Making Stucco for Molding

The Making and Knowing Project has reconstructed variants of a recipe for “stucco for molding,” as described in BnF Ms. Fr. 640. This recipe uses tragacanth gum and either chalk or rye flour to produce a paste that can take on quite detailed shapes in simple molds (wood, metal, silicone) and that is very hard once dry. This activity is cheap, easy, and relatively safe to undertake with a variety of learners.

Learning Objectives

The activity of making stucco for molding has several potential learning outcomes, which can include:

  • learning to extract technical instructions for stucco making from a larger and broader historical text
  • recognizing that recipe texts often have variant ingredients and processes embedded within them
  • understanding how consistency affects molding potential and the early modern vocabulary used to convey consistency
  • understand the economy of early modern making by experiencing how unexpected yet common materials (e.g., rye flour) can be used as less costly ingredients in artisanal making without sacrificing functionality

What is Stucco?

“Stucco” is a term that refers to hard plasters that are used as protective coverings for exterior walls and decorative coverings for interior walls. Interior stucco can be spread, sculpted, or molded, and it can be polished when hard and dry. Depending on the purpose and destination of the stucco, its composition can vary, but in general, it includes three components:

  • a variety of calcium (lime, gypsum)
  • a variety of fine mineral powder (sand, marble dust)
  • an adhesive (cement, gum)

Teaching Stucco Making

Stucco Making: Activity Sheets

Stucco in Ms. Fr. 640

There are a handful of entries in Ms. Fr. 640 that refer to stucco, both compositions for varieties of stucco for molding and instructions for constructing a mold appropriate to use with stucco. These entries can be accessed through a search for the term “stucco” in Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France.

There is also an excellent essay in Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France that explores stucco in detail: