Ora et labora

new purchases

New acquisitions in my atelier vintage Victorian BACKDROPS... 

see you soon ... dear readers, This time I have very little time.,

THE FEBRUARY meeting IS FULL

Old Books, in smell of autumn

Geographical, climatic factors should be considered. In some areas of the country, seasonal changes can adversely affect the conditions in the storage or display area proposed. Because of their hygroscopic nature, textiles can be damaged by spikes of high humidity. Monitor the area chosen periodically to check the temperature and humidity levels. Attics, basements, closets against exterior walls are places susceptible to changes in temperature and hence to changes in relative humidity. Such spaces are not recommended for textile storage. 

Some fungi and some bacteria produce colors as they grown. These may attach tenaciously to the fibers. Xerophilic fungi produce rust-colored spots. Often seen on the pages of old books or antique linens, these freckle like spots called ‘foxing’ are the result of a melanin type exudate, not rust. Oxidative bleaching with hydrogen peroxide may reduce the color but will further weaken the cloth or paper.

The portion of the textile that is obscured by mildew is weaker than the unaffected areas. Chemical treatment ("wet-side spotting") may be deleterious to the fabric, dyestuff, finish. If the growth has damaged enough fiber surface, removing the growth will reveal a perceptively damaged--and perhaps discolored area. Radical treatment may only abrade this surface more; washing and agitation may increase the likelihood of rips, tears, holes.

Irish Literature in black sheep ... storytelling in old pubs

« We propose to have performed in Dublin, in the spring of every year certain Celtic and Irish plays, which whatever be their degree of excellence will be written with a high ambition, and so to build up a Celtic and Irish school of dramatic literature. We hope to find in Ireland an uncorrupted and imaginative audience trained to listen by its passion for oratory, and believe that our desire to bring upon the stage the deeper thoughts and emotions of Ireland will ensure for us a tolerant welcome, and that freedom to experiment which is not found in theatres of England, and without which no new movement in art or literature can succeed. We will show that Ireland is not the home of buffoonery and of easy sentiment, as it has been represented, but the home of an ancient idealism. We are confident of the support of all Irish people, who are weary of misrepresentation, in carrying out a work that is outside all the political questions that divide us. »

(W.B.Yeats, Lady I.A. Gregory e Edward Martyn from Manifesto for Irish Literary Theatre)

... during this period are committed to the preservation 

of this support dear to me ...

 It's not a photographic technique.

not surprisingly coinciding of my stay in Ireland :))) ... 

here in Dublin is famous "BOOK of KELLS" in Trinity College.

I spent my teenage years, lying on the grass in this College Park under a muffled sun...

reading writers that lived inside ;)

Oscar Wilde-Jonathan Swift-Bram Stoker-Sheridan Le Fanu-Edmund Burke-James Joyce-W.B.Yeats etc...

I'm working on a restoration of the natural  ink on Vellum.

bla bla bla!!! from Wikipedia; Encyclopedia popular.

Vellum is derived from the Latin word "vitulinum" meaning "made from calf", leading to Old French "vélin" ("calfskin"). The term often refers to a parchment made from calf skin, as opposed to that from other animals. It is prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. The term is sometimes used with a more general meaning referring to finer-quality parchments made from a variety of animal skins.

Vellum is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation and the quality of the skin. The manufacture involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame (a "herse"), and scraping of the skin with a crescent shaped knife (a "lunarium" or "lunellum"). To create tension, scraping is alternated with wetting and drying. A final finish may be achieved by abrading the surface with pumice, and treating with a preparation of lime or chalk to make it accept writing or printing ink.

Modern "paper vellum" (vegetable vellum) is a quite different synthetic material, used for a variety of purposes, including plans, technical drawings, and blueprints.

