Photos of progress

I'm collecting more dew and will also continue with this 1st attempt. Maybe I'll get lucky. My funds have dried up and I'm just going to have to make due with what I have. I will lute the next batch further down the neck of the flask. I would like your insights as why the lute cracked so much. Did I not mix enough plaster of Paris with the Eggwhites, it was still a bit glossy when I applied it and didn't hold it's position well. Too wet I think. The stopper and joint is 24/40 ground glass. I think you mean a glass screw stopper right? I gave a very tight twist of the stopper when I sealed the flask before I added the lute or any heat. I can only hope for the best. Thanks for your thoughts... I'll give it another try. Any other advice to help me create a good seal would be received warmly!

Here are some more photos. It's been 14 days in the B/M so far.
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kevinpaw123 wrote:

I'm collecting more dew and will also continue with this 1st attempt. Maybe I'll get lucky. My funds have dried up and I'm just going to have to make due with what I have. I will lute the next batch further down the neck of the flask. I would like your insights as why the lute cracked so much. Did I not mix enough plaster of Paris with the Eggwhites, it was still a bit glossy when I applied it and didn't hold it's position well. Too wet I think. The stopper is ground glass but I think you mean a glass screw stopper right? The joints are 24/40 I gave a very tight twist of the stopper when I sealed the flask before I added the lute I can only hope for the best. Thanks for your thoughts... I'll give it another try and any other advice to help me create a good seal would be received warmly!

Hi,
This is from "THE ART OF DISTILLATION ".
-----OF LUTES FOR COATING OF GLASSES AND FOR CLOSURES AS ALSO SEVERAL WAYS OF STOPPING GLASSES------
The best lute is made thus. Take of loam and sand tempered with salt water (which keeps it from cleaving). To these add the caput mortuary of vitriol or aqua fortis, and scalings of iron, and temper them well together. This serves to coat retorts or any glass vessels that must endure a most strong fire, and will never fail if well made. Some add flax, beaten glass, and pots and flints, etc.
Take unslaked lime and linseed oil. Mix them well together and make thereof a lute which will be so hard that no spirit will pierce it, and this serves for the closure of glasses.
Or, moisten an ox bladder in the white of an egg beaten to water, or in defect of a bladder, use paper and bind them round where the vessels are joined together, one over another two or three times.
Or, if the spirits in the glass be exceedingly corrosive, then use the caput mortuary of aqua fortis, linseed oil, and chalk mixed together.
If a glass be cracked, then wet a linen cloth in the white of an egg beaten to water, and lay upon it, an upon that presently while it is wet, sift some unslaked lime and press it close with your hand. When that is dry, lay on another cloth thus wet as before and on it sift more lime.
A vessel may be stopped so close with quicksilver that no spirit can breathe forth, by which means the glass will be preserved from breaking by the enclosed spirits (for the head will first yield before the glass breaks). The vessel must be made as the figure hereunder shows. This also is a good way to preserve spirits already distilled from the air.---- Hope this Helps.

Hi Kevin,

My thinking is that you need some kind of mechanical means to clamp your glass stopper on. I have not decided on a lute yet but when I do find a material that I like I think I will put a reletively small amount of lute around where gas etc. would escape and then wrap that with a tight mesh and then a tight tape or wrap of some kind. That combined with a strong clamp to keep the stopper strongly held to the flask I think would be a good seal. You will be building up even more pressure when you take the temp up to the next level. I would suggest stripping off your lute and starting again making sure that you clamp or tie down your stopper.

blessings,
Justin S

Also Kevin,

If we resize our pictures down to about 600 x 600 pixels I don't think it will stretch out the text and make it hard to read. Photobucket worked easily for that if your current provider doesn't.

Thanks Justin! I made the changes. I had reduced the size once already but you make a valid point as the photos were still quite large. The next set of photos should be easier to follow.

storm
Said:
"Take unslaked lime and linseed oil. Mix them well together and make thereof a lute which will be so hard that no spirit will pierce it, and this serves for the closure of glasses."

Do you or anybody else know where to get unslaked lime? I've got linseed oil. I'm trying a mix of plaster of paris and linseed oil to see if that hardens. So far it's not, but it hasn't been drying very long either. I have lime for lawns it's granular, but is unslaked lime just lime that has been exposed to high heat? Can I just make it myself?

