
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~003r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Counterfeit coral
+
One needs to first make the branches of wood or take a
bizarre thorn branch, then melt a lb of the most
beautifulclear pitch resin and put in one ounce of
subtly ground vermilion with walnut oil, and if
you add in a little Venice lake platte, the
color will be more vivid, and stir everything in the resin melted
over a charcoal fire and not of flame, for fear that the fire
catches within. Next dip in your branches while turning, & if there
should remain any filaments, turn the branch over the heat of the
charcoal.

Colophony is nothing other than resin cooked again. To do
it well, take a leaded pot & melt the resin,
& boil it over the brazier a good hour,
& until it appears not to be thick, but clear & liquid like
water & it easily runs & flows from the tip of a
stick with which you grind it, & try it. Then pour it
through a coarse canvas or a very light tammy
cloth, in the manner that when pouring it falls into the
strongest vinegar that you can find, for the vinegar gives
it strength & prevents it from being so fragile. Reiterate this two
or three times & it will be beautiful & well purified. For
imitating your coral, you can mix a quarter part of
mastic within your purified resin to render it more firm
and more beautiful, & if you should take only a tear of
mastic, it would be all the better, but it would be too long.



Sulfur & vermilion makes the same effect.


The coral made of gules red enamel endures the
file and polishing.


It is made like cement that is stronger mixed with crushed
than of glass rather than with brick. Thus one
mixes here with the vermilion the gules red enamel, which
is red in body, well ground. Thus with all colors of
enamels.


Varnish for panels

Take a lb of Venice turpentine & heat
it in a pot until it simmers, and put in half a lb of
the turpentine oil of the whitest you can find, and stir it all
together well on a charcoal fire and take it off immediately. And
elle it is done. But if it seems too thick to you,
add in a little more oil. Similarly if it is too clear, you can
thicken it by putting a little turpentine. Thus you will give it
whatever body you want. It could be made well without fire, but, when
heated, it is more desiccative. It is appropriate for panel paintings
and other painted things without distorting the colors or yellowing. And
it dries both in the shade and in the sun, and
overnight, and during the winter as well as
in the summer. It is commonly sold 15 sols a
lb.



A little more turpentine than turpentine oil is needed in
order to give body to the varnish, which needs to be applied with
finger in order to spread it thinner and less thick,
for when it is thick, it turns yellow and sticks. One does not
varnish to make paintings shine, for it just takes the light out
of them.


But it is used to enhance colors which have soaked in and to keep them
from dust. Mastic varnish does not resist rain,
whereas that of oil and rosin does.


Thick varnish for planks

There is a varnish that takes a long time to dry & still
drips up to two months after it has been applied to the
planks. But this one does not drip like the one used in the
past, which was made of linseed oil boiled with
garlic, to extinguish it & take
out the fattiness, & with wheat. And this one yellowed &
made the blue color of paintings greenish. This one is made like the
other one except that one puts common thick turpentine

