O Frabjous Day!

[hakerh]

Thanks to the generosity of iarwain, I now have a pound of raw dried cacao beans. This is as close to from-the-tree as I'm gonna get. As you may have noticed, I've been having a lot of fun playing around with the late 16th & early 17th century recipes for chocolate

Comments

[iarwain]

Speaking of research we're both into...

I tried starting in on my reproduction quadrant today.

I was going to use a modern transfer technique to prepare to acid etch the brass. It didn't work. The ink didn't stick to the brass at ALL.

So... melted up some beeswax and it looks like I'll be doing the design with a straight edge and compass after all rather than copying the original exactly. This opens it up for whether I want to do the unequal hours like on this original or a shadow square or both as in some other originals.

[hakerh]

What were you using for your modern technique? When I did my compass face, I used paint and scratched lines where I wanted etching. (Then I deepened the lines afterwards with a stylus, since I wanted better detail and enough depth to hold lampblack for contrast.) Depending on how large a face you've got on yours, you could probably do the same with beeswax, or is that what you're talking about?

[iarwain]

The modern technique was to use a photocopy or laser print of the negative and transfer the image to the surface using alcohol.

That would have made a photo quality repro of the original... Once transfered, the plan was to coat in beeswax and scratch out the lines, lastly acid etching.

The transfer wouldn't even pretend to stick to the brass.

So... I'm back to drawing the designs out with a compass and straight edge. The brass is already coated in wax and the pivot hole drilled. Then I couldn't find my compass... I guess it's time for a trip to Staples.

[hakerh]

I just spent the last half hour counting and sorting cacao beans. They're gorgeous and smell delicious. I figure a pound comes out to be ~400 beans, give or take a dozen hollow or damaged ones. I am so looking forward to playing with this! Did you see my note about roses of Alexandria?