Lawrence Saint kept a journal of his experiments while making a copy of the Methuselah window from Canterbury Cathedral. You can read the introduction to the project and view the scans of the individual pages here:
http://www.newchurchhistory.org/articles/methuselah/methuselah.php
The following is a transcription of Lawrence Saint's handwritten notebook of his experimentation relating to the creation of his copy of the Methuselah window of Canterbury Cathedral now on display at Glencairn Museum:
http://www.newchurchhistory.org/articles/methuselah/methuselah.php
The following is a transcription of Lawrence Saint's handwritten notebook of his experimentation relating to the creation of his copy of the Methuselah window of Canterbury Cathedral now on display at Glencairn Museum:
<book cover, cloth cover, leather upper and lower right
corners, middle word printed on cover, other two handwritten above and
below>
MATUSALE
Record
DATA
<end of cover>
<inside front cover, printed maker’s label, rectangular,
double border with apron lower inner border.
Within upper border, an eagle holding a banner with the brand name,
“NATIONAL” in bold. Text below
duplicates text of label>
“The Right Books to Write In”
National No. 793
Made in the following rulings
Day Books
Journals
D.E.
Ledgers, with Index
S.E.
Ledgers, with Index
Records,
Margin Line
TO DUPLICATE THIS BOOK:--
Order No. 793
State Ruling indicated by arrow
Give Thickness wanted
Made in 150, and
300 pages
<below label, “MADE IN U.S.A.” - end of inner cover>
MATUSALE DATE, p.1
<Text hand written, in various fonts, all seem to be in
same hand. Possible initials of JVS
ascending from end of first line to top of page.>
This Book Started December 13, 1927.
It has mainly to do with receipts for the Matusale window
Before page 51 is a record of experiments for the sample
panel of the MATUSALE
The Record of what I actually did on the Matusale begins on
page 51.
<page break, page 2 blank, text resumes on page 3>
<upper right corner note, “see page 53 for notes”>
<text continues with figures indicated by fig #>
Matusale - Sample panel at bottom of window.
Filming - Result - extra fine
<fig 1 series of 3 round arches dated “Dec 13
1927">
<text below fig 1> White border and leaves
Put halfstone on first composed of
<at left three parallel lines, halftone film between
upper two lines, “LEAD” to right of lines, large right parenthesis with
handwritten note “changed this” running into right margin text>
1 part Medieval Black
1 part Modelling Clay Backing
<back to margin left> Modelling Clay Backing pounced
with nail polisher on both sides using a good deal of 10 day oxidized
turpentine, i.e. turpentine exposed to air and stirred every day for 10 days –
Some places I made an almost flat tone by pressing hard on the nail polisher
<fig 2 hand drawn nail polisher labeled as such on image>
Nail polisher covered with kidskin – undressed I believe
<artist’s note to “over”>
MATUSALE <p.4 blank, text continues on p.5 >
December 12 1927 continued 3
ON THE BACK in some places I put texture spots on by
pouncing a mixture of
Golden
brown <large
bracket - { with 2 lines of text to right>
TEXTURE
12
parts Jet of April 19, 1927.
1 Burnt Modelling Clay
This receipt gives the best texture
gotten to date – it given an effect with depth–shimmering and sparkling.
Date when first used Sep 30 1927
<end p.5, author’s 3, p.6 blank, p.7
with fig 3 upper left corner, labeled rubbing of painted head early 12th
centtury>
Primitive Glass Paint
copied from Data dated August 4 1927
recorded here Dec 13 1927
This head is at the style as the very
earliest stained glass - it is almost exactly at the same character as the
painting on the Ascension Window at LeMans and the painting on the St. Lawrence
window, I think it is at the east end of the Cathedrat at Poitiers France
This paint contains a high glass
content is piled on thick, is not ground real perfectly fine – and it is
executed in a highly conventionalized fashion.
It is practically in a perfect state of preservation, withstanding the
ravages of time better than 13th Century work
The glass is almost a natural flesh
tone and the paint looked blackish brown on the surface when wet and about
black when looking through it.
