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Casting in gold

To cast in gold, il fcrocum
ferri is necessary, & more alum de
plume than in the following mixture. The alum de
plume mixture cannot corrupt anything. The mold needs
to be red & press it promptly with iron
presses.

The shell of crabs & crayfish are
uneasy to burn & there is a proper way of molding them.

Rats & birds can be molded, and the feet are
uneasy to extract, when burnt, because they are small & delicate.
The bodies are extracted more easily from the mold. The feet
are cast in many times pieces.

Tiles

Those of the houses that are not sandy seem to withstand
fire better.

Tiles with which one covers houses, the hardest
& firmest and recleansed of stones & large gravel,
are used to p mix in with the sand
et for molding. But, before, it is necessary to heat
them just until they have been well red for one or two
hours, & pestle them & pass them finely
through a sieve.

The little turtles, having just come out of the egg, are
very nice to mold.

If the plaster is mixed with some dust or is not the
hard kind, it bursts in the fire & causes flaws.

The hardest plaster, as was said, is the best
being from stone, therefore take it raw of this kind. Crush it
bienplus as finely as possible
and pass it through the finest sieve or sleeve that
you can. Being thusly pb fine, put it,
in a good amount, in a cauldron or
skillet over an open flame, & as it begins to heat up, stir
it continuously, and heavy & lumpy as it is, it will become so light
& so handleable that it will seem to you not to have any resistance
to handlingstirring, as if it was water.
Keep stirring it continuously until it returns once again to being heavy
& dense, and that is the sign it is cooked. But do not reheat
it until your brick and alum de plume are
reheated & your clay circles are done. For it needs to be the
last one reheated & when all the rest is ready, for the less
plaster#

# remains reheated, & plus the
quickest it is put to use, that is the best, for it sets more quickly.
One ought not reheat it until you want to mold. And to reheat it, put
it, as finely ground raw powder, in a cauldron on
ash a clear flame & do not make it neither too strong nor
too violent. Always stir with a long stick, to avoid the vapor,
turning it around the cauldron & in the middle, in a figure
8. At the beginning, you will find it heavy difficult to
stir, because it is full of moisture. As it heats up, it will start to
throw off some bubbles at the edge of the cauldron. And finally
it will become like liquid & mealy & like bran & boiling in
the middle. Continue to stir continuously until you recognize that it
has once again become heavy



Alum de plume is the one that gives good
binding to sand.

Crocum ferri is appropriate for
gold. It is it, once mixed within the sand, that receives it
& holds it within its warmth.

Plaster

When you have it as a stone, choose the hardest bits and those
which do not easily crumble away with your nail, and
clean it well from powder & filth before you pestle it.

Plaster alone does not withstand fire, but breaks up into pieces.





Reheated plasterse ga, as is said here, keeps
well one or two months well pressed in a dry
place, if it's not rainy weather. But when
fresh, it is excellent for exquisite work.




It must withstand the fire & turn red like a lit
charcoal.