Hi guys. I have some pics of the "Primum Ens Melissa" I've been working on while I'm waiting for the dew. I started on 6-5-09. I put potassium carbonate in a Pyrex baking pan outside. " border="0" alt=""/>This liquefied to become the oil of tartar over a period of six days. I ground up 2 oz of dried Melissa and measured an equal amount of oil of tartar. The melissa has a nice smell to it. " border="0" alt=""/> On 6-11-09 I mixed and shook-up daily for 14 days." border="0" alt=""/>" border="0" alt=""/>" border="0" alt=""/> After 14 days it smells...different

I filtered the herb solids out using a nylon sock (new) then mixed an equal amount of 95 o/o Alcohol " border="0" alt=""/>" border="0" alt=""/>" border="0" alt=""/> " border="0" alt=""/> " border="0" alt=""/> " border="0" alt=""/> The pic above is after 1 week of digestion. Book "Real Alchemy" by Robert Allen Barlett says to digest for 2 weeks or longer. The whole process is in chapter 6. More pics in a week or so.

Unslacked lime is Calcium oxide

Kevin,

that's what I call a putrefaction. In that French video that Dejan posted they show two alchemists that pull sheets over grass and then real black dew in a glass container.

Unslaked lime you get from a building material a garden or a painter's market in 10-35 kg bags.


Frank

Thanks guys!

Your welcome brother...

Hyramposey
Awhile back:

I saw that you had questions about the "Primum Ens Melissa". I hope you find these photos to be helpful. I tried to keep them in order of the operation. There are still two more steps left... I'll take photos of them as well.

kevinpaw123,

Thank You so much for the pics. For me as well as others, I'm sure the visuals are a great help!

Blessings,

Hyram

Way to go ! kevinpaw123 your following the directions exctly, From putting plastic bags under the lids to gettin Organic 190 proof grape alcohol..Regular Linseed oil is notoriously slow to dry. they have a type that drys more quickly ..I think it was boiled ? you might google "Quickdrying linseed oil" Thanks for the pics.. And the Calcium Oxide tip from someone else Auggie

Hello again.. I did a quick google on linseed oil. In Olden days it was actually boiled now its chemically boiled but with the same result "Quick drying" ...boiled drys quickly & completely Raw is difficult to work with..An un-related Question : I was told not to breathe or sniff the 190 proof Alcohol as you will pass out immediately . a friend told me that as a joke they would do that to their buddy's Auggie

auggie:
Re: The linseed oil for the lute is boiled. Re: Primum Ens Melissa. The alcohol is very strong. I did smell it and I didn't pass out. I bought from the same co. you did and they never asked me for a permit #. I must have slipped through the cracks. It cost about $240.00 w/shpg

sniffing is not good for your lungs, yes. but you can even drink this stuff. in poland they drink it. just just need to breathe out ofter drinking.

Here are some more Photos of the Ens Primum Melissa. Something inside me very strongly said that the info in "Real Alchemy" wasn't quite complete and said to keep adding more Alcohol after drawing the 1st extraction and I got more of the green stuff. I did this a couple more times and the solution started to lighten quite abit. As it turns out I read in another book it says to do just that (continue to add Alcohol).

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This is the book with additional details of the process
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I also added a video of the distillation.

I'm distilling the Alcohol till the melissa thickens.

I spiced up the video with some music!

Hey guys this shows the process almost complete. You can see how much it reduced from the previous video!
I continued to distill off the alcohol and was left with about 1/2 oz of ens, it had a very potent earthy smell to it. I added it to 1 liter of red wine and have been drinking it at 2 oz per day.
Before I started the process I thought I would end-up with alot more of the ens, but the added info I found later really changed the outcome. This completes this project.
I added music to this also...Enjoy!

Hyramposey wrote:

kevinpaw123,

Thank You so much for the pics. For me as well as others, I'm sure the visuals are a great help!

Blessings,

Hyram

If you give this a try use more oil of tartar and herb than I did. Expose it to some moderate heat and you can quicken the process. I strongly believe I could have yielded more ens by making some minor changes. Enjoy the work!

Quote :

I added it to 1 liter of red wine and have been drinking it

Hey hyram.

Just remember one of the alchemists principles here:

If you are going to drive , don´t drink, If your are going to drink
invite us!

Hi Kevinpaw123. I have followed your update of the Melissa Ens. Very well done!
It is what I call real " sharing ".

That deserves to be praised, it's perfect.