I produced practically the same paint
see following receipt called PRIMITIVE
GLASS PAINT
<p.8 blank, text continues p.9>
PRIMITIVE GLASS PAINT
copied from record of August 4 1927 Dec 13, 1927
Take 16 grains Warm Black Tracing Color
Smash up hard flesh colored glass until
it is smashed fairly fine but not real fine and add
8 grains to the 16 of WARM BLACK mix
with oxidized turpentine already described – apply quite a good deal of body
with an ordinary brush
Flesh
colored glass No 42 comes near to matching the old head
FIRES
WITH A DULL FUSED LOOK AT 1140EF
The
surface color is slightly redder than the old color
<text continues p.11> <upper
right corner date “Dec. 13 1927">
MATUSALE Tracing medium
copied from record of Sep 28 1927
MIX THE PAINT WITH THE THICKER OXIDIZED
TURPENTINE UNTIL THE MASS IS WELL SATURATED BUT NOT SHINY - DILUTE WITH 10
DAY-STIRRED 3 TIMES A DAY IN WARM WEATHER-TURPENTINE – THIS WILL WORK NICELY
AND WILL DRY REASONABLY SOON
AFTER
THE TRACING HAD DRIED AN HOUR OR TWO I PUT A FILM OVER PARTS WITH A TRACING
BRUSH AND A GOOD DEAL OF THE FATTER OIL
<p.13 title “MATUSALE” crossed out
with a single line, over which title “Canterbury Panel” is written, and then
the words, “Extra fine”
<hand-drawn five-pointed star
beneath above text followed by the text below>
EVERYTHING
ACCOMPLISHED IN ONE FIRE
copied
from record of Oct 1, 1927
Dec
14, 1927
<fig.4 tracing of glass cut,
somewhat liver shaped>
<crossed
out - ARE> A RED BROWN TRACING
COLOR
USED Composed of 2 parts Mediaeval Red
1
part Mediaeval Black
1
½ green white glass
green - white glass later discarded
The paint was mixed with the heavier
oxidized turpentine until the mass was well saturated but it has only a dull
gloss
Then it was diluted with thin turpentine
and in working the brush was dipped in – 10 day stirred three times a day in
warm weather oxidized turpentine
continued
<bottom of 13>
<p. 15>
Matusale
Everything
accomplished in one fire continued
The surface began to look dnj
<sic?> a little while after the pain was put on
I mixed the same paint for a film over
the delicate lines. I simply used more
of the thicker oil and some of the thinner.
The delicate lines did not come off.
The above apparently dried from
Saturday morning until Monday morning.
note “WORKED FINELY” <sp?>
<p. 17>
MATUSALE everything accomplished in one
fire continued
Filming on top of unfired tracing color
filmed with Modelling Clay Backing on both sides – this was mixed with oxidized
turpentine
<p.18 - first back side of page
used>
Modelling Clay Backing
26 grammes pontied <sp?> Burnt
i.e. heated to redness Modelling Clay
40 pulverized white sand
48 Callet 1 sand 4 red ground very
finely
160 Red Lead
10 Carbonate of potash
4 Potassium Nitrate
Mixed and smashed material together on
glass slap 1½ hours mostly with a poiece of glass. It would not hurt to mix the material with an
iron knife as that would make the tone warmer
The above amount fills Coors Porcelain
crucible No5
I put a wire over the crucible and put
the lid on
<fig 5 in three vertical sections
- drawing of crucible, at bottom of
page, side view of kiln with door ajar, “hole open in door” and text below kiln
“wires on to let air in”
-
vertical view of kiln interior crucible with wire extending to door, bottom
of
image labeled “EMPTY”
-
text by crucible in kiln interior “cast iron plate on bottom of furnace”
text by bottom image, lower right
corner “FRONT EMPTY CRUCIBLE”>
<p.19>
MODELLING CLAY BACKING
Put material in about 10 o’clock -
within a few minutes raised the Rheostat to 8 points there it is to remain
until 1660EF
is reached
Reached 1660EF at 12:15 P.M.
Front crucible removed lid removed
wire removed
Material poured out at 12:15 into an
iron pan with a little water in it.
