Pulverize pigments Grind to a fine powder
When pigments are purchased from an industrial supplier or from an
artist's materials supplier the pigment is normally ground finely
already. Sometimes some pigments may clump together in loose lumps, or
atmospheric moisture from an improperly sealed container may cause
pigment to form hard lumps. This will need to be broken up and in most
cases the mortar and pestle is ideal for this job.
The artist making pigments from natural Earths has more work to do
before the pigments can be used for making Paint or Pastels. The ochre
should be first spread out in the sun for several days in order to
thoroughly dry out. Remove any visible plant material, leaf litter and
so on. Once dry initial pulverizing can occur by placing the Earth
lumps into a cheese cloth and wrapping it so as to form a bag, the neck
of which should be long enough so as to enable it to be held with one
hand while pounding the contents with a mallet in the other hand after
which it should be sieved through a metal sieve to remove any larger
extraneous matter like small stones. A dust mask needs to be worn at
all times while working with dry pigments. Transfer the Earth to a
mortar and pestle for initial grinding. The pigment should now be ready
for grinding with the muller. Grinding as finely as possible should
develop the color and bring out the full beauty of the pigment. Some
pigments show more obvious benefit than others. One renaissance master
is recorded as saying that if vermilion was ground "every day for
twenty years, it would still be better and more perfect." (Cennini, The
Craftsman's Handbook). Some artist's contend that the machine ground
colors are ground too fine, but this is not possible with hand grinding
of a pigment. There is a trade off here between the optimal pigment
particle sizes for beauty and durability. Smaller particle sizes tend
to make better paint films, but the optimal size for brilliance of
color varies from pigment to pigment. Grinding colors with a hand
muller gives excellent results that are less perfect than machine
mills, but often hit that sweet spot of getting colors just right.
Mix to a stiff paste Predispersal
Predispersal has been standard practice throughout the last several
hundred years and probably originated with the book illuminators and
the Egg Tempera artists during the Dark Ages, as there is little need
to predisperse pigments for Encaustic although it might have been done
for Fresco. Renaissance paints with their demands for careful grinding
techniques did benefit from predispersal and it is well known from the
literature and illustrations of studio practice made at the time.
Predispersal is the practice of grinding a pigment into a solvent or
oil prior to the actual making of the paint. The predispersed product
is referred to as a paste and it is only after it has been mulled
with a binder
so that the powder suspended in liquid gains the plastic properties and
durability due to well bound and evenly dispersed pigment particles
that it is correctly called a paint.
The simple mixing of dry color and oil without mulling is by definition
a paste not a paint. (Ralph Mayer - The Artist's Handbook Of Materials
And
Techniques 5th edition 1991 Faber & Faber, page 194)
Aqueous media work well with larger quantities of pigment paste made in
batches and then sored and used as necessary while with oil paint where
dispersal is easier is better done just as a mixing stage immediately
before mulling.
Making an oil paste
Oil has a natural affinity with many pigments
and oil alone is usually used. For those pigments that are a little less
co-operative a small amount of mineral turpentine can be used to wet
the pigment. Some artist's use Grain Alcohol as this evaporates quickly
from the pigment. There are those who use water. this was a common practice in earlier centuries and it appears to improve the color, especially handling qualities. Water does tend to
help make a buttery paint but it can also lead to problems within oil/water mixtures if over used and should
be treated with caution. Mix the paste with a spatula until a
stiff crumbly paste. Don't over-oil the paste. The whole purpose of
this stage is to wet the pigment particles only. This paste is now
ready for mulling.
Pigment pastes for
aqueous media
Pigment particles tend to be hydrophobic. This
is because they have an electrical repulsion to water and are much
harder to disperse in water compared to oil. Organic pigments exhibit
this quite strongly. Because of this it is not uncommon for makers of
water based paints to buy their
pigments in a
predispersed form as they find these pigment pastes cost effective.
Making a pigment paste in the studio has a number of benefits. Firstly
they can be stored in jars and used as necessary, and as the pigment is
already wet the process of grinding the paint is speeded up. A paste
has the ability to
disperse rapidly with an assurance of well wet pigment particles.
To mix the paste simply place the pigment on the slab and make a round
hole in the middle like a do-nut. For all aqueous paints use distilled
water, and various wetting agents can be used including Grain Alcohol,
Oxgall, and the Acrylic Surface Tension Breakers. Some artist's use
alcohol instead, and some use water,
although this can easily lead to problems later on if too much is used.
Mix in the solvent with the spatula until you have a wet mass that is
quite stiff. Pastes intended for Acrylic dispersion should be wetter
with a one to one mix of pigment to Surface Tension Breaker and
distilled water.
Store paste in jars Ready
to make paint
So long as the paste was made with clean tools and solvents, and is
placed in containers free of any organic material it will last for a
long time before use. if recycled food containers are used they need to
be sterilized first. The secret to minimizing the use of
preservatives is scrupulous cleanliness and distilled water.
You are now ready to
proceed to grinding into your preferred binder:
Making Oil Paints
Making Acrylic Paints
Making
Watercolors and Gouaches
Making Egg Tempera
Making Hide Glue Chalk
Gesso
Making Encaustic
Paint
Making Fresco Colors
Making Pastels
Basic Ingredients
Detailed Ingredients
References
Alberti, L B, On Painting 1435
(Penguin Classics)
Cellini, B, The Life Of Benvenuto
Cellini, finished 1562 but not published until 1730
(Heron)
Cennini, C d'A, The Craftsman's
Handbook. 1437 (Dover)
Doerner, M, The Materials Of The Artist And Their Use
In Painting, 1921 (Harcourt Brace)
Eastlake, Sir C L, Materials For A History Of Oil
Painting, 1847 (Dover)
Feller, R L, Artists Pigments 1986
(National Gallery Of Art / Cambridge University)
Gettens, R J, and Stout, G L, Painting
Materials: A Short Encyclopedia, 1942
(Dover)
Gottsegen, M D, A Manual Of Painting Materials And
Techniques, 1987 (Harper & Row)
Maire, F, Colors: What They Are And What To Expect Of
Them, 1910 (Drake)
Mayer, R, The Artists Handbook Of Materials And
Techniques, fifth edition 1991 (Faber
& Faber)
Merrifield, Mrs. M P, Medieval And Renaissance Treatises
On
The Arts Of Painting 1849 (Dover)
Muther, R, The History Of Painting From The Fourth
Century To The Early Nineteenth Century, 1907 (Putnam)
Parkhurst, D B, The Painter In Oil 1898
(Lothrop, Lee & Shepard)
Patton, T C, Pigment Handbook, 1973
(Wiley)
Porter, N Webster's Revised Unabridged
Dictionary, 1913 (Merriam)
Pliny, The Elder (Gaius Plinius), Natural
History, 77 AD (Penguin Classics)
Roy, A Artist's Pigments: A Handbook Of
Their History And Characteristics, 1994
(Oxford University Press)
Taubs, F, A Guide To Traditional And Modern Painting
Methods, 1963 (Thames & Hudson)
Theophilus, On Divers Arts, 1125 (Dover)
Various, Encyclopedia Britannica,
fifteenth edition 1981 (Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc)
Various, Paint And Painting, 1982,
(Winsor & Newton / The Tate Gallery)
Various, The Artist's Colormen's
Story, 1984 (Winsor & Newton)
Vasari, G, The Lives Of The Most Excellent Painters,
Sculptors And Architects, 1568 (Penguin Classics)
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