Today we met with Hudhud. Alleging to be the main protagonist of the movie Kaboria, and the only one able to make the ancient blue pigment, his shop lies in the historic city of the dead. H. claims to be the only person capable of making this synthetic blue. He generously informs us about the process of making it, using terminology that resembles cooking and bread baking. At Abdel Nabi, where H. gets one of his ingredient, the copper craftsman, H. explains, takes his hammer to soften the copper sheets (the copper has to be red? Or Yellow? It’s important that it is one or the other, but we do not recall. Thankfully we have an audio that needs transcribing). As the copper gets soft to be able to decorate, Abdelnabi bathes the sheet in a water sink. You are to hear the sound of Tshhh, just like molokheyya*. As the copper sinks into the water, a thin black layer floats onto the surface, which is H's main ingredient.
This he takes, cleans up and mixes with salt, while heating it. He makes round balls with the paste, which he keeps warm next to his kiln on a low fire (bey7amaso, mesh forn).
These balls he then uses to dye the glass with.
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Sama and Dina heading to Hudhud |
*molokheyya is an Egyptian dish consisting of a leafy soup that lots of garlic and coriander. It is said that once the leafy soup starts boiling, the fried garlic with coriander are to be added to the soup, making the sound of tsshhh. meanwhile, the cook needs to act as though they are surprised and make a loud inhaling sound (tesh-ha2), as though they've been exorcised. Only then the molokheyya will taste good.
