Glossary.  Materials used in 19th and 20th century Plaster Architecture.
By: JoAnn Cassar and Roberta de Angelis 
 

E. (earth red  -  extender)

Earth red - See red ochre
Synonyms: Venetian red, English red; Spanish red; caput mortuum; Indian red; light red; burnt sienna
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

Earth yellow -  See yellow ochre
Synonyms: yellow ochre; gold ochre; raw sienna; French ochre; raw umber
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

Egg - Whole egg, yolk or white may be used as a tempera medium. The egg yolk is a stable emulsion of an aqueous liquid with an oily, proteinaceous medium which dries quickly into a hard, insoluble film. It is the traditional tempera medium and may be mixed with oil and/or resin for painting. The white of the egg is used as a size for attaching gold leaf. Albumen is the adhesive substance of egg white. As a pure film, albumen is clear, brittle and water soluble. Water solubility can be decreased by heating or adding tannin.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

Egg tempera - A tempera paint prepared from dry pigment with the whole egg, the yolk or the white as a medium. Traditionally, the pure egg yolk, with its surface delicately dried by rolling in the palms, was poured from its yolk sac then ground with pigments. Vinegar or clove oil was sometimes added as a preservative. Other recipes use whole egg, as an emulsifier, mixed with linseed oil and water (see tempera grassa). Occasionally, resin was also added. The paint is thinner with water; it dries quickly. Large blocks of even colour are hard to achieve, and egg tempera is most suitable for small-scale decoration or ornate detail. It is a very stable medium: once dry it is unaffected by organic solvents and changes little with time. Some sulphur containing pigments, vermilion and cadmium colours, are incompatible with egg tempera. 
Doerner (1934); Trench (2000);  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

Egg white  -  The colourless proteinaceous fluid (albumin) surrounding the egg yolk of bird eggs. Egg white is approximately 85% water and 12% protein with small amounts of fat, carbohydrates and salts. The distribution of major amino acids is: glutamic acid (13.9%), aspartic acid (10.5%), leucine (10.3%), lysine (8.0%), valine (8.3%), arginine (6.8%), alanine (6.3%), isoleucine (6.2%) and serine (5.8%) with no measurable amounts of hydroxyproline (Mills and White 1994). This proteinaceous mixture is chemically known as albumin but has been commercially spelled as albumen when used in food and as a binder for photographic emulsions. Albumin forms an amorphous solid when dried that is soluble in water. However, egg white is heat sensitive and forms an insoluble irreversible mass when heated to temperatures above 60 degrees centigrade. Egg white was used as a paint medium, called glair, in illuminated manuscripts. It was also used in gilding for bole and for shell gold or powdered gold applications. Albumen was as an emulsion medium in mid-19th century photographic and lithographic prints. Egg white is also as an adhesive, coating, and binder. 
Synonyms: - albumin; albumen; glair
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

Emulsion - A stable, colloidal suspension of two or more immiscible liquids. Fine, microscopic droplets of one liquid are evenly dispersed within the second liquid. A third material, called an emulsifier, coats the droplets to keep them from coalescing and settling out. Examples of natural emulsions are milk and egg yolk. Examples of synthetic emulsions are many oil-in-water paint formulations, leather dressings, margarine and aqueous polymer preparations.
Synonyms: Emulsions
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

English red  -  A former name for iron oxide red. The name 'English red' was changed to 'light red' in 1942 by the Paint Standard. Artificial English red was made by heating iron sulphate with chalk and often contain small amounts of gypsum. It is listed among the additional pigments used for colouring stucco marble in the nineteenth century.  It is also mentioned among the polishing-red (one of the components?) used as polish.
Synonyms: Pigment red 101; light red; iron oxide red
Wittenburg (1999);  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

Epoxide resin - See epoxy
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

Epoxy - A series of thermosetting polymers based on the chemical reactivity of an epoxide group. Epoxies, first developed in Switzerland in the 1930s, they became commercially viable in 1939, were further developed in the 1940's and 50's. They are composed of a liquid that, when mixed with a catalyst, crosslinks to form a hard, strongly bound solid. The most commonly used epoxies are made with epichlorohydrin reacted with bisphenol A. Epoxies are typically dense, insoluble structures that are dimensionally stable and wear resistant. They are used as protective coatings, as very strong adhesives, and with glass fibre to make fibreglass.
Synonyms: epoxide resin; Ablebond; Araldite [Ciba-Geigy]; CM Bond; Epon® [Shell Chemical]; Epotek; Hxtal; Phillyseal R (formerly Pliacre) [Philadelphia Resins]; UHU
Trench (2000); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)

Extender - An additive used to dilute main components of the mixture. For example, aluminium trihydrate, and talc are two common extenders used to dilute pigments because they are inexpensive, inert and colourless.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2000)
 
 
 

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