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Roman Black: Resin Soot from a Vaulted Chamber, for Ink and Fresco (Vitruvius)
Vitruvius's Roman way to make black: burn resin in a small closed furnace whose smoke vents into a smooth vaulted chamber, sweep the soot off the walls, and work it with gum for writing ink or with size for fresco. Two quick substitutes: pounded pitch-pine charcoal, or roasted wine lees.
Intermediate
A day of burning, plus sweeping
Instructions
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Three Roman blacks
Three Roman blacks
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Read the Ten Books
Read the Ten Books
"A place is built like a Laconicum, and nicely finished in marble, smoothly polished."
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Build the soot chamber
Build the soot chamber
Build a small vaulted chamber with smooth inner walls (he finished it in polished marble; we use smoothly plastered brick). In front of it build a small furnace with vents leading into the chamber and a stokehole that closes tightly so no flame escapes.
Materials for this step:
Brick1 piece
Clay1 pieceTools needed:
Trowel4
4
Burn the resin
Burn the resin
Put resin in the furnace and close the stokehole. The fire drives the soot through the vents; it settles on the walls and the curved vault.
Materials for this step:
Pine Resin1 piece5
5
Gather the black
Gather the black
When cool, sweep the soot off the walls and vault. Work some of it with gum for writing ink; mix the rest with size for wall painting.
Materials for this step:
Gum Arabic1 piece
Hide Glue1 pieceTools needed:
Feathers
Glass Jar6
6
Makeshift blacks
Makeshift blacks
Without a chamber: burn pitch-pine shavings and splinters to charcoal, put them out, and pound them in a mortar with size. Or dry wine lees, roast them in an oven, and grind them with size: the better the wine, the nearer the colour to India ink.
Materials for this step:
Wine Lees1 pieceHide Glue1 pieceTools needed:
Stone Mortar and Pestle7
7
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Roman black troubleshooting.
Flow
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History and honest limits
History and honest limits
From Vitruvius, **The Ten Books on Architecture**, translated by Morris Hicky Morgan (1914), Book VII, Chap. X (checked on the archive.org scan vitruviustenbook00vitruoft, pp. 217-218). He gives no sizes; the brick chamber and the heads are ours.
Materials
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