Wax tablet dimensions help

[Doc]

Does anyone know how thick each of the leaves were? I have read somewhere that each one is about 3mm thick and the inside about 1mm.

This means that the outer leaves have a 1mm thick recess for the wax making the total thickness of the outer leaves 2mm.

However, if the same criteria were used for the inner leaves, then it would only be 1mm thick since there would be removal of 1mm from each side

I would appreciate any help.

[D B Campbell]

The single-sided wax tablets from Carlisle measured ca. 140 mm x 50/60 mm, with a rim thickness of 6-7 mm and a face thickness of 4-6 mm (i.e. the rim was generally 1 mm thicker than the face, thus allowing a 1 mm thickness of wax).

Hope that helps?

[Doc]

Thanks for the reply. When you mean one sided, I am assuming that the wax was on one side and the other was just wood-yes?

I am planning on making a triptych (3 leaf book) where two sheets are one sided (front and back cover) and the central sheet is two sided with wax.

Anyway, I am not sure what you mean by the "rim". The rim meaning the frame around the wax that forms when the central wood tablet is carved out to form the pit in which the wax is poured? Or do you call the rim the actual depth of the wax face. In other words, the wax is 4-6mm deep in the center of the tablet but on the edge it is thicker? If this is so, then how thick would the leaf have to be in total?

[D B Campbell]

When you mean one sided, I am assuming that the wax was on one side and the other was just wood-yes?

Correct. Several had an address scrawled on the outside (plain wood) face.

I am planning on making a triptych (3 leaf book) where two sheets are one sided (front and back cover) and the central sheet is two sided with wax.

Apparently, several of these internal leaves are also known from Carlisle, but the report I read (Britannia 23, 1992) only had one. It measured 138 x (approx.) 79 mm, with a rim thickness of 10 mm and a face thickness of 4 mm. (Figures as quoted; no illustration.) I take this to mean that, as with the single-sided examples, the recess allowed 1 mm of wax.

The rim meaning the frame around the wax that forms when the central wood tablet is carved out to form the pit in which the wax is poured?

Correct. So a rim thickness of 5 mm and a face thickness of 4 mm allows a 1 mm depth of wax.

[Doc]

Thanks for the reply. That is much clearer

[Doc]

Duncan,

I have looked over some of the figures you gave me based on your post. If the rim thickness is 10mm and the recess is 4mm, then that would make 6mm of wax not 1mm.

Maybe you meant to write that the thickness was 5mm instead of 10mm with a 4mm recess allowing 1mm of wax. The reason I ask is because on the last line that you wrote to me, you mentioned precisely this.

Thanks again

[D B Campbell]

If the rim thickness is 10mm and the recess [this is actually the face] is 4mm, then that would make 6mm of wax not 1mm.

Just quoting the report. As this is the double-sided tablet, I take it to be a 10 mm-thick piece of wood, but the excavator has quoted a notional face depth for each side (4 mm x 2 = 8 mm), which means that each side has a 1 mm recess. But I am just guessing.

You may be interested in Gallia 61 (2004), which is all about writing.