Renaissance Metalworking and Lifecasting with Rachel King | Curator's Corner S7 Ep8

During the 1500s, artists and makers were pushing themselves to create works that were as realistic to nature as possible. However, some of them may have pushed a bit too hard, particularly if you were to ask a lizard.
Join curator Rachel King, as she investigates techniques used to make this extraordinary bell.
#CuratorsCorner #renaissance #metalwork
Manufactured around 1550 in Nuremberg by German master craftsman, Wenzel Jamnitzer the bell is an excellent example of lifecasting.
Rachel investigates a manuscript written some time between 1579 and 1620 in which an enthusiastic maker and craftsman collated hand written recipes and instructions on how to make things.
The anonymous scribe filled 170 folios (or 340 single pages) with closely written text and some hand-drawn figures containing recipes, instructions, fragmentary notes, firsthand accounts of trials with many materials and techniques.
The resulting manuscript held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), catalogued as Ms. Fr. 640, brings a better understanding of how and why nature was investigated, used in art, and collected and appreciated in early modern Europe.
You can find out more about the manuscript and the research on it's content here: bit.ly/3EUsvu7
1:31 The Celini Bella
3:06 Lifecasting techniques
3:35 How do you cast foliage?
6:18 How do you cast a grasshopper?
7:47 How do you catch and cast a lizard?

Пікірлер: 103

  • @balaclavabob001
    @balaclavabob001 Жыл бұрын

    Note at the bottom of page 5 of the manuscript : After the unpleasant experience that befell our late chief mold maker , it is suggested that when making a lion head mold , never attempt to put the lion in a vat of vinigar. It does not like it and will become quite cross .

  • @kellysouter4381

    @kellysouter4381

    Жыл бұрын

    😄

  • @jdrobertson42

    @jdrobertson42

    Жыл бұрын

    Hopefully no one tried the urine.

  • @Montana_horseman
    @Montana_horseman Жыл бұрын

    As a silver/gold smith and gem cutter this was very interesting. I've done a lot of silver and pewter casting and today much of it is done the same way as hundreds of years ago. Part of my love and passion of being a jeweler is knowing my trade goes back in time to the earliest of human history. Thanks for sharing this piece Rachel and good work on the video, you did very well! 🙂

  • @DonariaRegia

    @DonariaRegia

    Жыл бұрын

    The lizard casting could be done in one piece with the body placed upside down in an open top mold, since the bottom would need to be flat to solder it to the vessel. It would make removal of the bones as easy as dumping them out. This would preserve the fine detail seen in the feet as well, something very hard to maintain in a two-part mold.

  • @drppenev

    @drppenev

    4 ай бұрын

    How did they clear the bubbles without a vacuum pump?

  • @Montana_horseman

    @Montana_horseman

    4 ай бұрын

    @@drppenev To remove the bubbles from plaster of Paris often vibration is used. The vibration brings most of the bubbles to the surface where they then pop. When making very exact dental molds of peoples teeth vibration is commonly used to remove bubbles. Also when pouring plaster of Paris if it's done slowly and from a high pour that forms a very narrow stream that slowly fills up around your object many of the air bubbles are forced out by that narrow stream and the slow pour allows the plaster to slowly build up around the object without capturing air bubbles around the objects surface. I hope that makes sense to you. 👍

  • @prodprod
    @prodprod Жыл бұрын

    I could just listen to her lovely accent all day long... It's like -- oh, the sound of a bell ringing?

  • @emilyj8967
    @emilyj8967 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for that delightfully macabre and disturbing distraction today - I loved it! Especially the butter part haha (but those poor little creatures!)

  • @katepalmer747
    @katepalmer747 Жыл бұрын

    Wonderful and engrossing, what a fantastic job you did at explaining the technique. The animations were also spot on. Thanks so much!

  • @respectfulconversation944
    @respectfulconversation944 Жыл бұрын

    That Lizard with the cocktail! 😂 Now i want a cocktail. I'll go and mix one. 😎

  • @lauragregory9436
    @lauragregory9436 Жыл бұрын

    Would love to see a new copy of this object. Maybe through recreating it in its original method or maybe a 3D printed version, would allow everyone see it whole once again. Great vid!

  • @yippee8570

    @yippee8570

    Жыл бұрын

    I agree - I'd love to see how this process is done

  • @flavio17021979

    @flavio17021979

    Жыл бұрын

    That's looks so great love to get hands on full 3D scan 👍😊

  • @YarX0
    @YarX0 Жыл бұрын

    This was very interesting and delightfully made and presented. Thank you 🙂

  • @fernlibra9737
    @fernlibra9737 Жыл бұрын

    This was soooo interesting. Great channel and I was shook how much I like these videos. Honestly. Great lady to listen to. Great content aswell ❤

  • @TheHarrip
    @TheHarrip Жыл бұрын

    Toy crocodile 🐊 put a smile on my face Great content yet again.

