Making and Knowing
A minimal edition of BnF Ms Fr 640 in English Translation

- - - - - folio image: 135r - - - - -

Vine leaf and small frog

To mold, take vine leaves as they are blooming, just as with all herbs & flowers, or a young vine regrowing after it has been cut or when the leaves come off in autumn, because new leaves are knottier & have more evident veins. By contrast, old leaves are smooth all the way through & full of holes in many places. Place therefore your leaf, its back behind it against the clay plaster, and fasten it with little pins. Leave it nevertheless with its natural curling. And make a notch in the clay to hide the stem for the first cast. And when it’s done and dry, take out the stem of the leaf and clean it well with your jacket and press it with a little scoop of clay. Afterwards, make many castings around the leaf with wax, as you know well, & make a slender casting & with many lines & knots.

at left middle margin of folio 135r

Vine leaf is painted with a green made of scudegrun & verd de terre.

at left bottom margin of folio 135r

You can cast a spider or frog & whatever you like on the leaf.