The Volpierre Process

March 10th ‘09... 50g powdered antimony metal + 20g powdered native sulphur + 420g iron filings,
all ground together in a mortar and placed outside under full moon to absorb dew over night. Iron
filings were strongly magnetized for 2 days with a large ceramic magnet before use.

March 11th ‘09... Mix only slightly moist from dew. Was then placed via a funnel in a 5 litre Schott
lab jar and another 50ml previously collected dew was added to the mix and allowed to macerate
for a few hours.
5 litre jar of mix taken into the open and with appropriate safety protection, 150ml conc. HCl added
and screw cap quickly replaced to keep fumes within the jar. 5 minutes later, 100ml conc. H2SO4
added > extreme ebullition of toxic fumes occurs and bottle is capped with difficulty, some noxious
fumes escaping despite capping. Bottle becomes extremely hot, but reaction subsides after 15
minutes, all acids appearing to be absorbed into the mix which now clearly shows flecks of sulphur
on the gray, semi-dry surface. Another 50ml of dew then added to mix and sat overnight at approx.
40°c. to macerate.
NOTE: THIS IS A DANGEROUS PROCESS DURING MULTIPLE ADDITIONS OF THE
CONC. ACIDS OVER SEVERAL DAYS, SO PROPER CARE AND SKIN, EYE and NOSE
PROTECTION NEED TO BE APPLIED.

3.12 and 3.13.09... 75ml conc. HCl + 50ml conc. H2SO4 added to mix today (half quantities of
yesterday) so that a less violent would occur. The sulphuric acid reaction still produced heavy
fumes, and bottle placed back at 40°c after reaction subsided.

3.14.09... The crusty semi-dry black surface was broken up with a wooden stirring rod before
another 75ml conc. HCl + 50ml conc. H2SO4 added to mix today, and bottle placed back at 40°c
after reaction subsided.
Reaction today was clearly less violent as the elements are becoming more broken down and
dissolved.

March 12th-25th... Both acids added daily at the overall rate of 120ml HCl and 90ml H2SO4 until
the total volume including metal slurry was 2.7 litres. The mix was then left to digest at 40-50°c to
await the formation of the Red Lion liquor.
Picture 1: At the 5th day... dark gray slurry forming with green black acid soln. above.
Picture 2: At the 8th day... mid-gray slurry with green yellow acid soln. above.

Picture 3: At 15 days on completion of acid addition... mix is brown green with light gray slurry.

Picture 4... At 22 days, after just 1 week of digestion after completing acid addition, a thin creamy
layer above a dark line has formed on top of the metallic slurry, out of which are growing a garden
of needle-like crystals.
Picture 5... Now at 2 weeks of digestion and the top creamy layer has more than doubled in size
above the line of the metal slurry. It is still growing and contains crystals. What does it mean?
Hopefully a part of the process towards producing the red lion liquor.

A QUESTION FOR NICK...... So far, so good. How long do you think I will have to wait to see the
RED LION liquor form? What suggestions or ideas do you have for this process in order to get
success?

Thanks a million for your mentoring..... Don