In Europe, from Roman times, the term vellum was used for the best quality of prepared skin, regardless of the animal from which the hide was obtained, calf, sheep, and goat all being commonly used (other animals, including pig, deer, donkey, horse, or camel have been used). Although the term derives from the French for "calf", except for Muslim or Jewish use, animal vellum can include hide from virtually any other mammal. The best quality, "uterine vellum", was said to be made from the skins of stillborn or unborn animals, although the term was also applied to fine quality skins made from young animals. Many libraries and museums increasingly use only the safe if confusing term "membrane"; depending on factors such as the method of preparation it may be very hard to determine the animal involved (let alone the age of the animal) without using a laboratory, and the term avoids the need to distinguish between vellum and parchment.
French sources, closer to the original etymology, tend to define velin as from calf only, while the British Standards Institution defines parchment as made from the split skin of several species, and vellum from the unsplit skin. In the usage of modern practitioners of the artistic crafts of writing, illuminating, lettering, and bookbinding, "vellum" is normally reserved for calfskin, while any other skin is called "parchment".

Vellum is a translucent material produced from the skin, often split, of a young animal. The skin is washed with water and lime (Calcium hydroxide), but not together. It is then soaked in lime for several days to soften and remove the hair. Once clear, the two sides of the skin are distinct: the side facing inside the animal and the hair side. The "inside body side" of the skin is the usually lighter and more refined of the two. The hair follicles may be visible on the outer side, together with any scarring, made while the animal was alive. The membrane can also show the pattern of the animal's vein network called the "veining" of the sheet.
Any remaining hair is removed ("scudding") and the skin is dried by attaching it to a frame (a "herse"). The skin is attached at points around the circumference with cords; to prevent tearing, the maker wraps the area of the skin to which the cord is to be attached around a pebble (a "pippin"). The maker then uses a crescent shaped knife, (a "lunarium" or "lunellum"), to clean off any remaining hairs. Once the skin is completely dry, it is thoroughly cleaned and processed into sheets. The number of sheets extracted from the piece of skin depends on the size of the skin and the given dimensions requested by the order. For example, the average calfskin can provide three and half medium sheets of writing material. This can be doubled when it is folded into two conjoint leaves, also known as a bifolium. Historians have found evidence of manuscripts where the scribe wrote down the medieval instructions now followed by modern membrane makers. The membrane is then rubbed with a round, flat object ("pouncing") to ensure that the ink would adhere well.

Once the vellum is prepared, traditionally a "quire" "is formed of group of several sheets. Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham point out, in "Introduction to Manuscript Studies", that "the quire was the scribe's basic writing unit throughout the Middle Ages". Guidelines are then made on the membrane. They note "'pricking' is the process of making holes in a sheet of parchment (or membrane) in preparation of its ruling. The lines were then made by ruling between the prick marks...The process of entering ruled lines on the page to serve as a guide for entering text. Most manuscripts were ruled with horizontal lines that served as the baselines on which the text was entered and with vertical bounding lines that marked the boundaries of the columns".

... Most of the finer sort of medieval manuscripts, whether illuminated or not, were written on vellum. Some Gandharan Buddhist texts were written on vellum, and all Sifrei Torah (Hebrew: ספר תורה ; plural: ספרי תורה, Sifrei Torah) are written on kosher klaf or vellum.
A quarter of the 180 copy edition of Johannes Gutenberg's first Bible printed in 1455 with movable type was also printed on vellum, presumably because his market expected this for a high-quality book. Paper was used for most book-printing, as it was cheaper and easier to process through a printing press and bind.
In art, vellum was used for paintings, especially if they needed to be sent long distances, before canvas became widely used in about 1500, and continued to be used for drawings, and watercolours. Old master prints were sometimes printed on vellum, especially for presentation copies, until at least the seventeenth century.
Limp vellum or limp-parchment bindings were used frequently in the 16th and 17th centuries, and were sometimes gilt but were also often not embellished. In later centuries vellum has been more commonly used like leather, that is, as the covering for stiff board bindings. Vellum can be stained virtually any color but seldom is, as a great part of its beauty and appeal rests in its faint grain and hair markings, as well as its warmth and simplicity.

True vellum is typically stored in a stable environment with constant temperature and 30% (± 5%) relative humidity. If vellum is stored in an environment with less than 11% relative humidity, it becomes fragile, brittle, and susceptible to mechanical stresses; if it is stored in an environment with greater than 40% relative humidity, it becomes vulnerable to gelation and to mold or fungus growth. The optimal temperature for the preservation of vellum is 20 ± 1.5 °C (68 ± 2.7 °F).

to be continued ...

Again in 19th Century!!!

