Preamble
This is the fourty-third post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part I
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part II
Selected Fresco Palette for Permanent Frescoes
Properties of Pigments in Common Use
Blue Pigments - Part I
Blue Pigments - Part II
Blue Pigments - Part III
Green Pigments - Part I
Green Pigments - Part II
Red Pigments - Part I
Red Pigments - Part II
There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics;
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio;
(iii) Color theories and color schemes;
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials;
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V;
(vi) Protein fibers;
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers;
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers;
(ix) Fabric construction;
(x) Techniques and woven fibers;
(xi) Basic and figured weaves;
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics;
(xiii) Durable press and wash-and-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g. click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!
Red Pigments - Part II [1]
Confusion in the nomenclature of red oxide artists' colors in America has now been eliminated by applying the following terms: Indian Red for bluish pure red oxide; light red for the scarlet type; and for special shades, Mars Red or Mars Scarlet, Maroon etc., reserving the older meaningless names for native or impure oxides. The Mars colors are all artificial iron oxides of great permanence, some of them varying only slightly in color, composition, and method of manufacture from the pure Indian Red and Light Red. Pure Red Oxides can be made by calcinating iron hydroxide made by particpating iron (ferrous) sulfate, or waste solutions, from the steel industry with soda ash, or by direct roasting of ferrous sulphate.
Iron oxide red laux process.
The ancient and medieval crimson lakes had animal or vegetable origins: kermes, grain, madder, dragon's blood, brazilwood and, later, cochineal or carmine. Alizarin replaces all of them, sometimes with a small amount of dulling or toning if exact matches are required.
Alizarin.
Although inferior grades are common, alizarin crimsons, since the 1920s, have been produced in superlative quality which is permanent under conditions that cause older or inferior varieties to fail. The highest-grade American product has a brilliant rosy tone in the dry state; it is perfectly clear and transparent, will not deliver with pure oils, but will when freely mixed with earth colors. Alumina hydrate is employed in its manufacture, but in small proportion and as much for its chemical function as for its use as a base or inert material, so that the best grades are almost toners, compared with the usual lake color. Alizarin, like other organic pigments that are permanent in easel painting, is not in the same class of absolute permanence as are the organic pigments.
Alizarin Crimson.
The manufacture of a perfect alizarin requires great skilll on the part of the color maker. One of the several important points is that while its been made, the material must be kept absolutely free from contamination of iron, which destroys its character. This is proably the reason why so many writers go to such extremes to warn patients against its admixture with and even its overpainting upon earth colors that contain iron. With the best grade of alizarin, such warnings are unnecessary for in its finished state it is not sensitive to iron to an extent that would make these procedures dangerous. According to tests, it can be freely mixed with any of the other approved pigments without a negative effect. Alizarin is not absolutely fast to light in the same sense in which the inorganic colors are light-fast. It can be broken down under accelerated tests; however, it is adequately permanent for use under normal conditions of all accepted artistic painting techniques except fresco. The longevity of alizarin might well be taken as a yardstick with which to measure the degree of color stability acceptable for artists' normal pigment requirements.
In common with other pigments of very high oil content and low specific gravity, dried films of straight alizarin oil color are structurally inferior to those of denser, more highly pigmented coating, and certain precautions should be observed in their use. The fine, all-over crackle which sometimes occurs on areas painted with straight alizarin oil color will be discussed in a later post in this series.
Alizarin comes in the form of an extremely fluffy, light weight powder (see above). One pound will fill a half-gallon can. A pound of vermilion will go into a four-ounce jar. Both vermilion and alizarin happen to be substances which repel water to such an extent that they are difficult to mix into aqueous mediums, especially when one attempts to stir them into a medium container. A round rod should be used for this purpose instead of a flat palette knife. With a little patience, they will mix in. Colors which repel either oil or water will go into suspension more easily on a slab, under a muller or spatula. If alcohol is used to start the wetting before the oil is added, the anhydrous grade is preferable, and it should be well mulled or the mixture allowed to remain on the slab long enough for the alcohol to evaporate.
