Search results for 'Red pigments'

PB29

Ultramarine Blue Dark is an artificial mineral pigment that is produced by heating clay, soda, sulphur and coal to high temperatures. Its name comes from outremer, or over-the-sea, as a reference to the highly-prized Lapis Lazuli pigment which had been imported into Europe from Afghanistan since the Middle Ages. First manufactured in France and Germany in 1828, synthetic Ultramarine provided a brilliant and affordable blue to artists, and it remains one of the most popular blues on artists' palettes today.

It is a transparent pigment, with a high tinting strength and excellent lightfastness. It reacts to alkali, therefore it is not suitable for use in lime-fresco; we do offer a Limeproof Ultramarine Blue for this purpose. It is stable in all other media, although it can be tricky to grind in oil. Instead of creating a thick, buttery paste, it can remain stringy and deteriorate when stored in a tube. To correct this, many commercial paint manufacturers include additives and waxes in their recipes; if you intend on grinding your own paint, you could try replacing 10-15% of your Linseed Oil with Poppy Oil to improve the consistency. Ultramine Blue provides a slow-drying, fairly hard paint film, which can tend towards brittleness.

Toxicity: B

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Egyptian Blue is stable in all media, highly transparent, with a weak tinting strength. A synthetically produced calcium copper silicate, it is considered to be the earliest artificial pigment, dating from antiquity and widely used in ancient Egypt. Larger sizes available on request Learn More

Shellac is a natural resin that is deposited by the female lac insect on the branches of trees in India and Thailand. It is soluble with alcohol, but not with mineral spirits or turpentine. It forms a tough yet flexible film, with many applications. It is suitable as a top coat for gilding when applied thinly, a sealant for porous surfaces, an isolating layer for tempera paintings, a base for pigmented inks, a protective layer for collograph plates, and a warm varnish for wooden floors and furniture. As it is prone to darkening with age, it is not recommended as a varnish for oils, and its solubility can reduce over time. There are various grades of shellac. When mixed with alcohol, it may initially form a cloudy mixture, due to traces of wax in the shellac, but this should become clear once it has dried. The highest grades of shellac are Clear Dewaxed Shellac, which has been de-coloured using the carbon filtering method, Lemon Shellac, and Orange Shellac, which are pale in colour. Button Shellac is less refined and therefore produces a reddish varnish. It was, in fact, widely used as a red dye before synthetic dyes became available. Learn More

PBr7

Raw Sienna is a natural earth pigment that dates back to antiquity. Our Raw Sienna comes from areas of Tuscany where the earth has been coloured by iron-rich minerals. It provides a good tinting strength, excellent lightfastness, and a fast to medium drying rate in oil. It is stable in all media but, like umber pigments, can be difficult to disperse in an acrylic binder. It is similar in composition to Yellow Ochre, but whereas Yellow Ochre contains a higher proportion of clay, Raw Sienna contains a higher proportion of silica. As a natural material, the exact colour and qualities of the resultant pigments can vary, but generally this difference creates a paler, more opaque Yellow Ochre, and a darker, more transparent Raw Sienna.

Toxicity: B

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Whiting is powdered Calcium Carbonate, which can be mixed with rabbit skin glue to create a chalk-based ground for oil, tempera, distemper or encaustic painting. Traditionally, whiting was an important ingredient when preparing painting surfaces in the north of Europe, as opposed to gypsum (Calcium Sulphate), which was widely used south of the Alps. Learn More

Beeswax is derived from melted honeycomb, and is available in two grades. Bleached Beeswax Pellets are white, having been bleached by the sun, and are an appropriate choice for using with pale colours, although they may revert to yellow over time. Natural Beeswax Pellets are yellow in colour, and offer a more flexible structure with a higher resin content. Beeswax has a melting point of 63-66°c, and may turn brown if over-heated. It is the most widely used wax in artists' materials, having a wide range of applications. Please see below for more details.

 

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PB33

Manganese Blue is an articficial mineral pigment, that is prepared by heating sodium sulphate, potassium permanganate and barium nitrate to 750-800 degrees Celcius. It has been produed as a pigment and as a colourant for cement since the 1930s, and is notable for its quick drying time in oils, its high transparency, and its bright, slightly greenish colour. Its weak tinting strength can cause it to be overwhelmed in mixtures, and it has a tendency to granulate as a watercolour. It is no longer used in commercial paints, but many manufacturers offer a Manganese Blue Hue, which is typically based upon Phthalocyanine Blue.   

