December 14th

The right mix for the lime mortar has still to be decided so some more samples are being prepared for the architect and English heritage to examine.

The colour and texture have to be a good match for the existing mortarwork, so Giles is mixing in varying amounts of  prepared Hydraulic mortar into the putty based blend.  This not only warms the colour but also has the benefit of making it 'go off' a little quicker.  During the winter a purely putty based mortar would take far too long to harden.

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December 7th

December 4th

The drawings...
When the miller or stone dresser dressed the millstones they might have used a red coloured paste called Tiver, made from iron oxide and water, to show up the high spots that needed chipping away.  This red paste could have been the material used to create these drawings of windmills on the plaster walls of the the mill.
I'm not sure when these were originally uncovered but it looks like there may well be much more hidden behind the paintwork.
This particular drawing presents something of a problem as the plaster is detaching itself from the wall as moisture tries to escape.  Previous repairs to the brickwork on the outside wall of the mill were made with cement based mortar and have prevented the wall from breathing properly leading to moisture build up behind the plaster on the inside.  At the moment it's unclear how these sketches can be preserved so advice is being sought.