Studio Lab / Surface Stack

Surface Stack: construct and peel a generic material diagram.

Build a seven-layer educational stack, peel upper layers, and widen a subtractive exposure window. The result is original interface geometry for thinking about sequence and concealment, not a reconstruction of any artwork's hidden cross-section.

Learning objective

Separate generic material sequence from historical evidence.

Build and peel a generalized layered surface to distinguish support, preparation, stain, film, body, trace, revision, and subtractive intervention concepts without inferring the actual hidden structure or studio sequence of a historical artwork.

Method: Seven generic material layers are ordered from support to revision. Coverage percentages change only the footprint of diagram blocks; body relief and support grain use normalized 1–9 interface scales; peel depth hides upper generic layers; scrape exposure reveals a diagram window through visible upper material. No value is converted to microns, mass, absorbency, chemical composition, cure time, drying state, conservation finding, or actual layer count.

Subtractive intervention: Scrape exposure is modeled separately from material layers because removal is an intervention, not added matter. The window only demonstrates how subtractive action can reveal lower interface layers; it does not assert scraping, sanding, wiping, erasure, abrasion, or another actual historical intervention.

Accessibility: All eight settings use labeled native range controls with visible values. Every layer is text-labeled with its order, role, visibility state, and generic boundary. A live text equivalent lists visible and peeled layers. The base HTML includes the default stack, complete layer dictionary, and scrape-intervention explanation; no autoplay, animation, color discrimination, or JavaScript is required to understand the default state.

Generic layer model

Build, conceal, peel, and expose.

Seven labeled material layers and one separate scrape-exposure intervention use normalized interface coordinates only. No diagram block is a microscopy image, conservation finding, paint recipe, or measured physical thickness.

Neutral layer presets

Peel top layers0 layers

Hides generic material layers from the top downward. The support always remains. This is an interface reveal, not a claim that a real artwork can be peeled this way.

Support grain5/9

Changes the visibility of a generic support texture in the diagram. It does not identify canvas weave, wood species, paper fiber, or another historical support.

Ground coverage92%

Changes the generic preparation layer footprint. Coverage is diagrammatic, not measured from an artwork cross-section.

Stain spread64%

Changes the generic stain layer footprint without specifying pigment, binder, solvent, absorbency, or historical method.

Thin film coverage76%

Changes the footprint of a generic thin paint film. The interface does not assign physical microns or drying state.

Body layer relief5/9

Changes relative diagram thickness for a generic body-paint layer. It is not measured impasto depth or a conservation record.

Scrape exposure30%

Widens a generic subtractive window that visually exposes lower interface layers. It is an intervention metaphor, not an inferred historical scraping event.

Revision coverage48%

Changes the footprint of a generic upper revision film. It does not assert that a historical artwork was revised or overpainted.

Text equivalent

7 of 7 generic material layers visible; 0 peeled from the top; top visible layer: Revision film; moderate support-grain cue; ground 92% coverage; stain 64% spread; thin film 76% coverage; medium body-layer relief (5/9); moderate subtractive exposure (30%); revision film 48% coverage. All percentages and relief values are interface coordinates, not measurements of a historical artwork.

Select a layer label to inspect its generic role and boundary.

JavaScript is off: the default stack remains fully labeled. Live peeling and parameter changes require enhancement, but the complete layer dictionary, intervention boundary, and default text equivalent remain available.

Layer dictionary

What these seven labels mean here.

They are educational abstractions, not diagnoses of hidden historical material.

Generic layer 1

Support

The generic structural base in the interface. It is not an identification of canvas, panel, paper, board, or another actual support.

Generic layer 2

Ground / preparation

A generic preparation layer above the support. No material, recipe, date, or historical preparation system is asserted.

Generic layer 3

Stain

A generic absorbed or low-relief color layer used only to teach the idea of early field penetration.

Generic layer 4

Thin film

A generic low-relief paint film. The model assigns no binder, pigment, solvent, drying state, or measured thickness.

Generic layer 5

Body paint

A generic higher-relief material layer whose diagram thickness can change without becoming a physical measurement.

Generic layer 6

Flow / trace layer

A generic deposited trace above the body layer. It does not reconstruct a drip, pour, tool path, or named technique from a historical artwork.

Generic layer 7

Revision film

A generic upper film that demonstrates how later material can cover earlier layers without asserting that a historical artwork was revised.

Separate intervention

Scrape exposure

Scrape exposure is modeled separately from material layers because removal is an intervention, not added matter. The window only demonstrates how subtractive action can reveal lower interface layers; it does not assert scraping, sanding, wiping, erasure, abrasion, or another actual historical intervention.