Adventures in Hide Glue

And we're off! Well, I already started, but I was waiting for he camera battery to charge a bit.  Well, and I needed to start to have something to write.  And Lucia has been all Cattus Interruptus.  Yes, I named my cat after my ren faire persona.  The other one is Wilburforce, but he's apparently napping or something.

Why?
As seen in previous posts, I want to make an Italian Renaissance dress from the end of the 1500s, and those things had some stiffness to them, but also especially with the Italians they moved with the body curve more.  I've made garments with metal boning and canvas and zip ties and lumber bundle straps and weak buckram, and some of those options are ok, but something seemed off.

In looking at what I want to do, I came across Anea's conversation about possible uses of corsets or (probably) not, boning and other options.  The pertinent part is here:

"The bodice was stiffened by two layers of padded linen hardened with (probably animal) glue placed between the outer fabric and the taffeta lining, and it had a wide, square neckline typical of Italian Renaissance dresses" (my translation of a passage from page 321 in the book "I della Rovere"). 

Then in her Roman Dress Diary (which you should go read anyhow along with the research page about the dress because it's awesomefun - especially during a time of heightened papal awareness) there is this:

Sometimes the bodices were supported further; "Moda a Firenze" mentions"cardboard (in) a typically Spanish system" (Landini 2005: 88pp), while reports on the funeral dress of Giulia Varano mentions a layer of linen stiffened with animal glue. As historical cardboard often was made of linen fibers and animal glue, I suspect it's was a kind of cardboard they used in Giulia Varano's dress as well.

But what is "Spanish system"? No-one knows. They might have used strips of cardboard similar to modern boning, or they might have used whole pieces. They might have fused it together with the wool felt, or as a separate piece. So stiffening my dress bodice with cardboard was mostly guesswork and might not be how they made it at all.

I cut the main shapes of the bodice in black cotton,and a double layer of each. I then cut black wool felt into the same shape, and stitched this together with one of the cotton layers. Next was to cut the linen cardboard into the same shape. This was sandwiched between the two cotton layers. The cardboard was way too stiff and thick to be sewn in, so I stitched the cotton layers together, holding the cardboard in place. I then added the black velvet over this stiff frame, on top of the black wool felt. The sides has a strip of fabric only, no cardboard, so metal eyelets could be inserted. The eyelets were bound with a thick, black thread, to secure the eyelets and to better let them blend with the velvet. 

She apparently used purchased linen cardboard already made (no, I haven't written her), but I'm figuring that at the time scraps of linnen fabrics - or more likely a linen pulp made out of scraps - was mixed with glue and made into a somewhat thin strip held together by hide glue.  Since I'm not in the mood to pulp up a bunch of fabric, I'm experimenting with already made fabric.

The Kitchen:
The house came with the job, and I lucked out with this tall bar that is perfect for doing things while standing.  I also have a cutting board I can put on it.  And yes, I did artfully neglect to include the mess around this spot.  And that's a Buddha face on the left.

The Set-up:
- electric fondue pot a little closer to Simmer than Warm so it's at the 145* recommended on the hide glue can
- a pottery bowl sitting in water in the fondue pot all double boiler style.
- wax paper out on the counter onto which I've written ratios that I am guesstimating, so that should be useful
- a plastic spoon

Fabrics (don't judge - these we're ones I didn't want due to dying failures):
-an old cotton sheet so pretty thin
- a moderate weight former green number which seems rather cotton
- a former pink tweed that is actually quite thick like a felt, but has a rather open weave but is quite flexible unlike felt

Smell:
Doesn't seem too bad, but I'm in my closed off kitchen with cross windows open (it might be 40 outside but probably not).  Then again when I'm not in the breeze there is something funky going on and my throat is kind of closing funny. Glad my kitchen has a door

Experiment parameters (I never did this much work for any science fair, btw):
- 1 part glue to 1 part water (consistency of warm honey) for each of the 3 fabrics.  That's the one pictured above, btw.
- 1 part glue to something like 3 parts water
- 1 part glue to rather 10 parts water or just really watery

Boning?
To make it interesting I have some squares that are just the square to put glue on, but I also have an alternate square for the two lighter strengths and have a like of the 1:1 down a side and at a diagonal.

For the record, I didn't use that paint brush, but did spoon the 1:1 on.  The 1:3 also needed to be spooned on, but the 1:10 I dipped in the solution and let it drip off thus achieving more even coverage.

Shots so far:

The 1:1 pile.  This stuff is surprisingly not sticky - especially after it's cooled to "gummy."

Check out all that overhang on the 1:1.  I pealed it off later since it really was like very solid gelatin.  And you can see that it's shiny.  Really shiny.  That sucker is coated on both sides.

And here is the current carnage.  Thinking that the thick, red fabric will work the best I did a larger one of that in the 1:3, and I did one of each weight of fabric for the 1:10 just because it seemed like a good idea and would use up more glue so that I had minimal to one left.  Bowl seemed to clean out nicely, btw, but we shall see.

The wax paper was good for the higher concentrations, but was reacting to the moisture level of the other strengths.  It is easy enough to pick up and turn over the squares after they turn to their jelly-state. Also, the can says that the glue is a skin irritant, but i just notice that my hands are a bit drier.

Initial Impressions:
-I did not expect this to be so much like jello jigglers and squishy and gummy feeling.
-Is this really going to work?
-I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing whatthehell...