Search results for 'pigments'

PR108

Cadmium Red is a synthetic organic pigment, which has been in use since the 1920s, effectively replacing vermilion. 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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Malachite is a naturally occurring copper carbonate, closely related to Azurite. It has a weak tinting strength, is quite opaque, and works best in aqueous media. Larger sizes available on request. Learn More

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

Precipitate Chalk is fine and white. For use in aqueous mediums as a ground for oil and tempera paintings. 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

PY43 Golden Ochre is a natural earth pigment, somewhat darker than Yellow Ochre. It is a semi-transparent, lightfast pigment, that is stable in all media. It has a medium to slow drying rate in oil, creating a tough, flexible paint film. Toxicity: B Limeproof Learn More

Chrome Yellow Middle Pigment. Toxicity D

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

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English Red Light Pigment Learn More

Topaz Orange Limited Edition 15 ml. is an opaque, richly coloured and sparkling brown orange, produced from the mineral phyllosilicate, one of the hardest naturally occurring minerals. Learn More

Gamboge is a natural tree resin, generally extracted by tapping of Garcinia trees, available as a powder and in the solid "pipe" form. One of the unique features of Pipe Gamboge is that it does not require a binding agent to be used as a paint. Instead, colour can be lifted with a wet brush, as from a watercolour pan. When used as a water colour, it gives a bright transparent golden yellow colour. It is highly transparent, fugitive to light, with a weak tinting strength. The powder can be dissolved in alcohol to colour resin-based varnishes. Gamboge was used from ancient times to dye the clothes and also to make a transparent yellow varnish for the colouring of wood, metals and leather.

Pipe Gamboge is available while stocks last. Larger quantities are available by request.

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PR105

Lead Red is an early articficial pigment that dates back to antiquity. It is created by heating Lead White or Litharge at a constant temperature of 480ºC over a prolonged period of time. It is a fast-drying colour, with good tinting strength and opacity, and has been widely used as an underpaint for gilding and in industry. However, it is highly toxic and generally unstable, so has fallen out of use in favour of Cadmium pigments. The acid in linseed oil causes Lead Red to darken, and it can solidify when stored in a tube. In water-based mediums, it can turn black.

Toxicity: D 

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

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Verdigris is an artificial pigment that dates from antiquity. Originally, it was produced by exposing copper to vinegar; nowadays acetic acid is used. It is acidic, so can contribute to the deterioration of paper supports. For this reason, it is more suited to oil or tempera painting than it is to watercolour. In tempera painting, it should be bound in animal glue or isinglass glue rather than egg york. When used in oil painting it should be held in a resin oil or balsam such as Venice Turpentine, as it can turn brown when ground directly into linseed oil. It is a fast-drying, transparent pigment, with a visible crystalline structure. 

Larger quantities are available by request.

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Imparts textue when added to acrylic mediums and primers. Used in lime mortar. Meets paint pigment specificitions in its fine form. Mesh size: Course (Irregular granules), Medium (16) and Fine (100). Learn More

Gum Sandarac, derived from a coniferous tree, is available in powdered or lump form. It can be dissolved in alcohol to create a varnish that is suitable as an isolating layer in oil painting and as a traditional top coat for egg tempera. It forms a brittle layer, so is only suitable for use on a rigid support. Another application is as a surface preparation for calligraphy; the ground gum can be dusted across a piece of prepared vellum or paper to create a resist, which shrinks ink strokes slightly, making them appear finer, with crisp edges. 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

Gelatine Capsules Learn More

NY13:75640 Stil de Grain is a natural yellow pigment derived from unripe buckthorn berries, which were also once used to produce sap green pigment before the introduction of synthetic alternatives. Stil de Grain may also be known as brown lake, yellow lake, Persian lake, buckthorn lake, Dutch pink, yellow carmine and Italian pink. It has a weak tinting strength, and is very transparent, especially in oil. When mixed with oil, the pigment becomes saturated, darkening considerably in colour and drying very slowly, whereas in a water-based paint it is appears as a warm yellow. It is very fugitive to light, and compatible with all media, except lime. Larger quantities are available by request. Learn More

Cadmium Green is an artificial mineral pigment, a mixture of Cobalt and Cadmium Yellow. It is an opaque, lightfast, slow-drying pigment with a high tinting strength.

Toxicity C

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PB27

Prussian Blue is a synthetic organic pigment that was discovered by the paint maker Diesbach, apparently by accident, in Germany in the early eighteenth century. For many years, it was used not only as a colour in its own right, but also as a component of the original Hooker's Green. The other ingredient, gamboge, is highly fugitive, which is why many watercolours painted with Hooker's green have taken on a bluish tone with with age.  

It is a very transparent and heavily staining colour. It dries quite quickly in oil, and can therefore wrinkly if applied too quickly. It is suitable for use in oils, watercolour, and egg tempera. However, it shouldn't be used in conjunction with alkali substances, such as Lead White or Calcium Carbonate as it can turn brown, so it isn't suitable for fresco. For the same reason, it isn't used with acrylic resin binders due to their alkaline nature, so most paint manufacturers will replace Prussian Blue with a mixture of Phthalo Blue and black in their acrylic ranges. It requires a wetting agent to fully disperse into a binder.

Toxicity: B

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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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Titanium White, or Titanium Doixide, is an artificial mineral pigment introduced in the 1920s. It is valued for its opacity, good lightfastness, and stability in all media. Its high tinting strength can render it a dominant colour in mixtures. It is very slow drying in oil, and creates a somewhat brittle paint film, though more flexible than Zinc White. Its brightness makes it a popular addition to gesso.

Toxicity: B

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NR9 Rose Madder is an alizarin lake pigment made by precipitating dye extracted from madder root onto an inert base. It has largely been replaced by synthetic alizarin pigments, but it is still used as an ingredient in some commercially-available paints. It provides a very transparent pigment, with a weak tinting strength, which can be used in all lime-free media, although it is very slow-drying in oil. It is fugitive to sunlight, so paintings containing Madder should be stored appropriately, but it remains one of the most lightfast plant-based pigments. It requires a wetting agent to aid dispersion. Larger quantities are available by request Learn More

Quinacridone Red Pigment (PV19). 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

Gesso di Bologna is a bright white Calcium Sulphate, or gypsum, from Italy, which can be used as a substitute for whiting in the preparation of gesso. It is ground to a particularly fine powder, which makes it a suitable ground for gilding, as the small size of the particles allows for greater compression when burnishing. 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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A glass slab with wooden cradle for the grinding of pigments.

The friction created between the sand-blasted surfaces of the glass slab and muller facilitates the thorough mixing of pigment and medium, creating a consistent and strong paint body. This slab can be used to manufacture many types of paint including watercolours, egg tempera and oils.

Mulling is of particular importance when making oil paint; simply mixing pigment and oil together using a palette knife will result in an unstable substance with poor plasticity, which contains a large amount of excess oil and unevenly distributed pigment particles. Thorough mulling in a figure-of-eight motion will enable the pigment to be fully combined into the binder, strengthening the resultant paint film.

PLEASE NOTE: The separate glass slabs are in stock but it is a call to order item due to the fact that we cannot guarantee its safe delivery, however well we package it. Please ring us to discuss your delivery options. In combination with the glass frame, delivery is more secure but we still cannot guarantee a delivery without breakage.

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Cadmium Yellow Orange Pigment (PY108) also known as Pyramid Yellow. Organic pigment. Opaque to Semi-opaque. Good tinting strength. Excellent Lightfastness. