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luciabBoy, for somebody who "doesn't like history," as I have frequently described myself, I sure get distracted by, and excited about, some weird shit.
I'm trying to finish this paper about the effects of iron gall ink on parchment and paper. Nearly everything I found at first was about how the ink corrodes paper, so I wondered if it was corrosive to parchment at all. Yep, i finally found some articles that mention that it is. No discussion of how it works on the collagen in parchment, to correspond with the articles explaining about hydrolysis and oxidation of the cellulose in paper. So, depsite my determination to WRITE today, and not go haring off in a dozen different directions following links and leads, I decided I really need some kind of information about what happens to parchment. For one thing, how can ink "flake off" parchment, when the whole problem with it is that it eats into the paper( or parchment)? All I can think is that it flakes off tiny bits of the parchment, but I can't find anything to support that theory or give any other explanation.
In searching, however, I found a well-documented article about treating a copy of a late 13th century encyclopedia. I started out scanning it, looking for key words like "flaking" and "iron gall ink" but got caught up in the drama of the restoration. I was on the edge of my seat reading about how they took the book apart and what they found when they did.
In researching this paper, I have found and bookmarked dozens of pages like this. In all honesty, I have no idea whether it will all still be interesting when I'm not under deadline, but if it is, I know where to find it.
I am amused, however, to discover once again that I used to be good in science, even if I have let myself lapse into artsy-fartsy-hood and neglected all that stuff. Not to mention how fascinated I have been with the minutiae of history. All I can think is that I have always been more taken with said minutiae than I was with the grand sweep, and I like science just fine as long as I don't have to do a bunch of math to prove it. Just show me the interesting stuff and nevermind the proofs. Yep, that's why I'm all artsy and not all science-y.
Sometimes I feel like I'm awfully slow to figure things out. For example, I've been searching for information on this topic for two months now, and only today did it occur to me to put "flaking" as one of the search terms, along with "iron gall ink" and "parchment." I mean, I didn't find a damn thing I could actually USE by doing that, but in retrospect, it seems like a rather obvious thing, and I feel silly for having missed it. It should have worked.
Anyway, I have to get back to writing the damn paper. At least the problem on this one is that I can't find as much detail as I want, instead of having no ideas to begin with, and not giving a hoot anyway.
Oh, and my technique for dealing with Miranda today has been amusing.... when she gets in my lap and tries to settle down, I pet her very energetically, then grab her head and kiss her loudly and often between her ears. She doesn't much want to stay in my lap after that.
I'm trying to finish this paper about the effects of iron gall ink on parchment and paper. Nearly everything I found at first was about how the ink corrodes paper, so I wondered if it was corrosive to parchment at all. Yep, i finally found some articles that mention that it is. No discussion of how it works on the collagen in parchment, to correspond with the articles explaining about hydrolysis and oxidation of the cellulose in paper. So, depsite my determination to WRITE today, and not go haring off in a dozen different directions following links and leads, I decided I really need some kind of information about what happens to parchment. For one thing, how can ink "flake off" parchment, when the whole problem with it is that it eats into the paper( or parchment)? All I can think is that it flakes off tiny bits of the parchment, but I can't find anything to support that theory or give any other explanation.
In searching, however, I found a well-documented article about treating a copy of a late 13th century encyclopedia. I started out scanning it, looking for key words like "flaking" and "iron gall ink" but got caught up in the drama of the restoration. I was on the edge of my seat reading about how they took the book apart and what they found when they did.
In researching this paper, I have found and bookmarked dozens of pages like this. In all honesty, I have no idea whether it will all still be interesting when I'm not under deadline, but if it is, I know where to find it.
I am amused, however, to discover once again that I used to be good in science, even if I have let myself lapse into artsy-fartsy-hood and neglected all that stuff. Not to mention how fascinated I have been with the minutiae of history. All I can think is that I have always been more taken with said minutiae than I was with the grand sweep, and I like science just fine as long as I don't have to do a bunch of math to prove it. Just show me the interesting stuff and nevermind the proofs. Yep, that's why I'm all artsy and not all science-y.
Sometimes I feel like I'm awfully slow to figure things out. For example, I've been searching for information on this topic for two months now, and only today did it occur to me to put "flaking" as one of the search terms, along with "iron gall ink" and "parchment." I mean, I didn't find a damn thing I could actually USE by doing that, but in retrospect, it seems like a rather obvious thing, and I feel silly for having missed it. It should have worked.
Anyway, I have to get back to writing the damn paper. At least the problem on this one is that I can't find as much detail as I want, instead of having no ideas to begin with, and not giving a hoot anyway.
Oh, and my technique for dealing with Miranda today has been amusing.... when she gets in my lap and tries to settle down, I pet her very energetically, then grab her head and kiss her loudly and often between her ears. She doesn't much want to stay in my lap after that.
