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)
Bibliography
Index
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