Preamble
This is the fifty-first 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
Yellow Pigments - Part I
Yellow Pigments - Part II
Brown and Violet Pigments
Black Pigments
White Pigments - Part I
White Pigments - Part II
White Pigments - Part III
Inert Pigments
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!
Inert Pigments [1]
The inert fillers or extenders are, as has been mentioned elsewhere, white or nearly white pigments, which have low refractive indices and therefore, when ground in oil in the manner of the usual artists' color, have little or no opacity or tinctorial effect.
Opacity versus tinctorial effect.
They are used as cheapeners or adulterants, and to impart to oil paints, various properties such as bulk, tooth, reinforcement of the film, hardness, softness, etc.
When mixed with aqueous binders or mediums, they are less transparent, and in some cases, as in the chalk-glue gesso mixture, several of them will produce brilliant, white and adequately opaque coatings. When chalk is mixed with oil, it will form a muddy, translucent paste more intense in color than the oil itself. Colored pigments which have been reduced or let down with inert materials are ordinarily muddier as well as weaker than pure pigments.
However, there are exceptions to the above, and in some instances the correct use of inert pigments may result in definite improvements in the quality or handling of paints. In a few cases, notably phthalocyanine blue, the pigment's tinting power is so enormous compared with the rest of the pigment on the palette that an addition of alumina hydrate or blanc fixe will result in an improvement in the quality and ease of manipulation. Another legitimate use for inert pigments is in gouache paints where several pigments (e.g., Indian Red and Viridian) are improved by being rendered more brilliant and smoother-working by additions of precipitated chalk or other inert pigment during manufacture. Silica of various degrees of finess is sometimes used to impart tooth or coarseness to grounds and occasionally to certain paints. Special grades of mica and asbestine will retard the settling of some liquid paints and improve their structural stability. In such cases the inert pigments function as valuable modifying ingredients rather than adulterants.
The following are the more important commercially available inert pigments. Their properties will be found in the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins. They are as follows: Alumina Hydrate; Asbestine; Barytes; Blanc fixe; Chalk; China Clay; Gypsum; Ifusorial Earth; Magnesium Carbonate; Marble Dust; Mica; Pumice; Silica; Talc; Whiting.
Alumina hydrate is the best and most widely used material for extending transparent pigments, and blanc fixe for heavy, opaque pigments. Precipitated chalk is used to make gesso and pastels and to brighten or extend gouache colors.
Calcium carbonate, chalk, whiting, marble, and limestone have the same chemical composition, and differ only in crystalline structure, density, or degree of purity.
Calcium Carbonate Natural Limestone Chalk.
Mineral stone calcite. A white or colorless mineral consisting of calcium carbonate. It is a major constituent of sedimentary rocks such as limestone.
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 fifty-first 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
Yellow Pigments - Part I
Yellow Pigments - Part II
Brown and Violet Pigments
Black Pigments
White Pigments - Part I
White Pigments - Part II
White Pigments - Part III
Inert Pigments
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!
Inert Pigments [1]
The inert fillers or extenders are, as has been mentioned elsewhere, white or nearly white pigments, which have low refractive indices and therefore, when ground in oil in the manner of the usual artists' color, have little or no opacity or tinctorial effect.
They are used as cheapeners or adulterants, and to impart to oil paints, various properties such as bulk, tooth, reinforcement of the film, hardness, softness, etc.
When mixed with aqueous binders or mediums, they are less transparent, and in some cases, as in the chalk-glue gesso mixture, several of them will produce brilliant, white and adequately opaque coatings. When chalk is mixed with oil, it will form a muddy, translucent paste more intense in color than the oil itself. Colored pigments which have been reduced or let down with inert materials are ordinarily muddier as well as weaker than pure pigments.
However, there are exceptions to the above, and in some instances the correct use of inert pigments may result in definite improvements in the quality or handling of paints. In a few cases, notably phthalocyanine blue, the pigment's tinting power is so enormous compared with the rest of the pigment on the palette that an addition of alumina hydrate or blanc fixe will result in an improvement in the quality and ease of manipulation. Another legitimate use for inert pigments is in gouache paints where several pigments (e.g., Indian Red and Viridian) are improved by being rendered more brilliant and smoother-working by additions of precipitated chalk or other inert pigment during manufacture. Silica of various degrees of finess is sometimes used to impart tooth or coarseness to grounds and occasionally to certain paints. Special grades of mica and asbestine will retard the settling of some liquid paints and improve their structural stability. In such cases the inert pigments function as valuable modifying ingredients rather than adulterants.
The following are the more important commercially available inert pigments. Their properties will be found in the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins. They are as follows: Alumina Hydrate; Asbestine; Barytes; Blanc fixe; Chalk; China Clay; Gypsum; Ifusorial Earth; Magnesium Carbonate; Marble Dust; Mica; Pumice; Silica; Talc; Whiting.
Alumina hydrate is the best and most widely used material for extending transparent pigments, and blanc fixe for heavy, opaque pigments. Precipitated chalk is used to make gesso and pastels and to brighten or extend gouache colors.
Calcium carbonate, chalk, whiting, marble, and limestone have the same chemical composition, and differ only in crystalline structure, density, or degree of purity.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
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