The true madder root lakes made by the older process, especially those of good quality, are now very rarely found on the market. They can be obtained from the most reliable sources. Alizarin red is many times more powerful in tinting strength than the madders, which are usually very weak.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
This is the fourty-third post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part I
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part II
Selected Fresco Palette for Permanent Frescoes
Properties of Pigments in Common Use
Blue Pigments - Part I
Blue Pigments - Part II
Blue Pigments - Part III
Green Pigments - Part I
Green Pigments - Part II
Red Pigments - Part I
Red Pigments - Part II
There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics;
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio;
(iii) Color theories and color schemes;
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials;
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V;
(vi) Protein fibers;
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers;
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers;
(ix) Fabric construction;
(x) Techniques and woven fibers;
(xi) Basic and figured weaves;
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics;
(xiii) Durable press and wash-and-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g. click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!
Red Pigments - Part II [1]
Confusion in the nomenclature of red oxide artists' colors in America has now been eliminated by applying the following terms: Indian Red for bluish pure red oxide; light red for the scarlet type; and for special shades, Mars Red or Mars Scarlet, Maroon etc., reserving the older meaningless names for native or impure oxides. The Mars colors are all artificial iron oxides of great permanence, some of them varying only slightly in color, composition, and method of manufacture from the pure Indian Red and Light Red. Pure Red Oxides can be made by calcinating iron hydroxide made by particpating iron (ferrous) sulfate, or waste solutions, from the steel industry with soda ash, or by direct roasting of ferrous sulphate.
The ancient and medieval crimson lakes had animal or vegetable origins: kermes, grain, madder, dragon's blood, brazilwood and, later, cochineal or carmine. Alizarin replaces all of them, sometimes with a small amount of dulling or toning if exact matches are required.
Although inferior grades are common, alizarin crimsons, since the 1920s, have been produced in superlative quality which is permanent under conditions that cause older or inferior varieties to fail. The highest-grade American product has a brilliant rosy tone in the dry state; it is perfectly clear and transparent, will not deliver with pure oils, but will when freely mixed with earth colors. Alumina hydrate is employed in its manufacture, but in small proportion and as much for its chemical function as for its use as a base or inert material, so that the best grades are almost toners, compared with the usual lake color. Alizarin, like other organic pigments that are permanent in easel painting, is not in the same class of absolute permanence as are the organic pigments.
The manufacture of a perfect alizarin requires great skilll on the part of the color maker. One of the several important points is that while its been made, the material must be kept absolutely free from contamination of iron, which destroys its character. This is proably the reason why so many writers go to such extremes to warn patients against its admixture with and even its overpainting upon earth colors that contain iron. With the best grade of alizarin, such warnings are unnecessary for in its finished state it is not sensitive to iron to an extent that would make these procedures dangerous. According to tests, it can be freely mixed with any of the other approved pigments without a negative effect. Alizarin is not absolutely fast to light in the same sense in which the inorganic colors are light-fast. It can be broken down under accelerated tests; however, it is adequately permanent for use under normal conditions of all accepted artistic painting techniques except fresco. The longevity of alizarin might well be taken as a yardstick with which to measure the degree of color stability acceptable for artists' normal pigment requirements.
In common with other pigments of very high oil content and low specific gravity, dried films of straight alizarin oil color are structurally inferior to those of denser, more highly pigmented coating, and certain precautions should be observed in their use. The fine, all-over crackle which sometimes occurs on areas painted with straight alizarin oil color will be discussed in a later post in this series.
Alizarin comes in the form of an extremely fluffy, light weight powder (see above). One pound will fill a half-gallon can. A pound of vermilion will go into a four-ounce jar. Both vermilion and alizarin happen to be substances which repel water to such an extent that they are difficult to mix into aqueous mediums, especially when one attempts to stir them into a medium container. A round rod should be used for this purpose instead of a flat palette knife. With a little patience, they will mix in. Colors which repel either oil or water will go into suspension more easily on a slab, under a muller or spatula. If alcohol is used to start the wetting before the oil is added, the anhydrous grade is preferable, and it should be well mulled or the mixture allowed to remain on the slab long enough for the alcohol to evaporate.
The true madder root lakes made by the older process, especially those of good quality, are now very rarely found on the market. They can be obtained from the most reliable sources. Alizarin red is many times more powerful in tinting strength than the madders, which are usually very weak.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
