in connection with substance mixtures (component mixtures) published by the author as well as the associated processing of substances and components and the production of component mixtures and their applications described here by the author are done exclusively at your own risk and are therefore free from any liability on the part of the author.
- Please do not try (imitate) this under any circumstances! -
ANY (any and only partial) IMITATION of the craft work techniques shown in this documentation by children, minors and people with limited ability to act and make decisions (the definitions of the groups of people mentioned also depend on the relevant jurisdiction of a respective country) should be prohibited must be prevented in any case. The craft techniques presented are not suitable for imitation by such groups of people.
Despite careful checking by the author, no liability is assumed for the correctness and correct presentation and description of all content.
In particular, the author assumes no liability whatsoever for any form of lost profits, regardless of the circumstances under which such connections should or may be justified by the author's publications here.
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During restoration analyses, evidence was found that the ancient Egyptian artisans used gold leaf gilding for Tutankhamun's wooden sarcophagus discovered during Howard Carter's excavation campaign in the Valley of the Kings (here this refers to the larger of Tutankhamun's two wooden sarcophagi) with a layer of fabric between the wooden surface and the gold leaf ( probably linen) as a carrier material to cover the sarcophagus surface with a layer of gold leaf that was 14 - 18 micrometers thick, according to the lead restorer Ahmed Abdrabou.
- see film minute 04:08 - 05:36 -
In my opinion, it can be assumed that the ancient Egyptians used this method for three reasons: on the one hand, to compensate for the unevenness that remained after the wood surface was processed, and on the other hand, probably because the gold leaf on the linen carrier material could then be polished better overall. However, another argument for the ancient Egyptians' approach to gold leafing the wooden sarcophagus could have been that the filigree surface decorations on the sarcophagus surface could be contoured even better without the extremely thin gold leaf cracking (which still needs to be proven).
I will carry out a first preliminary experiment on the topic at the next opportunity.
Here is a first short video about the first preliminary attempts to produce an adhesive for applying gold leaf to wood from commercially available rosin (mainly natural resin) and organic linseed oil:
(watching time approx. 1 minute)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiULFsHFyOY
SOURCES:
Publisher: ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen / Second German Television), public law institution
Main page and simultaneous media library page of the publisher: https://www.zdf.de
Date and time of access: March 19, 2024; 10:22
quoted video source (ZDFinfo documentary): https://www.zdf.de/documentation/zdfinf ... tartTime=7
Title of the documentary from the ZDF media library: Ägypten-Schatzkammer der Archaeologie - die Geheimnisse Tutankhamuns (translat. engl.: Egypt: Treasury of Archaeology - The Secrets of Tutankhamun)
Treasury of Archaeology
Date and time of access: March 19, 2024; 10:22
According to the publisher, the video is still online until: March 28, 2024
PDF:
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Preußischer Kulturbesitz (State Museums in Berlin):
Mainpage of Publisher:
https://www.smb.museum/home/
date and time of access: 23.03.2024; 16:53 MEZ
cited PDF-File:
Anheuser, Kilian; Dept. of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3 PH
Berliner Beiträge zur Archäometrie, Band 13, Seite 87 - 97, 1995: Antike und neuere Techniken zur Vergoldung von Metallen und Nichtmetallen
https://www.smb.museum/fileadmin/websit ... _87-97.pdf
date an time of access: 23.03.2024, 16:48
Youtube:
Youtube-Mainpage: https://www.youtube.com/
Date and time of access: March 24, 2024; 11:04 CET
Youtube-Mainpage of Creator: Handwerkskunst_Handicraftarts
Youtube-adress to Main-Page of Creator: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLy6gO ... BkjqTgOAiA
Publisher / Creator: me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe
Date and time of access: March 24, 2024; 11:05 CET
quoted video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiULFsHFyOY
Title of the video: EXARAE (2024); Preliminary test: Gilding leaf - produce adhesive resin from rosin and linseed oil
Date and time of access: March 24, 2024; 11:07 CET
Gilding with gold leaf in ancient Egypt
Moderatoren: Hans T., Nils B., Turms Kreutzfeldt, Chris
Gilding with gold leaf in ancient Egypt
- Dateianhänge
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- Bildrechte: © me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe, 2024
(hochgeladen am 23.03.2024, 16:16 MEZ
Erste Klebertests mit Naturharzen und Aluminiumfolie (2)
Image rights: © me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe, 2024
(uploaded on March 23, 2024, 16:16 CET
First adhesive tests with natural resins and aluminum foil (2)
(Please do not try or imitate this under any circumstances! The disclaimer applies, which can be found in the main topic description.)
Initial adhesive tests of the thin aluminum foil on the rounded surface of a brush shaft made of wood (probably a soft softwood) with a mixture of natural resin (commercial rosin of a specific manufacturer-specific type and composition) and commercially available natural linseed oil have so far been very promising:
First, the rosin was crushed (pulverized) and then mixed with a little linseed oil (the proportions of the two components were initially determined by feel).