Smashed in an iron pot, but this should not be as the iron coming off
would make the color a little blackish
The best way is to smash up material in
porcelain mortar with porcelain pestle
<p.19 continued>
GRINDING
Modelling Clay Backing <large left
bracket “{“ with 3 lines of test to right of bracket>
481
grammes Modelling Clay flux described above
43.700
grammes puntied <sp?> Burnt Modelling Clay
I added to this for grainding 262
grammes of water for grinding in the pebble mill
<p.20 again blank, p.21
continues>
FLESH FOR MATUSALE
Sample for flesh paint and film
Glass marked 46 Don’t know whether glass
was intended to be 146 or not Glass
made July 21 1927
copied from July 22 1927 receipt
Paint used - “Warm Rich Brown” Apr 28
1927 mixc.
Mixed with thin turpentine exposed to
air and stirred day after day until somewhat thickened but not real thick in
other words oxidized turpentine which is sticky and slow drying
For film on back and on light part of
face
<p.22> continued from page 21
<author’s hand>
FILM FOR BACK AND ON LIGHT PART OF FACE
Backing
of Feb 17th - 18th 1927
10
parts
1 part jet of April 19 1927
1 part burnt modelling clay
For over hair and beard and under
eyebrows
200
parts of the above
30 warm rich brown tracing color
<p.22 continues in written script,
not printed>
After the films were somewhat dry I scratched
cross-hatched lines <small sample of cross-hatching> where the light part
of face was - I did the same on the back making cross hatching lines larger and
more irregular
The film in the back was put on in a
broken way with a little flat Japanese water color brush. The same was mixed with turpentine as above
described and mixed with a little thin turpentine
<p. 23>
OXIDIZED TURPENTINE
copied
from record of Oct 22 1927
<fig 6 illustration of text
below>
Take a porcelain crucible.
<punctuation per scribe> Arch two pieces of lead on top of it. Put thin turpentine in – cover with a rag to
keep dust and dirt out but letting the air in.
Stir thoroughly three times a day – It took 19 days, stirred 42 times
Color in jar pale greenish
The above produces a sticky medium
which is slow drying
<p. 24 blank, p.25 continues>
MATUSALE
Method of making drawings
First make a drawing on regular drawing paper - in charcoal and
fixitize it with shellac dissolved in alcohol.
This I colored with Binney & Smith
wax pencils “Rubens” No 24
These are the best
2nd I put shiny transparent tracing color
over the colored drawing <sic “and”> refined the drawing
3rd I took a piece of the same shiny
tracing paper and rubbed lead pencil over it (Faber 2B)
see
next page
<p.26> continued from page 25 MAKING DRAWINGS
4th I took Strathmore Drawing Board, very
white smooth and fine and transferred the details of the drawing trough onto
the Strathmore Board.
5th Then I took an egg-separated the yolk
from the white
6th Then I took dried stems of the
Portulaca flower put them in water and warmed them on the stove. The resulting juice was a
<p.27> MAKING DRAWINGS
dark brown color – with this I
dissolved the white and yolk of egg, dropping it into them and stirring. I smashed the white with my finger somewhat
and strained it.
7th I coated both sides of the drawing
board with white of egg and Portulaca.
8th I mixed tempera color in tubes with
plenty of yolk of egg and portulaca using a watercolor brush with long hairs
(p.28 blank, p.29 continues>
MATUSALE Goldentone on white border
White border between iron-work and
yellow beaded border
I took a mixture of {12 parts April 19
1927 Jet ground in pebble mill and 1 burnt modelling clay
And added to it oxidized turpentine -
10 day stirred three times a day – The color was in quite a we state – This I
pounced on both sides leaving some clear spaces – then on the front I pounced
the same material again in a thicker and stickier state – This made larger and
more pronounced pit marks – I pounced the same material on the back here and
there
over
<p.30> continued from page 29
on the front I pounced over top of what
was already on olive pit-mart tone
This is composed of
<large “{“ bracket> 1 part {12 April 19th Jet, 1 burnt
modelling clay
1
part Mediaeval Black
ground
finely
This enriches the tone - I rubbed it
together here and there with my finger
This is a beautiful tone
<p.31>
MANGANESE FLUX the basis of Mediaeval
Black
250
grammes 1 sand pulverized 4 red lead
Cullet
1-4
12½ grammes burnt modelling clay
12½ Manganes Dioxide ground finely
The above bubbled up a lot and when it
reached <left blank>EF was removed by putting a poker into it and bringing it out
in gobs
8 of the above Manganese flux ground in
pebble mill
1 black copper oxide then ground on
glass slab
This makes Mediaeval Black – a slightly
warm Black
<p. 32>
13TH CENTURY
Grisaille Panel Paint
2 Mediaeval Black
1 Mediaeval Red
Filming Olive Texture both sides
with some Golden Texture
<left margin – “Both sides.”>
Shatter chalk myixed with Dennisons blue coat
over top of that coat with Japanese
water color brush with olive texture mixed with oxidized turpentine - the
thinner kind.
