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Cycles de vie ramassés
en plein brouillard
This question was closed without grading. Reason: Answer found elsewhere
Jan 15, 2010 15:18
14 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

plancher d'épure

French to English Art/Literary History stone carving
I am translating some texts about the history of stained glass. This term appears in reference to how very large windows, over 5 metres high, were designed. The text suggests that the glass makers may have drawn the design on the floor in the same way as stone sculptors used a "plancher d'épure".
I know that épure is a full-scale working drawing but I would like to know how we would describe this "floor" in English.
Proposed translations (English)
2 +3 layout floor
4 layout board

Discussion

Evans (X) (asker) Jan 18, 2010:
Thank you all After extensive research over the weekend, including reading Theophilus' text sent to me by my client on Friday, in which he talks about the tables used for designing stained glass, but not about the way they worked out the really large designs on the floor, I have come to the conclusion that unlike the French we do not really give a "name" as such to the floor space on which stone sculptors (or stained-glass makers) worked out their designs but rather we talk about it as a process or activity - often the way in English. So that is what I am going to do in my text. I felt that "layout floor" was a contender if a name for it had to be used, but it does not really seem appropriate for my context.
Christopher Crockett Jan 15, 2010:
survivals Well, they weren't meant to be "permanent," but the architectural drawings which survive were scratched on a thin layer of plaster applied to the back wall of a "triforium" in a Gothic church (Strasbourg??). If my (dim) memory serves me rightly, Theophilus (writing c. 1100) talks about painting white (or plastering?) a large table or workbench top in order to draw the cartoons for a glass panel. A master sculptor, wanting to see what his mental vision of a portal might actually look like before he realized it in stone would have used a floor or, better still, a wall on which to lay out his geometry and figures --which, in the 11th-12th cc. were geometrically conceived. Of these three media, only examples of the architectural drawings survives. And, no, I don't know what term might have been used (in Latin or Old French) for what jlsjr's source calls a "layout floor" --but, as I said, that term sounds right to me and is about the best I can think of for your "plancher d'épure."
Evans (X) (asker) Jan 15, 2010:
no surviving evidence of these practices precisely because they were not on any kind of permanent medium, just powder on a table or floor. Does anyone know of any reliable references for calling this a "layout floor" historically?
Christopher Crockett Jan 15, 2010:
use of "layout floors/tables" [Wordeffect beat me to it]

We do know from written and other survivals that various sorts of "layout" surfaces were used in the middle ages:

Architects used walls or floors covered in a thin layer of plaster to work out difficult geometrical problems (one or two of these actually survive);

A c. 1100 treatise (by "Theophilus") talks about laying out the "cartoon" for a stained glass panel on a table --and one might imagine, for a really large window [like this: http://tinyurl.com/ygkbujl ], a floor being used for this purpose.

And, now that I think about it, a sculptor might use such a "layout floor" to "layout" a whole portal (or other large ensemble), so that he could get his geometry just right, and could see how the whole composition would look when completed.

Such a practice would seem to be imminently useful; though, to the best of my knowledge, no evidence survives for it.
Alison Sabedoria (X) Jan 15, 2010:
For setting out Masons would set out the lines and curves for stonework, like a full-scale working drawing, sometimes even working in sand. Remarkable what accuracy they could acheive using simple tools and basic geometry! For a large window, a full-size geometrical layout would be necessary.
Evans (X) (asker) Jan 15, 2010:
it's not clear from my text but the suggestion is that stained-glass window makers might have followed the example of sculptors who apparently used these "planchers d'épure" to design their sculptures - I too am having difficulty understanding exactly how! That is one of the reasons I have drawn a blank in my research...
Christopher Crockett Jan 15, 2010:
"sculptors" Just curious, Gila, how would sculptors use a "layout floor"?

Proposed translations

+3
16 mins

layout floor

According to this document...
http://www.onzifode.de/wdhh/index.php?option=com_content&vie...

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Note added at 2 hrs (2010-01-15 17:44:15 GMT)
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Another ref. but not 'historical'

"Note struck chalk line on layout floor." (legend of one of the pictures on page 23)
www.ncptt.nps.gov/pdf/2004-14.pdf
Peer comment(s):
agree Christopher Crockett : That looks about right.
11 mins
Merci, Christopher!
agree Alison Sabedoria (X)
1 hr
Merci, Wordeffect!
agree Chris Hall
3 hrs
Merci, Chris!
neutral Helen Shiner : It is important to note that both of your refs refer to timber frame construction and not sculpture or stained glass schemes.
7 hrs
Noted. Thank you, Helen!
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

layout board

This is something that is still used today. I guess it may or may not be laid out on the floor, but it is just as likely to have been hung on a wall or worked on in an upright manner

Many Pieces of wood stand around for weeks or even months out in the open or in my workshop where I can eye them off while ideas evolve. Sketches for these pieces build up in my sketchbooks and on the layout board on the wall of the workshop until I resolve all my indecision. The many imaging hours spent gazing and conceptualising, mulling over design problems, sketching, refining and re-sketching at the embryonic stage is, I believe, the corner stone of a successful conclusion to a work and ensures the dynamics of the piece are manifested with vigour and confidence.
http://www.ozsculpture.com.au/medium.html



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2010-01-15 17:56:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

How to Make Stained Glass Panels
[...]
Select the sheets of glass for each colour and clean them (window cleaner). Stick the pattern pieces onto the glass you intend to cut. If you have more than one pattern piece on a sheet, make sure you can make the cut for each piece.
For areas on the glass sheet that you have chosen for a specific colour or texture, it is better to cut the piece too large and grind off the excess than to break the glass. (See the notes above regarding inside curves.)

Stick the pattern pieces to the glass - rubber cement or "school" glue works well.

Attach a third copy of the pattern to a "layout" board (plywood works) The board needs to be a smooth, level surface able to withstand the heat of soldering, and to accept push pins or small brads.

Cut the glass. Use a glass cutter or water cooled bandsaw. ALWAYS wear eye protection.

A water cooled router is used for grinding, make sure the router bit is constantly wet and doesn't become fouled with debris (glass sludge and chips). Always, always protect your eyes. If you grind with a coarse grit or with a worn out bit the edges of the piece will be chipped - which will be very obvious if any chipping shows on beyond the foil on the finished piece.

http://www.greywing.com/glass/glassht.htm#cut
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