Carte de Visite   Cabinet Card

 1860-880s            1870s-1900

Image on ALBUMEN coated paper

spring trip. Beautiful Italy

Nièpce in England

Intérieur d’une Abbaye en Ruines, one of three plates of Niépce to be discussed and displayed at the conference, from the collection of The Royal Photographic Society at the National Media Museum/Science & Society Picture Library

Conference Update

An international conference on recent

advancements in scientific, art historical, and

conservation research relating to the

photographs which Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

brought to England in 1827.

Co-organized by the National Media Museum

and the Getty Conservation Institute

13th - 14th October 2010

National Media Museum

Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

Dear Colleague:

The National Media Museum (NMeM) and the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) are pleased to invite

you to the Niépce in England conference, to be held at the National Media Museum, Bradford, United

Kingdom on Wednesday and Thursday, October 13-14, 2010.

Conference Objective and Goals

Niépce in England

This two-day conference will present the results of new, unpublished research and scientific
investigations, which have been undertaken during the NMeM and GCI Collaborative Research Project.
In the Royal Photographic Society Collection at the National Media Museum are three plates by
Niépce. The conference will address the research and conservation of these photographic treasures,
and will discuss future conservation measures that would provide for their long-term protection and
preservation. The reason why Niépce brought these plates to England, and their subsequent history,
will also be outlined more fully than previously published

Conference Themes and Speakers

Philippa Wright, Curator of Photographs, National Media Museum
Larry Schaaf, Independent Photo historian
Pamela Roberts, Independent Photo Historian
Grant Romer, Independent Photo Historian
Art Kaplan, Scientist, Getty Conservation Institute
Dr, Dusan Stulik, Senior Scientist, Getty Conservation Institute
Colin Harding, Curator of Photographic Technology, National Media Museum
Philip Gilhooley, Independent Fingerprint Consultant and Lecturer in Forensic Science, Liverpool John
Moores University
Peter Bower, Forensic Paper Historian
Roy Flukinger, Senior Research Curator of Photography, Harry Ransom Centre, University of Texas
Barbara Brown, Head of Photograph Conservation, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas
Isabella Kocum, Frame Conservator, National Gallery
Susie Clark, Independent Photographic and Paper Conservator
• Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and his work
• The first six photographs brought to England by Niépce in context• Scientific investigation into the three Niépce photographs in The Royal Photographic Society
Collection at the NMeM
• Dating and conservation of the original frames
• Conservation and preservation issues related to the Niépce plates


Related Events
Conference participants will have a very unique and unprecedented opportunity (that may not be
repeated in our lifetime) to view all three Niépce plates ‘out of their frames’, enabling participants to
closely examine the surfaces and reverse of these unique photographic treasures. The plates, and
their conserved frames, will be on display throughout the conference in the Kraszna-Krausz Print
Viewing Room, in the NMeM Research Centre.
• A Conference dinner will take place on Wednesday, October 13th, 7pm – 10pm at the National Media
Museum. Tickets for the dinner need to be purchased with your conference ticket at a cost of £22.

Registration

Formal registration for the Niépce in England conference is now open. Please note that attendance to
the conference is limited. All registrations will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have
already registered initial interest in the conference you are not guaranteed a place and will still need to ring and book your place.

For further enquiries regarding the conference please email
rsvp.nmem@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk and we will respond to your enquiry accordingly

To book your conference ticket please call the museum box office on +44 (0) 870 70 10200. Please note that tickets can not be purchased online.

Ticket costs
• Full price conference ticket £90
• Concession price conference ticket £70
• Wednesday evening dinner £22

Hotel accommodation

Overnight accommodation is available locally at the Bradford Jurys Inn Hotel.

The hotel is a two minute walk from the museum and rooms can be booked either online at:http://bradfordhotels.jurysinns.com/ or by calling +44 (0) 870 4100 800.

Rates range from £55 to £80 for a double room. Early booking is advisable.

National Media Museum in Bradford opened as The National Museum of Photography, Film and
Television in 1983 and has since become one of the most visited UK museums outside London. The
Museum is devoted to photography, film, television, radio and the web and looks after the National
Photography, Photographic Technology and Cinematography Collections. The Museum is home to two
temporary exhibition spaces and, a Research Centre that hosts regular displays from its extensive
Collections. The Museum’s vibrant programme reflects all aspects of historical and contemporary
media practice and issues.