When both components were heated (here in the first preliminary test with a simple lighter in a "bowl made of aluminum foil"), it was found that both components were very easy to mix: the rosin melted very quickly and could be mixed with the linseed oil to form a very well-functioning emulsion .
A commercially available wine bottle cork was used to mix the resulting emulsion or mass of rosin and linseed oil (liquid to pasty when heated appropriately). The cork was used to apply the mass, which quickly became viscous to pasty when it cooled, onto the wooden brush shaft area. It was observed that the mass solidified very quickly and became crumbly due to the cooling. The surface of the wood rubbed with the mass was massaged into the wooden surface of the brush shaft with the cork during repeated careful heating with the lighter flame and then rubbed off. This ultimately resulted in a smoothed wooden surface area that was only thinly coated with the mass produced. While the coated wooden surface was continually carefully heated, a piece of aluminum foil was placed on it and rubbed into place with the fingers and the still clean cork shaft.
While the surface sealing with the resin-linseed oil mixture was cooling, the aluminum foil could be rubbed down very well and partially polished.
As was evident shortly after applying the film, the Klöeber mixture created a very good adhesion effect for the aluminum foil on the wooden surface, even though the film could still be removed without being damaged. Further control tests on two to three subsequent days also showed that the adhesive effect was still present.
In a planned long-term study, further preliminary tests with varying mixing ratios will now be carried out to determine whether the adhesive or adhesive effect loses its effectiveness as the linseed oil dries and gradually sets in the wood and how the applied mixture behaves overall as a surface coating.
If it can be assumed that the mixture will behave positively in the long term, it can already be assumed that previously untreated wooden surfaces of certain types of wood can be coated extremely successfully in the manner described with gold leaf that is much thinner in terms of its properties, but accordingly A special technique of continuous sensitive heating during the application of the gold leaf may be required.
Due to the immensely high costs involved, preliminary tests on the topic with real gold leaf must be planned and postponed until further notice for future preliminary tests.
For the planned, cost-intensive preliminary tests, so-called enamelling foil with a thickness of 5 micrometers is planned; corresponds to 0.005 millimeters). This would be the case for the experimenter at the moment. The only available source for sustainable, certified gold leaf from domestic production, which comes roughly close to the verifiable original templates of the gold leaf processed in ancient Egypt (as far as we know today, the ancient Egyptians processed gold leaf that was around 3 to 4 micrometers thin (source reference follows).
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- Bildrechte: © me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe, 2024
(hochgeladen am 23.03.2024, 16:16 MEZ
Erste Klebertests mit Naturharzen und Aluminiumfolie (1)
Image rights: © me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe, 2024
(uploaded on March 23, 2024, 16:16 CET
First adhesive tests with natural resins and aluminum foil (1)
(Please do not try or imitate this under any circumstances! The disclaimer applies, which can be found in the main topic description.)
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- Bildrechte: © me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe, 2024
(hochgeladen am 23.03.2024, 15:57 MEZ
Erste Klebertests mit Baumwollstoff und Aluminiumfolie (2)
Image rights: © me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe, 2024
(uploaded on March 23, 2024, 15:57 CET
First adhesive tests with cotton fabric and aluminum foil (2)
- Drying time approx. 1 day -
- with fine spelled flour -
- with conventional cotton fabric
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Flour-eggwhite-mixture:
Fabric:
adheres quite well, but is less easy to remove without damaging the fabric or the wooden surface
Foil: hardly sticks, can be removed very easily without damaging the foil or the wooden surface.
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Fabric:
Flour-egg-yolk-mixture: sticks quite well, but can be easily removed without damaging the fabric or the wooden surface.
Foil:
Flour-eggyolk-mixture: sticks very little, can be removed very easily without damaging the fabric or the wooden surface.
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Fabric:
Flour-eggwhite-eggyolk-linseed-oil-beer-mixture: sticks quite well, but can be removed quite easily without damaging the fabric or the wooden surface.
Foil:
hardly sticks, can be removed very easily without damaging the film or the wooden surface.
- - -
Fabric:
Flour-eggwhite-eggyolk-water-mixture: Adheres strongly, can be easily removed with difficulty without damaging the fabric or wooden surface.
Foil:
Adheres quite well, but can be removed very easily without damaging the film or the wooden surface.
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Fabric:
Flour, eggyolk-linseedoil-mixture: sticks reasonably well, but can be removed very easily without damaging the fabric or the wooden surface.
Foil:
does not stick well and can be removed very easily without damaging the film or the wooden surface.
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Film adhesion test with date soaked in water as adhesive:
After rubbing the wooden surface with the date, laying it on and rubbing the foil on, there was almost no adhesion effect (sticky effect) after 1 day of drying time.