  • @cherry-vz5kx
    @cherry-vz5kx Жыл бұрын

    Fantastic presentation Rachel,I had no idea about the process.Thanks for your knowledge.

  • @angelalewis3645
    @angelalewis36454 ай бұрын

    Absolutely fascinating! 😁

  • @matthew-jy5jp
    @matthew-jy5jp Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for all that you to keep our history a live and relevant

  • @d00dEEE
    @d00dEEE Жыл бұрын

    In SoCal, we have Western Fence Lizards ("blue-bellies") everywhere; I've seen at least half a dozen today, without trying at all. You can usually walk up on them very slowly and smoothly while swaying like a tree in the breeze and snap them up bare handed. Works with alligator lizards, too.

  • @markeichelmann8635
    @markeichelmann86359 ай бұрын

    I like the orange pterygosomatide mites on the picture of the lizard.

  • @adpirtle
    @adpirtle Жыл бұрын

    Poor lizard! Fascinating, though.

  • @freedomandrantforall
    @freedomandrantforall Жыл бұрын

    Very enjoyable presentation.

  • @johnshoosmith
    @johnshoosmith Жыл бұрын

    😆 great graphics! Beautifully done, again.

  • @katarinajanoskova
    @katarinajanoskova Жыл бұрын

    Loved this! Thank you.

  • @yeuxdal
    @yeuxdal Жыл бұрын

    You got me with the the lion’s head 😂

  • @napalmholocaust9093
    @napalmholocaust9093 Жыл бұрын

    If anybody is going to do this with regular plaster you probably need some graphite and diatomaceous earth. Those don't expand under heat. Gives a more stable mold. The bags of 90min dry joint compound are a bit better if you're trying to avoid investing in real investment. Really should use stonecast or equivalent for fine metals and detail though. Steel wire helps too for cracks.

  • @lesallison9047
    @lesallison9047 Жыл бұрын

    I would suggest the bell, judging by the handle, was fitted on a shaft like church bell. ✌♥️🇬🇧

  • @MrChristiangraham
    @MrChristiangraham Жыл бұрын

    That was fascinating. Thank you, Rachel

  • @gidimeir
    @gidimeir Жыл бұрын

    Excellent! Cheers!

  • @charlotteillustration5778
    @charlotteillustration5778 Жыл бұрын

    Fascinating, thank you!

  • @christianfrommuslim
    @christianfrommuslim Жыл бұрын

    Interesting technique, well presented!

  • @averyanderson8402
    @averyanderson8402 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for caring for my bell please send it back to me...😂😻 what a beauty WOW thank you for sharing it... Trying to get you to send it to me was worth a try hehe😅

  • @MarysArtOnWheels
    @MarysArtOnWheels Жыл бұрын

    "the lion heads were the only parts for which no animals were harmed" - oh, poor little Satyrs!

  • @angelalewis3645

    @angelalewis3645

    4 ай бұрын

    😂

  • @Do-Lo
    @Do-Lo4 ай бұрын

    Lions heads got me good 😂

  • @jamesweekes6726
    @jamesweekes6726 Жыл бұрын

    ...lucky for the grasshopper, Rachel!

  • @samengle8068
    @samengle8068 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you

  • @mariellouise1
    @mariellouise1 Жыл бұрын

    We Grew up in the Mojave desert of California. There were four little girls who are used to love to catch lizards, but we let them go. Oh, dad, who was a wonderful sculptor also used to cast his sculptures into bronze. If he had tried, casting, lizards, live lizards his for a little girls would’ve brought him up on charges In the World Court. If not that, there would have been for very tragic faces, that my dad would never forget!

  • @WebertHest
    @WebertHest Жыл бұрын

    I'd be interested in a followup. Was the whole bell cast as one, requiring a really complex mould, or was this a simple-ish bell, with the additional bits cast separately and then adhered by some means? For example, mould lizard is standing on a vertical surface, but the lizards on the bell are on a curved surface,

  • @alanpeachey4085
    @alanpeachey4085 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for being You Fabulous ❤

  • @Raiche58
    @Raiche58 Жыл бұрын

    Did the craftsperson sign the bell or was there another way used to determine their identity?

  • @excession3076

    @excession3076

    Жыл бұрын

    When she lifts the bell up to show the inside and clapper, you can see a signature along the lower edge.

  • @alfastur6833
    @alfastur6833 Жыл бұрын

    I wonder where they hunted those satir heads to make the molds.

  • @deweyd8210
    @deweyd8210 Жыл бұрын

    I do love all the critters, but I’d like to hear, too, about the details that look a lot like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

  • @brucecolby5016
    @brucecolby5016 Жыл бұрын

    I have a lizard and love brandy

  • @VoidToForm
    @VoidToForm Жыл бұрын

    I am a jeweler, I used to do lots of "life casting" I called it "organic casting" and I basically did it the way you describe, similar to the butter, I use parrafin wax to seal stuff, so with the rosemary I would give it a soak in the parrafin wax, I bet butter would do the same, it just helps the investment not get into the spongy woody parts. I have cast lots of bugs this way too, never a lizard yet, maybe a pet store would set me up with some! Looking at this bell I doubt each thing was cast separately, it was probably a massive wax bell that had all the creatures and whatnot stuck on and cast in one go, the lizards where maybe made molds of which where then filled with wax, thus making multiple wax lizards to then cast, not multiple metal casts from the same mold.

  • @hawssie1
    @hawssie1 Жыл бұрын

    I started out watching KZread updates on Ukraine and somehow ended up here watching how to catch lizards and use their bodies to cast silver replicas. Wouldn't have messed that in a million years!

  • @mojosbigsticks
    @mojosbigsticks Жыл бұрын

    Grim, but fascinating

  • @themcgeefamily7514
    @themcgeefamily7514 Жыл бұрын

    💙💚

  • @leeming1317
    @leeming1317 Жыл бұрын

    8:40 Good to know our ancient ancestors suffered 'Lego' bites before they were a thing. Nothing like waking up at 2am to go to the bathroom and stepping on a lego or a plug.

  • @anerat
    @anerat Жыл бұрын

    Now I wonder how they combined these single molds and pieces to make the bell! I feel like you left me hanging on a cliff of understanding.... How did they mirror the orientation of the lizard? What is the meaning of the bell? Someone was ringing it... why? How come a german bell ended up it england and someone french wrote a manuscript about how it was made? You mentioned Italy... Plz connect these dots a little better! Help me!

  • @JJONNYREPP
    @JJONNYREPP Жыл бұрын

    Lifecasting Live Lizards with Rachel King | Curator's Corner S7 Ep7 2125pm 20.10.22 hullo... it's probably a plague bell which they rang as they painted a large red cross or X on yer door.

  • @SilverDawnArrow
    @SilverDawnArrow Жыл бұрын

    Actually, miniature lions were hunted to extinction by craftsmen making casts out of them. Truly tragic

  • @pavelyakunin1409

    @pavelyakunin1409

    11 ай бұрын

    Funny joke))

  • @angelalewis3645

    @angelalewis3645

    4 ай бұрын

    🤣🤣

  • @nomdygayr2176
    @nomdygayr2176 Жыл бұрын

    "Not that it looks like a lizard that's been in the wars."

  • @stinew358
    @stinew358 Жыл бұрын

    The world's busiest bell

  • @neonsashimidream1075
    @neonsashimidream1075 Жыл бұрын

    So just because the guy wasn't very good at carving silver, he murdered a bunch of lizards and grasshoppers? The middle ages were a truly ruthless time...

  • @DukeCannon
    @DukeCannon Жыл бұрын

    Now I want to cast something. (No, not any kind of metal worker, lol)

  • @JG-mp5nb
    @JG-mp5nb Жыл бұрын

    Perhaps “Deathcasting” might be a better term…

  • @kagamisan9952
    @kagamisan9952 Жыл бұрын

    England have my bones

  • @joedavis4150
    @joedavis4150 Жыл бұрын

    .. very interesting.. for something really unique, go look at pictures of the p l a i n of jars, in the Golden Triangle, a well-known opium culture area. Most likely, these giant Stone jars are an ancient work of art, honoring the Opium poppy. The jars are poppy pod shaped, and are mysteriously scattered randomly, like p o p p i e s in a field... go look at pictures of Hill tribe opium harvest. It is Hill tribe ancestors who probably created the p l a i n of jars... it is not likely the jars are for burials... I have been studying these jars off and on for about 65 years.

  • @JJONNYREPP

    @JJONNYREPP

    Жыл бұрын

    Lifecasting Live Lizards with Rachel King | Curator's Corner S7 Ep7 20.10.22 2130pm interesting. i was reading that they created jars in the delineation of the goods which were placed in the jars to aid with storage - some wit remarked if opium is stored in opium pod shaped jars then the pods longevity is assured ie: they dont rot away. no idea how true that theory is.... no idea how that would work but i was then informed the jars are usually created in the shape of the items they store so it is easier for the drug store owner or apothecary proprietor to note which jars store which goods etc eg: opium poppy shaped jars store opium... obviously. or laudanum which was usually wine infused with opiates... old alcoholic beverages used to contain opiates for that ultimate high. the seers and the scalds of old, even the warrior class, used to get tanked up before entering the nether regions to entertain ideas of the other world or when preparing to enter the glorious realms of the gods should they die bravely in battle... all this is very much up for debate...that said, old pottery is far more alluring than desperately elaborate wares..