Green White No 53-59.
Put a little golden texture around the
edge. Result fine.
<p. 32 note at bottom of page>
Mr. Pitcairn approves of this method
<note with 2 letters or figures,
might be Mr. Pitcairn’s initials, but uncertain>
<p.33>
Take chalk and mix with a little
Dennison’s glue, and water spatter this on the back and front of the glass
putting more on where the white is to show strongest – or where the glass is to
look the clearest – let this dry –
now take Backing, Olive texture
and Golden Texture and coat irregularly on front and back, mixing this
with the thinner oxidized turpentine – while this is wet put a little Golden
Texture and Olive texture around edges on front and Backing around edges on
back – after fired rub off the chalk
where the chalk is thickest I put more
of the Olive texture so the marks would be more snappy.
<p.34>
Treatment for Radagonde Panel
Feb
27 1928
Mix
Backing with some Golden texture added with a little gum arabic.
Put
on the piece of glass some water, rather a good deal – here and there, spatter
with a toothbrush, where the spattered stuff dries lay on a blotter or piece of
soft paper to lift off the water which has not dried.
On the front
<p.35>
Paint
Feb 28 4 Parts Med Red
5
Parts Med Black
Textures for Radagonde Panel
Front 3
parts by weight Modelling Clay Backing
3
parts by weight Golden Texture
1
part by weight Olive Texture
as near a perfect
match as it is
possible to get I
believe
<p.35 continued>
Back 4
parts Modelling Clay Backing
4
parts Golden Texture
1
part Olive Texture
Rub an almost invisible film mixed with
the thicker oxidized turpentine with your finger on the back and front of glass
– it would be best to let this get pretty dry – now spatter water on with part
of a hair brush, putting lots of water on – especially where you want the light
places to be – now spatter the above color using a part of a small tooth brush
to make very fine pit marks – this to be mixed with the thinnest oxidized
turpentine – if there are not enough light places – spatter water over the top
– hold up to the light to see if you have enough on.
The
tiny specks spread onto the water and these films break
apart
leaving the desired light spaces between the texture marks
after the water has been spattered on
the paint, give it a circular shake.
<two lines squeezed in bottom of
page, hard to decipher - blank, blank “border – water put on with brush first,
then color with a lot of turpentine” two crossed out words “touched to the
water making a thin film”>
<p.36> March 1st 1928
same paint as on page 35
Note: Mix paint with glass mallet –
gather with wooden knife
Spatter water on book – putting on
extra large amount on here and there, and possibly around edges – spatter water
on again in a little while – knock the glass against table a couple of times.
<cross outs> Coat a film (the film should leave some glass clean go over
this afterward with a very fine film) of paint for front described on page 35
mix it with the thinnest oxidized turpentine – but keeping the paint in a
thickish state – make tone deeper around edges.
Now using this same paint in a thickish stage, spatter here and there on
front.
The Blues were spattered with water
then spattered with the paint in a thickish state. This was O.K. – it wasn’t necessary to
spatter water again.
<continue on p.37>
after paint is spattered on front let
it dry – then mix the paint with a good deal of the thinnest oxidized
turpentine and coat a substantial film on the front – using a good deal of oil
and putting the film on irregularly – Doing this lifts the <2 words
scribe could not make out> but works tiny pit marks off and the
larger ones absorb the paint and I think the effect will look pretty well.
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