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Trethevy Quoit...Cornwall's Megalithic Masterpiece
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Littlestone
Littlestone
5386 posts

Re: Similarities elsewhere?
Apr 02, 2013, 17:01
tiompan wrote:

Fresh turmeric , (not easy to wash off ) is getting much easier to come by these days , brilliant colour .


Yes, here’s a little tip for anyone wanting to give a new reproduction of a black and white print a slightly antique appearance (I have in mind some of the Stukeley prints that you can buy in places like the Henge shop). Find a place where alder grows (usually by a stream) and collect some of the old brown cones. Soak them in cold water overnight and in the morning you’ll have a beautiful golden brown dye. Remove the cones and filter the dye (if you don’t want any bits in it). Dilute if necessary and then dip the print into the dye (make sure the inks in the print are not fugitive first though!). Tea was often used in Europe for the same reason but alder is much better.

By the way, you weren’t far off when you alluded to Chuck Berry’s ‘rattles when you shake it’. There’s a thing called the papermaker’s shake. This is the shake of the mould by the papermaker after it’s been dipped into the stock (the paper fibre that’s suspended in water) and is intended to ‘lock’ the fibres together. It’s the oldest papermaking technique – originating in China and then spreading westwards (the Japanese developed another technique called nagashizuki).

I’ll get my anorak now...
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