Work more interesting than before
On the Fridays I work more people don't than do. Normally this means I can choose the radio station or CD's, get a lot done with no distractions and take frequent and necessary breaks. Joyce was there on Friday, in the lab. She complimented the music playing, Zoe Keating, and I said I'd make her a copy.
The noon whistle rang and I went out to the car, moved it to a less conspicuous parking spot and smoked, ate my lunch and listened to the national and regional news from NPR. It was warm so I stepped outside to walk along the banks of where the Hudson meets the Mohawk. Mud and gooseshit caked my shoes as I examined beaver gnawings. I ate a pear and threw the core into the river for some gulls, but they didn't like it. I figured they would because they always fight over the apple cores. Whatever, stupid birds.
Back in the car I put in some eye drops and listened to unmemorable things, then went back inside to the lab. Joyce came in almost immediately and asked if I wanted to take some cross-sections. What kind of question is that, I thought, and said "Absolutely." The results were staggering, sort of.
Here's the breakdown of what most would consider the layers in a gilded chair: Gold on bole on gesso on wood. In this cross-section though there was a fabric layer under the gesso. Joyce was baffled. I had noticed the funny black stuff on the chair near the joints, even had seen a weird checkered pattern, but formulated my own explanation for it. Fabric of any kind was not part of it.
We called in an expert, Allison from Textiles down the hall. Under the low power microscope she deemed the fabric to be in a 4-2 right handed twill pattern, and under a higher powered microscope ventured a guess that the fabric was in fact silk. She took a sample and went back to her lab to run some tests, came back later with confirmation. Joyce and I speculated. Yesterday Eric suggested a technique where silk was used to bridge the gap at the mitres in frames to prevent the gesso from cracking as the wood swelled and shrunk over time. Could this also have been used in the case of these chairs?
Probably, which leads to some interesting speculation. Was the chair made by a chair-maker, then finished and gilded by a frame-maker? Or did the furniture maker also do frame making? I shall check the maker's label for more information.
The noon whistle rang and I went out to the car, moved it to a less conspicuous parking spot and smoked, ate my lunch and listened to the national and regional news from NPR. It was warm so I stepped outside to walk along the banks of where the Hudson meets the Mohawk. Mud and gooseshit caked my shoes as I examined beaver gnawings. I ate a pear and threw the core into the river for some gulls, but they didn't like it. I figured they would because they always fight over the apple cores. Whatever, stupid birds.
Back in the car I put in some eye drops and listened to unmemorable things, then went back inside to the lab. Joyce came in almost immediately and asked if I wanted to take some cross-sections. What kind of question is that, I thought, and said "Absolutely." The results were staggering, sort of.
Here's the breakdown of what most would consider the layers in a gilded chair: Gold on bole on gesso on wood. In this cross-section though there was a fabric layer under the gesso. Joyce was baffled. I had noticed the funny black stuff on the chair near the joints, even had seen a weird checkered pattern, but formulated my own explanation for it. Fabric of any kind was not part of it.
We called in an expert, Allison from Textiles down the hall. Under the low power microscope she deemed the fabric to be in a 4-2 right handed twill pattern, and under a higher powered microscope ventured a guess that the fabric was in fact silk. She took a sample and went back to her lab to run some tests, came back later with confirmation. Joyce and I speculated. Yesterday Eric suggested a technique where silk was used to bridge the gap at the mitres in frames to prevent the gesso from cracking as the wood swelled and shrunk over time. Could this also have been used in the case of these chairs?
Probably, which leads to some interesting speculation. Was the chair made by a chair-maker, then finished and gilded by a frame-maker? Or did the furniture maker also do frame making? I shall check the maker's label for more information.
posted by Contractor on Drugs | 5:35 PM
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