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- Bildrechte: © me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe, 2024
(hochgeladen am 20.03.2024, 09:38 MEZ
Erste Klebertests mit Baumwollstoff und Aluminiumfolie
Image rights: © me. Vinzenz Maria Hoppe, 2024
(uploaded on March 20, 2024, 09:38 CET
First adhesive tests with cotton fabric and aluminum foil
Because initial preliminary tests on the subject with real gold leaf would be extremely expensive and would represent a costly waste of resources in terms of material use, simple sections of conventional gold-colored packaging foil made of aluminum (possibly anodized aluminum) must suffice for initial preliminary tests on the subject.
However, the pieces of aluminum foil also allow important conclusions to be drawn about which natural raw materials can be used to approximate the reconstruction of the adhesives that could potentially be used for gold leafing in ancient Egypt.
The question of which adhesives are suitable for sticking linen-like fabrics to wooden substrates is also of particular importance in the first preliminary tests on the topic.
Of course, glues and resins automatically come into question. However, these two components should initially be deliberately excluded from the initial preliminary experiments on the topic. Glues and resins will be tested in preliminary tests on the topic planned at a later date.
The testing of the natural raw materials chicken egg white and yolk, linseed oil (and to some extent beer) is interesting to test because these components can also be used as a binding agent for paints (see tempera).
In further preliminary tests, I will examine the raw materials / materials grain flour and honey and finally natural resins (tree resins) as well as natural waxes (beeswax) and limestone flour as well as gypsum (as fillers).
Here in the documented preliminary test results, the following raw materials or natural substances were used in various mixtures and applications for initial testing:
- was applied or glued to a standard plywood surface (upper outer layer probably birch wood, still being researched)
Linseed oil (partly as varnish)
Chicken egg white (from the same egg)
Chicken egg yolk (from the same egg)
Mixture of chicken white and chicken egg yolk
Beer (mixture of beer with 5.5% and 0.5% alcohol content by volume to imitate thin beer - initially based on a rough estimate)
Finally, a mixture of all the components used so far: chicken egg white and chicken egg yolk from one and the same egg, linseed oil and beer (at 5.5% to 0.5% by volume).
Initial adhesive tests with regard to the adhesion of aluminum foil to the following adhesive materials have already shown the following results:
The very thin aluminum foil (specific thickness not yet known) was placed with the uncoated underside on the wooden surface with the adhesive used and rubbed firmly. Repeated application of adhesive plugs with sometimes long intermediate drying times has not yet been tested; these are in preparation.
1a. Foil on a wooden surface that has previously been coated with linseed oil and then applying chicken egg white: After drying, the foil hardly sticks at all and can be removed again without being damaged.
1b. Foil on a wooden surface that has previously been coated with chicken egg white: After drying, the foil hardly sticks at all and can be removed again without being damaged.
2a. Foil on a wooden surface that has previously been coated with linseed oil and then applying chicken egg yolk: after drying, the foil hardly sticks at all and can be removed again without being damaged.
2 B. Foil on a wooden surface that has previously been coated with chicken egg yolk: After drying, the foil hardly sticks at all and can be removed again without being damaged.
3a. Foil on a surface previously coated with beer mixture: Foil does not stick at all once it has dried.
3b. Cotton fabric soaked in beer and then lightly wrung out on a wooden surface coated with beer: cotton fabric does not stick at all after drying and can be removed again without damage.
4a. Foil on a surface that has previously been coated with a mixture of chicken egg whites and egg yolks: Once it dries, the foil does not stick at all and can be removed again without being damaged.
4b. Cotton fabric soaked in a mixture of chicken egg white and egg yolk and then lightly wrung out on a surface coated with a mixture of chicken egg white and egg yolk: cotton fabric sticks more strongly after drying, but can be removed from the wooden surface without being damaged.
5a. Foil on a wooden surface coated with a mixture of chicken whites and egg yolks and beer: After drying, the foil hardly sticks at all and can be removed again without being damaged.
5b. Cotton fabric soaked in a mixture of chicken egg white and egg yolk and beer and then lightly wrung out on a surface coated with a mixture of chicken egg white and egg yolk and beer: Cotton fabric sticks more strongly after drying, but can be removed from the wooden surface without being damaged.
6a. Foil on a wooden surface coated with a mixture of chicken whites and egg yolks as well as beer and linseed oil: After drying, the foil hardly sticks at all and can be removed again without being damaged.
6b. Cotton fabric soaked in a mixture of chicken egg white and egg yolk as well as beer and linseed oil and then lightly wrung out on a surface coated with a mixture of chicken egg white and egg yolk as well as beer and linseed oil: Cotton fabric sticks more strongly after drying, but can be removed from the wooden surface without being damaged.
In memory of Alan M. Turing, British logician, mathematician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist (1912 - 1954).