[Woodcarver] Pigments

[linehan718 at aol.com]

Thanks Ivan, very informative as always.? Will definetly file that knowledge away for future use.? Hope you are doing well, you and your family are in my thoughts often.







-----Original Message-----
From: Ivan Whillock <carve at whillock.com>
To: [Woodcarver] <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 12:22 pm
Subject: [Woodcarver] Pigments



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Through the years I've had the opportunity to?work with most?coloring techniques, here's what I understand:? 

?

The various mediums use?the same?pigments; they just have different?vehicles to carry them--except,?of course, ?for??dry pigment?or?dry tempera,?which obviously lack a carrier.??Pigments in powder form need something in the surface? to hold them.? You can get an interesting coloration with dry pigments by?rubbing ?the pigments into the pores of the surface, though it's a pretty messy process because much of it falls away.??Also, you can, for example,?apply a wax and then?brush dry pigments into it.? Otherwise, you need a?vehicle of some sort to apply the pigment to the surface: water, oil, or some other medium which the user mixes into the dry pigment.

?

Pastels are composed of?those same type of?pigments pressed into stick form?with?just enough?binder?to hold the stick together.? Because they are applied dry, the surface they are applied to must have a "tooth" in order to hold the pigment, to keep it from simply falling off the surface.? The pores of the wood supply?some tooth, but also you can spray the surface with, as Jack?pointed out, a varnish that has a tooth?in it.? That will hold the pigment temporarily, but then it should be sprayed?with a top coat, because there is nothing in the pastel itself to bind it to the surface.

?

Crayons and some colored pencils usually have a wax binder.? Any surface that accepts wax will accept those media.? It is the wax that binds the pigment to the surface.

?

Water colors have?gum arabic to?hold the pigments, but after the water dries, those pigments which do not dye the surface can move.?? Thus, if you use water colors, you may want to apply a?fixer to the surface,?a lacquer or?a varnish to keep the colors in place.

?

Acrylics and oil paints have binders that, when dry, fix the pigment to the surface, thus they are the mediums most often used for coloring wood.

?

The pigments are pretty universal.? It's the way they are delivered that differs.

Ivan Whillock Studio
122 NE 1st Avenue
Faribault, MN? 55021
Visit my website at
http://www.whillock.com
Visit my Picture Trail album at
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=ivancarve



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