        |
The Save America's Treasures project on Alley 9-L is now complete and the tombscape is quite colorful as many of the historic limewash colors have been reapplied. For more information on Limewashing materials, tools and techniques, click here.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
Microscopic investigation of the tombs of Alley 9-L had revealed that vivid historic colors ranged from white to tan to yellow to terracotta to rich grays. Eleven separate colors were required for the tombs of Alley 9-L, with many tombs receiving a custom colored limewash used exclusively for that tomb.
On the Lacombe tomb (#564), conservation assistant Laura Ewen found a dark rose pink color. In order to match it, she took a known quantity of lime putty, and began to work on a color 'recipe' using various inorganic pigments. Each variation was applied to the side of the tomb in a small test square.
After drying, the test patch was compared to the origninal and alterations made to the recipe for the next test patch. If the color was too cool, or looked like it had too much blue in it, a yellow pigment was added, or perhaps a different red was used to make up a new test batch.
Laura went through several variations before deciding on a formula combining iron oxide red with iron oxide orange. She then coated the tomb in 3 layers of the limewash. Since limewash is translucent, several layers deepen and enrich the color, resulting in the Lacombe rouge.
Text adapted from: Lindsay S. Hannah, Save America's Treasures, SOCGram, Jan-Feb, 2003, 6-7.
Tombs & Markers
Project Work