06-20-2005, 12:14 AM
Gaius,
Unfortunately, I haven't used the premixed medium yet, so I really couldn't tell you how much of it you would need for your shield, but I can tell you that I used 2 beeswax pellets that weighed in at about 100 grams (I'll double check that just to make sure later), and then added to that an equal amount of Damar resin for a 1:1 ratio. I then added about 1 - 2 teaspoons of pigment to the wax to get the desired color, and it went pretty far. The only reason I recommended the premixed stuff was that it comes in colors already and the mixing process is very sticky and very sensitive to temp. changes. But this week I found the 1:1 ratio wasn't enough to keep my shield from melting, so maybe the premixed stuff won't either....
I'm working to get the pictures up on a website to show you my results. I just returned from my event where I displayed my norse shields and handed off the cd with all of my construction pictures to my friend who will be posting it on his website sometime tomorrow night (hopefully).
But WOW!
hock: The 1:1 ratio is either not enough resin or else the Romans added something else to keep the wax from melting off of the shield. When you see my pictures you'll see that the shield melted in a matter of hours in the sunlight. True, I used a black and red paint combination, so both colors would absorb a lot of sun and heat, but there is no way that this ratio is workable for an outdoor shield exposed to 80F or greater temperatures. Something else needs to be done to raise the melting point of the wax to a very high temperature (or else I completely botched the mixing job, but I don't think I did... :? ). I would love to find a paper on the chemical analysis of the Dura Europos shield to see what was 'officially' listed.
One interesting thing though is that if the sun melts off the majority of the wax from the shield, a very thin coating of wax is left on the canvas of the shield which is not too "tacky" or "sticky", nor is it in danger of melting further...maybe this is the proper technique for applying? Again, the pictures should make all of this a lot clearer and should be up tomorrow evening.
Uale!
Britannicus
Unfortunately, I haven't used the premixed medium yet, so I really couldn't tell you how much of it you would need for your shield, but I can tell you that I used 2 beeswax pellets that weighed in at about 100 grams (I'll double check that just to make sure later), and then added to that an equal amount of Damar resin for a 1:1 ratio. I then added about 1 - 2 teaspoons of pigment to the wax to get the desired color, and it went pretty far. The only reason I recommended the premixed stuff was that it comes in colors already and the mixing process is very sticky and very sensitive to temp. changes. But this week I found the 1:1 ratio wasn't enough to keep my shield from melting, so maybe the premixed stuff won't either....
I'm working to get the pictures up on a website to show you my results. I just returned from my event where I displayed my norse shields and handed off the cd with all of my construction pictures to my friend who will be posting it on his website sometime tomorrow night (hopefully).
But WOW!
hock: The 1:1 ratio is either not enough resin or else the Romans added something else to keep the wax from melting off of the shield. When you see my pictures you'll see that the shield melted in a matter of hours in the sunlight. True, I used a black and red paint combination, so both colors would absorb a lot of sun and heat, but there is no way that this ratio is workable for an outdoor shield exposed to 80F or greater temperatures. Something else needs to be done to raise the melting point of the wax to a very high temperature (or else I completely botched the mixing job, but I don't think I did... :? ). I would love to find a paper on the chemical analysis of the Dura Europos shield to see what was 'officially' listed.One interesting thing though is that if the sun melts off the majority of the wax from the shield, a very thin coating of wax is left on the canvas of the shield which is not too "tacky" or "sticky", nor is it in danger of melting further...maybe this is the proper technique for applying? Again, the pictures should make all of this a lot clearer and should be up tomorrow evening.
Uale!
Britannicus
Gaius Aquilius Britannicus
aka. Todd Searls
aka. Todd Searls