Production of this pigment has now ceased, due to environmental and health concerns, therefore it is only available while stocks last.

Toxicity: C

Please note, unfortunately we are not able to send this product outside the UK.

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PR106 Vermilion is an artificial pigment based on mercuric sulphide, which occurs naturally as Cinnabar. The synthetic form contains fewer impurities than Cinnabar, and was in use in China as early as the fourth century. It was present in Europe from the ninth century, and was the most widely used red pigment until the introduction of Cadmium Red in the early twentieth century. It has good tinting strength and opacity but, like many red pigments, it dries very slowly in oil media. Larger sizes available on request. Learn More

Dragon's Blood is a natural, resin, mentioned by Pliny in his Natural History. It has a weak tinting strength, and its rich red colour can be fugitive in direct sunlight. It is fully soluble in alcohol, and can be used to add a warm, transparent tone to spirit varnishes. Also available in powdered form.

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Ivory Black is a natural pigment of impure carbon, derived from charred animal bones. It is semi-transparent, very lightfast, and offers good tinting strength. It is a particularly slow-drying pigment, which forms a soft, rather brittle paint film in oil.

Compared to other blacks, such as Vine Black, Ivory Black possesses warmer, brownish undertones. It should not be used at full-strength in an underpainting, as subsequent layers are likely to crack. Otherwise, it is a very useful all-purpose black for many types of paint, excluding mortar, fresco or cement.

Toxicity: B

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Gypsum is powdered Calcium Sulphate, a traditional ingredient in gesso grounds used in southern Europe. One of the advantages of preparing your painting surface with gypsum is that it allows for a particularly even absorption of the paint film. It can also be added to acrylic primers to increase absorbency or add tooth to a surface. Learn More

Terre Verte, sometimes known as Green Earth, is a natural earth pigment derived from clay coloured by iron silicate. As with other natural pigments, impurities can prevent it from fully dispersing in an acrylic binder, although it is a popular pigment in all other mediums. It has been in use since antiquity, providing excellent lightfastness and great transparency, with a low tinting strength. It requires a high volume of oil, and dries slowly to create a soft, flexible paint film. When calcined, Terre Verte becomes Burnt Green Earth.
Toxicity B Learn More

PR106

Cinnabar, composed of mercuric sulphide, is a mineral pigment found in crusts or veins in sites of volcanic activity. It has good tinting strength and opacity but, like many red pigments, it dries very slowly in oil media. Due to its high toxicity, it is no longer an ingredient in commercial paints, but is a prominent colour in historical palettes.

Generally, Cinnabar refers to the natural mineral, while Vermilion refers to the synthetic pigment. Cinnabar has been mined since at least the tenth millennium BC, and used as a painting material, gemstone, and ritual object by many cultures around the globe. 

Larger sizes available on request.

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The perfect introduction to working with pigment, this selection of thirty pigments provides a wide range of colours for the production of paint. Each colour is supplied in a 15ml plastic jar, and the set includes both natural and synthetic colours. Recipes can be found on our homepage, with instructions for making different paints, including watercolour, egg tempera and oil paint. Learn More

Casein is a protein derived from dried milk, which has been used in painting since ancient times. It can be combined with Ammonium Carbonate to form an emulsion, which acts as a durable, non-resoluble binder for pigments, producing a matte, fast-drying paint, similar in appearance to egg tempera. We use casein as a binder for our L. Cornelissen & Son Pigment Colour Charts, as it is a medium that clearly showcases the characteristics and behaviour of each pigment in its pure form. Casein paints can be applied in thin layers to watercolour paper, but would require a more rigid support, such as a gesso panel, to be applied thickly, as the comparative inflexibility of the paint layer means that it can be prone to cracking. Subsequent layers of paint should be more diluted to aid adhesion, and impasto effects are not recommended. It is possible to varnish casein paintings using an acrylic or damar varnish to obtain a glossy surface if desired, although this is not a necessary step. Casein can also be used as an ingredient in gesso, and is a suitable binder for fresco secco techniques.

