Period Pigments

Lady Aerin Teine

Turning Your Pigments Into Paint

Pigments must be ground together with their vehicle to make good paint.  This is done with a muller, which is basically just two flat grinding surfaces used together.  A mirror or piece of glass and a glass jar turned on its side work just fine.  Put a small pile of the pigment on your flat glass.  Add a few drops of the chosen vehicle, turn your jar sideways and use it to grind the two together, using a circular motion.  After a few seconds, you have paint.

Vehicle:

The part of the paint that carries the pigment, aids in distributing it evenly, and secures it there.

	Watercolor:		Gum arabic
	Tempera:		Egg yolk or glair
	Oil:			Linseed oil

To Make Glair:

Carefully separate out the white from an egg.  Be careful to use a non-greasy bowl for mixing.  Using an electric mixer, beat the egg white until it is stiff and opaque (meringue).  Leave it to sit overnight.  A clear liquid will separate out from the solid meringue; this is the glair.  Pour it off into the jar you will keep it in.  Add a touch of honey or gum arabic to give it more versatility.  Older glair is called "rotten glair" and was considered to be better to use.

Pigment:

The coloring agent of a paint or ink.
 Pigments

Black:

		Bone black:	Charred animal bones.
		Ivory black:	Carbonized ivory.
		Lamp black:	Soot from linseed oil or beeswax/tallow candles.
		Vine black:	Carbonized grapevine.

White:

		Bone white:	Bone ash.
		Chalk/Gypsum:	Chalk and gypsum are added to other pigments
				to lighten color or increase opacity.
		Egg Shell White:	Roasted egg shells ground fine.
	N	White lead (ceruse):	Poisonous!  Lead carbonate.  Do not mix with verdigris.

Red:

		Brazilwood:	Variety of reds derived from brazilwood Caesalpinia.
	N	Cinnabar:	Highly poisonous!  Natural mineral mercuric sulfide.
		Cochineal:	Derived from coccus cacti bugs.
		Dragonsblood:	Plant resin from Pterocarpus draco.
		Hematite:	Crushed red stone.
		Lac lake:	Dissolved gum lac.
		Madder:	Plant extract of Rubea tinctorum.
	N	Minium:	Poisonous!  Red lead from roasting white lead.  Lead 					tetroxide.
		Red ochre:	Roasted yellow ochre.
	N	Vermillion:	Poisonous!  Artificial cinnabar; mercuric sulfide.

Blue:

		Azurite:	Natural dark blue stone; basic copper carbonate.
		Indigo:	Extract from indigo plant.
		Turnsole:	Extract from turnsole plant Crozophora tinctoria.
		Ultramarine:	Deep blue mineral ore; lapis lazuli.
		Woad:	Plant extract from Isatis tinctoria.

Purple:

		Folium:	Neutral extract of the turnsole plant.

 Green:

		Iris green:	Plant extract from iris petals.
		Malachite:	Similar to azurite but with more water.  Natural basic 					copper carbonate.
		Salt green:	Made from honey-coated copper plates exposed to 					vinegar.
		Terre verte:	Sage green clay.
		Verdigris:	Made from copper plates and hot vinegar vapors.  Do 					not mix with white lead.
		Viridian:	A form of malachite; an aceto-arsenite of copper.

Yellow:

		Bile yellow:	Made from the gall of fish and tortoises.
		Buckthorn:	Plant extract from buckthorn berries.
		Gamboge:	Gum resin from Carcinia hanburyi.  Cathartic.
	N	Massicot:	Poisonous!  Roasted white lead.
	N	Mosaic Gold:	Poisonous!  Tin and mercury sulfides.
	N	Naples yellow:	Poisonous!  Lead antimoniate.  (AKA Giallorino)
	N	Orpiment:	Very poisonous!  Arsenic disulfide.  Do not mix with 					other pigments.  (AKA Auripigmentum)
	N	Realgar:	Poisonous!  Orange arsenic disulfide.  Do not mix.
		Saffron:	Dried stigmas of Crocus sativus.
		Sienna:	An earth with iron oxide.
		Umber:	An earth with manganese dioxide.
		Weld:	Plant extract of Reseda luteola.
		Yellow ochre:	A natural earth with geothite.
 Mixing Pigments:

For the most part, pigments can be mixed together without fear of chemical changes altering the color.  

· The earths are already as reacted as they are going to get.  
· The vegetable-based pigments will not change unless subjected to an acidic environment.  
· Azurite and malachite contain metals which can react to other metals or acids, and may oxidize over time unless sealed adequately by its binder.  
· The lead-based pigments have also been known to oxidize.  
· The poisonous pigments tend to be poisonous because they are highly chemically reactive.  The more poisonous, the more reactive and incompatible with other pigments.
· Orpiment is an arsenic sulfide and cannot be mixed with other pigments without turning black.  Likewise, vermillion is a mercuric sulfide and should not be mixed with other colors.
Please note that the majority of the colors are not temperamental in this manner and can be mixed normally.