PROTEINS AND ADHESIVES
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Proteins and AdhesivesProteins and Adhesives
Casein – Casein is a phosphoprotein found in milk that can be dried down to a very fine powder substance. Since ancient times, casein has been used as an adhesive for wooden objects and as a binder for water-born paints. Common recipes for preparing casein as a binding medium involve the addition of ammonia carbonate or borax.
Fish Glue – Fish Glue is obtained from extracting collagen, keratin, and/or elastin from fish parts. After processing it is either offered as a solution or dried down and sold in thin sheet or powdered forms. Its adhesive properties have been known for hundreds of years. Those called gelatin tend to be more refined than other animal glues as it is frequently used in the preparation of food. Isinglass differs from other forms of gelatin, as it is collected by soaking and extracting the collagen from the swim bladders of Russian sturgeon. It has been highly valued due to its strength, flexibility, and low viscosity as compared to other animal glues. Glues derived from fish have been used as binders, adhesives, and consolidants in the creation and restoration of artworks.
Funori – Funori is a polysaccharide-based adhesive that is collected from at least three types of red seaweed found along the coastlines of Japan. It has been used for hundreds of years as an adhesive for mounting Japanese silk paintings and is still used today for mending and repairing paper objects.
Hide Glue – Hide glue is a generic term for collagen obtained from a range of domesticated animals. Historically, hide glue was often prepared from scraps of parchment or discarded bits of leather and has been used since ancient times as an adhesive and sizing material.
Rabbit Skin – This collagen-based glue can be purchased in sheet form, as pellets, or a fine powder. Many commercially available forms of rabbit-skin glue may have additions of collagen obtained from the hides of cows, sheep, goats, or horses. Used both as an adhesive and as a sizing material for easel paintings, it became popular during the early Renaissance. Rabbit-skin glue has also been used as a mordant, an additive to gesso and as a binding medium (distemper paints).
Wheat Starch Paste – Used by the Romans and Egyptians, pure extracted starch paste is known for its excellent adhesive properties. Although starch paste can be obtained from a variety of flours, today wheat flour is primarily considered to produce the highest quality starch paste for mending paper objects.
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