  • @user-qt4qp6bj1q
    @user-qt4qp6bj1q9 ай бұрын

    Platteresque...

  • @trinitytwo14992
    @trinitytwo14992 Жыл бұрын

    Killing animals to cast is not cool, why not just SCULPT THEM? I am a sculptor, you could make a reusable mold this way, then just adhere to whatever you wanted to.

  • @merybran55
    @merybran553 ай бұрын

    DEVUELVAN EL MOÁI 🗿🗿🗿

  • @arielpirante2
    @arielpirante2 Жыл бұрын

    lions heads haha.

  • @praguhbis
    @praguhbisАй бұрын

    The volume of her videos are sub-par.

  • @justjane2070
    @justjane2070 Жыл бұрын

    Very interesting! Horrible but interesting 🧐

  • @helensarkisian7491
    @helensarkisian7491 Жыл бұрын

    Yeah … not drowning a lizard just to make a mold.

  • @sjain8111
    @sjain8111 Жыл бұрын

    Interesting but… was hoping live creatures weren’t cast, ruins all beauty of the object for me

  • @idontlikeyou-bn2pb
    @idontlikeyou-bn2pb Жыл бұрын

    This museum is just a show of how good of stealing they are

  • @CrowSkeleton
    @CrowSkeleton Жыл бұрын

    Half an hour of drowning in uric/salic acid is...not a humane way to kill a lizard.

  • @haumakaa
    @haumakaa4 ай бұрын

    Get back the Moai, the hava and all the stolen things to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), you pompous thieves!🗿

  • @SensibleCreeper
    @SensibleCreeper Жыл бұрын

    So its not with a live lizard like this shit title suggests. Its literally a dead lizard.

  • @gibstone23
    @gibstone23 Жыл бұрын

    Is this real? If it is this woman is insane

  • @Desmodus1958

    @Desmodus1958

    Жыл бұрын

    I’m thinking the same thing! A half an hour in urine or vinegar?!?!

  • @kaclama

    @kaclama

    Жыл бұрын

    I think you missed the part where she's telling us about instructions that were written in the 1500s. She's not just making up these ideas herself.

  • @superwash7431
    @superwash7431 Жыл бұрын

    Give back cultural articals stolen from others!

  • @iopohable
    @iopohable Жыл бұрын

    cool, when will you give back this stolen art piece to its legitimate owners though?

  • @CrowSkeleton

    @CrowSkeleton

    Жыл бұрын

    They...gave it to the Museum? ...and were literally English gentry??

  • @brad5426

    @brad5426

    Жыл бұрын

    Cry yourself to sleep about it Rosa

  • @kellysouter4381

    @kellysouter4381

    Жыл бұрын

    Shut up. Everyone is tired of hearing about leftie garbage.

  • @lenabreijer1311

    @lenabreijer1311

    Жыл бұрын

    Walpole bought it from a craftsman in Italy. He owned it and the family donated it. Didn't you watch the video. They even know the name of who made it. Are you going to send back everything manufactured in an other country when your parents die?

  • @cmur078

    @cmur078

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lenabreijer1311 Yep, that's exactly my plan. Xi Jinping is going to get a big cardboard box of kitchenware delivered at his house.

  • @wesley135
    @wesley135 Жыл бұрын

    The British museum should return all the artifacts they stole. The kids of so many countries can't see the artifacts of their ancestors because you guys stole it

  • @lenabreijer1311

    @lenabreijer1311

    Жыл бұрын

    They can go on line to see them

  • @wesley135

    @wesley135

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Herr_Vorragender I'm not talking about the few artifacts they got legit. I'm talking about all the stolen artifacts they have

  • @wesley135

    @wesley135

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lenabreijer1311 not if they don't have internet. Plus the British museum stolen. So it seems like it's the British children who should go look at them online or in books. And give all the artifacts back to all the countries that the British government has looted them from

  • @celiatais251

    @celiatais251

    Жыл бұрын

    Your comment seems irrelevant to this video

  • @mellowvids9637

    @mellowvids9637

    Жыл бұрын

    Not relevant to this video.

  • @sagaramskp
    @sagaramskp Жыл бұрын

    Why it's taken to England from it's land. Looters filled their museum . Shameless colonists can't make themselves

  • @celiatais251

    @celiatais251

    Жыл бұрын

    you're so ignorant

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