Thursday 12 October 2017
Utrecht University Museum laboratory
Reconstruction of http://artechne.hum.uu.nl/node/94083
Materials used:
Organic beef suet (Groenweg Slagerij, Utrecht)
White bees' wax (Drogisterij Wortman, Utrecht)
Madder lacquer (Kraplack aus Wurzeln, Kremer Pigmente)
White lead (Kremserweiss, Kremer Pigmente)
Linseed oil (Leinöl natur, kaltgeschlagen, Kremer pigmente)
White alabaster (Kremer Pigmente)
Plaster mould (Dutch Moulds)
Scales
Hot plate
Porcelain mixing bowl and palettes
Pig's hair brush
Wooden spoon
Bain Marie
Small glass jars
Description
I started by recreating Jacoba's first instructions, but in a much smaller amount than in the original recipe: I melted 5 grams of organic beef suet and mixed in a pinch of madder lacquer. When I put a drop of the mixture on a pallette, it had a nice light red hue to it. (img. 1841). Subsequently I mixed in a pinch of white lead (img 1842). This mixture was stirred through 20 grams of melted white bees wax. A plaster mould was brushed with linseed oil, and the hot wax mixture cast. The remaining wax was cast into pellets using the palette. The cast of a girl's head using the mould was still very light in colour, but a very small mould was used, and it may be assumed that for dolls heads a bigger mould was used and a thicker layer of wax created by swirling the wax in the mould longer, resulting in a darker colour. The pellets cast on the palette, which are about 4-5 mm thick in the middle, indeed have a light skin tone, especially when compared to white wax (img. 1863).
Subsequently, the alernative mentioned by Van Veen, using a root or carrot ('wortelken') as a red colourant and alabaster as a white colourant/filler was tested. Because it is unclear what kind of root Van Veen meant, I tried both pieces of dried madder root and a fresh carrot, but neither appeared to colour the animal fat. This may be due to the fact that the pigments of both are only soluble in water, and not in oil.