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MAKING RED LEAD. “Grind flake-white (note: lead oxide) on a stone without water, then put it in two or three new pots and place it over a burning fire. You have a slender curved iron rod, fitted at one end with a wooden handle and broad at the top, and with this you can stir and mix this flake-white from time to time. You do this for a long time until the red lead becomes completely red.” https://lnkd.in/d7yzXt5 View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend and concludes this weekend on a mediaeval text about the practiced crafts of the day, including the diverse ranges of metallurgy, glassmaking including windows, and painting, particularly making paints, primers, glues and varnishes. It gives a remarkable insight into the resourceful and self-sufficient trades who had to make everything that they needed from scratch, sometimes planning a season ahead to get necessary plants in early spring. In particular, the toxic exposures they endured were unthinkable today, View in LinkedIn

“The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls”. View in LinkedIn

TINFOIL PREPARATION. “Beat pure tin very thin...rub it with cloth and charcoal...and a boar’s tooth until it shines. Get some switches of green wood, which you cut in April, split them down the middle and dry them over smoke. Then remove the outer bark and scrape the inside, which is yellow, into a clean pan adding a fifth part saffron. Over this pour plenty of old wine or beer, and when it has stood overnight, heat it in the morning over a fire until it is lukewarm...” (etc). https://lnkd.in/d7yzXt5 View in LinkedIn

GOLD LEAF PREPARATION. “Take some Greek parchment, which is made up from linen rags, and rub it on each side with the red colour obtained by burning finely ground and dried ochre. Polish it very carefully with the tooth of a beaver, a bear, or a wild boar, until it shines and the colour adheres to it with the friction...” (etc). https://lnkd.in/d7yzXt5 View in LinkedIn

There are over twenty types of common wild flowers in blossom right now around Girona. View in LinkedIn