Preamble
This is the fortieth 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
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!
Black Pigments [1]
The common black pigments - ivory, bone, lamp, vine and drop black - all consist of carbon obtained by burning various materials.
Ivory Black.
Bone Black.
Lamp Black.
Vine Black.
Drop Black.
They are very fluffy and of low specific gravity. For example, 25 pounds of the same grades of lampblack will fill a sugar barrel; the same barrel will often hold 300 pounds of pigment of average density.
They absorb a considerable amount of oil in terms of weight; however, when computed by volume it is not so much as the weight figures indicate. The carbon blacks are all very poor driers in oil and will retard the drying of a normal film, unless mixed with a siccatie pigment, such as Umber. The soluble salts in the impure members of this group (and in some of the purer ones also) will efflorescence, when the pigment is used as a mortar color or in a fresco; also the fluffy and water-repelling nature of this group makes them less desirable than Mars Black, for most water medium uses. The material specifically called Carbon Black is the most intense in color and tinctorial power of any of this family, but is not used as an artists' pigment for reasons noted (see past and future posts).
Mars Black.
These non-mineral blacks may be grouped as follows:
(i) Pure Carbon: Carbon Black, and Lamp Black.
(ii) Impure Carbon: Animal sources such as Ivory Black, Bone Black etc. Vegetable sources such as vine black and charcoal black.
Frankfort or Drop Black (see above) is made from a great variety of vegetable and animal materials. From the manufacturer's point of view, the difference between Lamp Black and Carbon Black is that Lamp Black is soot or carbon collected by the smudge process, whereas Carbon Black is soot made by direct contact of the flame with a metal plate.
Note: The inferior grades of Lamp Black contain small amounts of greasy materials.
Ivory Black (see above) is the most widely used artists' black and serves well as an all-round black and tinting color. It is the only member of an impure carbon group that is recommended as a permanent artist's color. However, it is one of the worst pigments to use full-strength, or nearly full-strength, as an undercoat in oil paintings: a film of any other pigment laid over black is extremely likely to crack, as will be shown in a future Art Resource post.
Black iron oxide, or Mars Black, as it is commonly known, is a thoroughly trustworthy pigment. Its introduction to the artists' palette is more recent. The native magnetic oxide and blacks made of ground shale, or slate, are too coarse for average pigment use, but they are used industrially to some extent, in water pastes, as motar colors, etc.
Some of the black or blackish effects produced by mixtures of other colors are mentioned in a post on 'Green Pigments.' Very exact matching of blacks on old paintings requires the direct rays of sunlight rather than diffused north light.
Most of the lines of artists' colors now offered center on Ivory Black, Lamp Black, and Mars Black.
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 fortieth 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
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!
Black Pigments [1]
The common black pigments - ivory, bone, lamp, vine and drop black - all consist of carbon obtained by burning various materials.
They are very fluffy and of low specific gravity. For example, 25 pounds of the same grades of lampblack will fill a sugar barrel; the same barrel will often hold 300 pounds of pigment of average density.
They absorb a considerable amount of oil in terms of weight; however, when computed by volume it is not so much as the weight figures indicate. The carbon blacks are all very poor driers in oil and will retard the drying of a normal film, unless mixed with a siccatie pigment, such as Umber. The soluble salts in the impure members of this group (and in some of the purer ones also) will efflorescence, when the pigment is used as a mortar color or in a fresco; also the fluffy and water-repelling nature of this group makes them less desirable than Mars Black, for most water medium uses. The material specifically called Carbon Black is the most intense in color and tinctorial power of any of this family, but is not used as an artists' pigment for reasons noted (see past and future posts).
These non-mineral blacks may be grouped as follows:
(i) Pure Carbon: Carbon Black, and Lamp Black.
(ii) Impure Carbon: Animal sources such as Ivory Black, Bone Black etc. Vegetable sources such as vine black and charcoal black.
Frankfort or Drop Black (see above) is made from a great variety of vegetable and animal materials. From the manufacturer's point of view, the difference between Lamp Black and Carbon Black is that Lamp Black is soot or carbon collected by the smudge process, whereas Carbon Black is soot made by direct contact of the flame with a metal plate.
Note: The inferior grades of Lamp Black contain small amounts of greasy materials.
Ivory Black (see above) is the most widely used artists' black and serves well as an all-round black and tinting color. It is the only member of an impure carbon group that is recommended as a permanent artist's color. However, it is one of the worst pigments to use full-strength, or nearly full-strength, as an undercoat in oil paintings: a film of any other pigment laid over black is extremely likely to crack, as will be shown in a future Art Resource post.
Black iron oxide, or Mars Black, as it is commonly known, is a thoroughly trustworthy pigment. Its introduction to the artists' palette is more recent. The native magnetic oxide and blacks made of ground shale, or slate, are too coarse for average pigment use, but they are used industrially to some extent, in water pastes, as motar colors, etc.
Some of the black or blackish effects produced by mixtures of other colors are mentioned in a post on 'Green Pigments.' Very exact matching of blacks on old paintings requires the direct rays of sunlight rather than diffused north light.
Most of the lines of artists' colors now offered center on Ivory Black, Lamp Black, and Mars Black.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
