Varnish fire

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As varnish fire (even brown varnish , oil tanning , melt varnish is referred to) a form of coating and artistic ornament of metals . The designation “brown enamel”, “brown painters mail” or “Email Brun” is factually incorrect, since it is not an enamel , but has a similar appearance.

When firing a varnish, a thin layer of linseed oil is repeatedly applied to copper or metal alloys with a high copper content and then burned in. This creates a resin-like layer based on linoxin , from which decorations in the form of drawings or writing are scraped out so that the metal is bare. This method is used both positively and negatively, so that either the pattern is scraped free or the background of the pattern. The exposed areas are usually gold-plated. This technique had its heyday in the 11th - 13th centuries , but is still used today.

A similar process is used to patinate or burnish aluminum at temperatures of up to 400 ° C. The so-called blackening or black burning of iron and steel occurs at even higher temperatures.

However, these processes for baking oils should not be confused with the baking of printing inks and varnishes at temperatures mostly below 200 ° C.

literature

  • Karl Hermann Usener: Braunfirnis , in: Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte , Vol. 2, 1942, Col. 1107–1110.
  • Jochem Wolters: The gold and silversmith. Volume 1: Materials and Materials. 2nd, revised edition. Rühle-Diebener, Stuttgart 1984.
  • Jochem Wolters: Techniques and historical features of the brown varnish - a correction. In: Yearbook of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz / Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum. Vol. 57 (2010), 1, Verlag des Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseums, Mainz 2010.