Some pigments may require a wetting agent in order to fully disperse within the binder, in which case alcohol may be used.

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PR108

Cadmium Red is a synthetic organic pigment that has been in use since the 1920s. It is formed by heating cadmium sulphide and selenium, the hue is determined by the level of calcination and proportion of selenium. It is very opaque, and lightfast, with a high tinting strength. It absorbs a small amount of oil, and dries very slowly to form a hard, flexible paint film. This shade has been formulated to imitate the bright hue of vermilion.

Larger quantities are available by request.  

Limeproof

Toxicity: C

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Quinacridone Scarlet Pigment (PR209). Organic pigment. Very transparent. High tinting strength. Excellent Lightfastness. High oil absorption with slow drying rate. Requires wetting agent. Suitable for all media. Developed in the 1950's. Toxicity A/B. Learn More

Quinacridone Magenta Pigment (PR122). Organic pigment. Very transparent. High tinting strength. Excellent Lightfastness. High oil absorption with slow drying rate. Requires wetting agent. Suitable for all media. Developed in the 1950's. Toxicity A/B. Learn More

PR83

Alizarin Crimson is a synthetic organic pigment that became available in 1868. It requires a wetting agent to disperse, and in oil it also absorbs a lot of liquid and dries very slowly to form a hard, brittle paint film. It is chemically identical to madder-root pigments and should be protected against UV light where possible as it can fade when applied onto a white ground, although it is less fugitive than its natural counterpart. Alizarin Crimson is a very transparent pigment, with a high tinting strength and slightly blue undertone.  

Toxicity: A/B

Larger quantities are available by request. 

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PR233

Potter's Pink is an artificial mineral pigment produced by roasting tin oxide with various other oxides. It was first discovered in the pottery region of Staffordshire in the late-1700s, and in the following century Winsor & Newton introduced Potter's Pink into their watercolour range under the name "pink colour". It went on to become a popular addition to watercolour palettes, offering an opaque, lightfast colour with a weak tinting strength and a medium level of oil absorption.

Toxicity A

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PR108

Cadmium Brown is a shade of Cadmium Red, a synthetic organic pigment that has been in use since the 1920s. It is formed by heating cadmium sulphide and selenium, the hue is determined by the level of calcination and proportion of selenium. It is very opaque, and lightfast, with a high tinting strength. It absorbs a small amount of oil, and dries very slowly to form a hard, flexible paint film.

Larger quantities are available by request.  

Limeproof

Toxicity: C

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Vermilion Imitation Pigment (PR4, PY1, PW21). Organic pigment. Mixture of Studio Red, Hansa Yellow (Azo) and Blanc Fixe. Semi-transparent. Good tinting strength. Good Lightfastness, but prone to fading when mixed strongly with white . Slow drying rate. Requires wetting agent. Suitable for all media. Used since early 20th Century. Toxicity A. Learn More

Ultramarine Pink Pigment, Toxicity A/B Learn More

Carrageen Moss is a seaweed that is gathered from the Irish coast, whose natural thickening properties are often exploited by the food industry. It is also used as a size in traditional paper marbling, as it allows colours to float and be manipulated on the surface of the water. Learn More

Rosin is the powdered form of colophony, which is a by-product of the distillation of turpentine. Its primary application is to create tonal areas on metal plates as an aquatint resist. It is also an additive in etching grounds, where it gives a hard surface to the otherwise soft wax. Learn More

English Red Light Pigment Learn More

Translucent Red Oxide (PR101). Artificial mineral pigment, hydrated ferric oxides. Transparent and very lightfast. Stable in all media, medium drying rate in oil. Toxicity B. Learn More

Venetian Red Pigment (PR101). Iron oxide and chalk. Semi-transparent and very lightfast. Stable in all media.

Limeproof

Toxicity: B

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Pozzuoli Red is a natural earth pigment that was originally found in the volcanic areas in Pozzuoli, Italy. It was unique for its cement-like setting qualities due to naturally occurring silica. Modern Pozzuoli Red refers to the warm red colour rather than this physical characteristic.

Toxicity: B

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