Making Paint III - Red Earth Leura

The other day I made paint from a rock I found while climbing in the Blue Mountains. Since you need ground up pigment in order to make paint, I had to break up the rock in a mortar and pestle before getting started. This took a while and proved difficult to get evenly ground pigment. Lagridge Refined Linseed Oil was used as the binder. The end product was gritty and a bit dry, very similar in feel to the original rock.

Materials

Materials

Rock - 'Red Earth Leura' (from Leura, NSW) - 2 tsp

Langridge Refined Linseed Oil - 1 1/4 tsp

Mortar and Pestle

Colander

2 Palette Knives

Small Measuring Spoons

Muller and Glass Plate

37mL empty Paint Tube

Art Spectrum Odorless Solvent - for clean up

Paper towels

Photo Documentation

The store bought materials were purchased at Parkers Art Supply in Sydney. The rock I used was found in Leura, New South Wales Australia. I found the result to be similar in feel to the Old Holland paint, the bits of rock were even a bit larger than the Old Holland Prussian Blue. It will be interesting to use this color when making a painting about my experience in Leura. The paint is literally the same color as what was there. I wonder though how it will work into my memory of the place while depicting it.
Once again, I have a chart going to catalog how the paint ages after being tubed.

Buying Canvas in Australia

     Today, I purchased my first bit of canvas in Australia. I found a few websites that cater to the buying in bulk crowd. The Sydney Canvas Company and Wholesale Canvas Australia seem to be the most affordable. Not to mention they both have reasonable shipping deals. WCA shipping is free and SCC shipping cost $20.00, but theirs will arrive the same day!
 
      The Sydney Canvas Company was a little less expensive and they had gesso and other artist materials for sale that I needed, so I decided to buy from them. I spoke to the owner over the phone to complete my purchase. I even dared to ask about where these materials are manufactured and how. I think I caught him a bit off guard. None the less, he told me where the canvas is made and primed. He offered to let me come in sometime and have a chat with him about the places he outsources from and anything else that might help my research!
 
      This is what I know so far. I purchased an 8oz roll of 25m x 72" (It seems strange that they use metric and imperial measurements, oh well.) This canvas is made in Maharashtra, India. I ordered unprimed canvas. The owner did mention that any priming is done in Indore, India. He has personally visited both of these places. Hopefully soon I will go in and talk with him about the manufacturing process!

Learning to Weave - What Is a Heddle and How Does It Work?

    In addition to learning how to make my own paint, I want to create my own canvas. In college, I learned to stretch my own canvas, build stretcher bars from 1"x2"s and 1/4" round wood and prime the canvas. However, I am still tied into buying the cotton or linen canvas from the store. Also, I am finding it difficult to learn where the canvas was manufactured. More over, I want to compare the cost of making my own canvas versus buying it. The cost that I am calculating here is not only monetary value, but also ecological costs and human involvement in the process.

    First and foremost, I like to work with my hands in order to gain an understanding of a process. Prior to visiting textile factories, I feel it is necessary to know how to do the things I am investigating. This is why I am learning how to weave and use a loom.

    I have looked at a number of different types of looms, and man, they are visually complicated! Here are some examples:

Frame Loom

http://www.dickblick.com/products/schacht-portable-tapestry-loom/

Rigid Heddle Loom

Source unknown

Floor Looms Varying in Complexity

http://milo-maine.olx.com/leclerc-weaving-loom-iid-12456296

http://www.spinnerschoice.com/Louet%20Looms/default.html

http://verbmall.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/lams.html

http://www.avlusa.com/catalog/looms/a-series-loom/

Having just begun my research. I will not pretend to know anything about the floor looms shown in the last four images. However, I am proud to say that I figured out how a Rigid Heddle works!

This is a Rigid Heddle:

http://sorazora.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/mini-rigid-heddle.html

It is used to separate the yarn (or the warp) connected to the frame making it easier to pass the weft (or the moving yarn) through the working project.

At first, I thought how does it separate every other piece of warp and make it adjustable so that the weft is able to alternate which strand it passes over or under in each row.... Seeing a heddle independent of the loom helped. The individual warp threads are passed through the spaces in the heddle. One strand goes through a slit while the next goes through a fixed hole so on and so forth for every piece of warp in the project. Then, the heddle can be moved up and down forcing every other piece of thread to move relative to it's neighbor thus alternating which strands are on top every row.

Amazing! Unfortunately, I cannot find out when the Rigid Heddle was invented. If anyone has information as to this date, I would be interested to know it. Hopefully soon I will get my own simple loom and begin making canvas to paint on. 

Making Paint II - Old Holland Pigment

This is my second attempt at making paint. This time,  I used Old Holland Parijs (Pruisisch) Blau Extra a.k.a. Prussian Blue Pigment pigment and Lagridge Refined Linseed Oil. This pigment was drastically different than the Langridge Raw Umber Green. The granules were much bigger and the pigment was much more like salt crystals. The Umber, on the other hand, had the consistency of flour. It made for some interesting mixing and was a lot messier. The clean up was also much more difficult, I think my glass plate will be permanently tinted blue.

Materials

Old Holland Prussian Blue Pigment - 1Tbsp and 1tsp
Langridge Refined Linseed Oil - 2 1/4 tsp
2 Palette Knives
Small Measuring Spoons
Muller and Glass Plate
37mL empty Paint Tube
~28 paper towels

Photo Documentation

 

Interesting - the oil soaked right into the pigment. The Umber trial left the pigment floating on top until I mixed the oil and pigment together.

These materials were purchased at Parkers Art Supply in Sydney. Old Holland paint is fabulous. There is nothing better than the outstanding color and texture that Old Holland Paints provide.... That is if you can afford them. They tend to be a bit pricey but are worth every cent. The Prussian Blue pigment was very grainy and retained some of that character after being mixed. If you are looking for pigment/paint in which every color is uniform in consistency, Old Holland may not be for you. Their website has some wonderful photos of their manufacturing process. I would not choose to solely use Old Holland paint if funds were out of the question, but would definitely keep some colors on hand.

Once again, I have a chart going to catalog how the paint ages after being tubed.

Maybe tomorrow I will try making paint from a rock I collected while climbing in the Blue Mountains....

Making Paint I - Langridge Pigment

This is my first attempt at making paint. I used Langridge pigment and linseed oil for this trial. I have my own samples of rock that I would like to use in the future. For now, though, I thought I would stick to commercial pigment.

Materials

Langridge Raw Umber Green Pigment - 2 tsp
Langridge Refined Linseed Oil - 1 1/4 tsp
2 Palette Knives
Small Measuring Spoons
Muller and Glass Plate
37mL empty Paint Tube

Photo Documentation

The materials were purchased at Parkers Art Supply in Sydney. They have two locations now, the one at The Rocks has a larger selection and carries raw pigments. Langridge paint is new to me as it was not available in Boston or Chicago. I have only used it once, today, but it seems to be similar in quality to that of Gamblin Artist Colors, although I don't yet have research to support this. Overall, it was wonderful to make my own paint. I have begun a chart in which I will paint daily swatches of this paint to see how it ages.