A better phrase for 'construction of mock-up objects by following historical recipes'

I'm looking for a better phrasing for use on a poster describing a scientific project. In this project, we will examine recipes of varnishes and lacquers from old recipe books. We will follow these recipes to recreate the varnishes, and paint these on small glass plaques (the so-called mock-up objects) suitable for chemical analysis.

Our initial phrase was 'construction of mock-up objects by following historical recipes', but this does not really describe what a mock-up object is very well. Another attempt was 'reconstruction of historical recipes as mock-up objects'.

This sounds wrong because we are not 'reconstructing' the recipe as such, it is already there. Rather, we are 'reapplying' or 're-executing' the recipe, but neither of those words sound right.

I think I'm looking for a better re... word, but other suggestions are very welcome.

Solution 1:

As you describe this project, the objects you are constructing are not mockups, which are simulacra of objects making some aspect or aspects visible while ignoring others. These objects appear to be of incidental not focal interest—they are merely vehicles for presenting the varnishes to audiences and analysts. I think you want to leave them out of the title altogether.

What you are doing that is of focal interest is mixing varnishes and lacquers according to historically attested recipes. You are

Recreating Historical Varnishes

Historically, as you may see from the definitions in OED 1 (1901), the word lacquer was understood as a kind of varnish, one made with lac or other oriental resin; so if your recipes are pre-20th-century it would be proper to use varnish alone.

For lagniappe: you might consider accompanying your glass slides with something that would display your varnishes in a more relevant context—for instance, on identical slips of wood, applied according to historical directions.

Solution 2:

Your project sounds to me like an example of experimental archaeology (you can find descriptions at Wikipedia and UCD Today, among other places). There are experimental archaeologists, like Patrick McGovern and Sally Grainger, who specialize in following ancient recipes. I don't know if they have a special name for what they do, though. You could try asking them, or other researchers in the field, directly!

Since you're worried that "reconstructing historical recipes" might read as reconstructing the recipes themselves, rather than the varnishes the recipes were used to produce, perhaps you'd prefer to write about "reconstrucing historical varnishes."

If you're just looking for a pithy title, rather than something to use in body text, might I suggest something like "Experimental Archaeology of Varnishes and Lacquers"?