Greetings. We wanted to take this opportunity to share some Coffeehouse-related information and links that have come up recently.
First off, if you haven’t noticed, we’ve been moving the webcam around lately. After a stint watching furnishings being put in place in the coffee (southwest) room, and watching wallpaper be installed in the dining (southeast) room, the webcam is now located in the kitchen (in the basement). You can see some of the recent furnishing additions to the room on the shelves and around the fireplace.
Secondly, one of our frequent blog commenters was looking for a bit more information on the staining of the bricks mentioned in the October 26th Update. The substance that Ray Cannetti is using is called Dyebrick, which is essentially a mineral-based stain. It uses minerals, primarily iron oxide, as the pigment, and potassium silicate as the binder. The potassium silicate binds with elements in the brick, allowing it to stain rather than simply coat the brick.
Though they date from the same period, the reused bricks (those original Coffeehouse bricks that had been reused in the Armistead House foundations, and in turn reused in our foundations) received more cleaning than those in the still standing original foundations - thus requiring the staining to match them appropriately. Previously, Colonial Williamsburg has used coffee grounds, tea, and a mixture of lime putty and brick dust to mask repairs in the past. (Thanks to Clyde Kestner and Matt Webster for the information)
Third, we wanted to share a few more interesting links from History.org that relate to the Coffeehouse:
Lastly, we are including two images of the wallpaper that will be going up in the Coffeehouse, in the Dining (southeast) and Back (north) rooms on the first floor.
