Page 23 - Artist Materials Advisor

Gilding is an art that requires dexterity, savoir-faire, and skill, qualities that craftsmen obtain after years of experience. There are two basic techniques in applying gold or metal leaf to surfaces: oil and water gilding. Both techniques employ glue to adhere the leaf to the substrate, but the difference lies in the type of glue. This technique uses a water-based glue or size.

Kölner Colnasize is a concentrate and an easily prepared size designed for the adhesion of gold and silver leaf to Kölner Burnishing Clay and Kölner Insta-Clay.

Black oil is the classic drying oil made with lead. It improves the handling and drying of oils and can be used in recipes to make megilp, Maroger, and Roberson's mediums and traditional oil varnishes, such as copal. This is the classic drying oil made with litharge (lead oxide). Since the earliest times, litharge was cooked with vegetable oil, such as linseed or walnut oil, to clarify it while removing impurities and imparting faster drying characteristics. Cooking the oil for long periods and at high temperatures allows more significant amounts of litharge to be dissolved in the oil while at the same time darkening the oil. 

Did watercolorists of the 18th and 19th centuries use mediums to brush and manipulate their watercolors? The evidence shows that they handled their colors differently from contemporary artists today. Here are some historical references on the use of watercolor mediums by British watercolorists of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Varnish is a transparent, hard, protective film that provides a protective layer over artwork. Varnishes are traditionally a combination of drying oil, resin, and solvent. Varnish finishes are usually glossy but may be made to produce a satin or matte surface by the addition of “flatting” agents. Varnish has little, or no color, is transparent, and has no added pigment, as opposed to paint or stain, which contains pigments or dyes and generally range from opaque to translucent. Varnishes are also applied between layers of paint to isolate them or over substrates, such as wood, to seal them and reduce absorbency.

Making your own paints can be a rewarding experience. You must remember, however, that you are dealing with materials that may be harmful if not handled with care. It must not be assumed that the absence of a health warning indicates that a material is safe. All dust can be harmful if inhaled, and persistent exposure to them will at least cause irritation and possible harm to you. There is an increasing amount of information available regarding powdered pigments, but the safest way is to treat all materials as potentially harmful.

Rublev Colours Artists' Oils let you experience what the old masters well understood—the unique characteristics of pigments. The pigments used by old masters in their paintings were ground from natural minerals and earths, fermented in dyer vats, and concocted in alchemist laboratories. Rublev Colours Artists' Oils give you the same pigments used by the old masters prepared with linseed oil as ready-made paints.

Rublev Colours* artists' paints are made in the United States by Natural Pigments that include Artists' Oils, Watercolors, and painting mediums for use by professional fine artists. Rublev Colours are different from other commercial artists' colors. One reason is we use natural and historical pigments like those used by the old masters. Another is we make them as they did before modern artists' paint manufacturing—without synthetic, modern additives.

Silverpoint was commonly practiced during the Renaissance by artists such as Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, and Raphael, and is the ancestor of the modern graphite pencil. Silverpoint is a drawing instrument composed of a small, pointed metal tip, usually of silver, encased in a holder.

No paint is known to keep its original color indefinitely. From the moment it is applied, it starts changing color. The only issue is, therefore, the degree to which this color change will take place. The oils and resins used by artists tend to yellow or discolor upon drying and aging. Since oxidation and polymerization are the main actions during this process, we can more or less assume that the oxidized and polymerized molecules are darker in color than the original molecules, and these give yellowing or poor color retention.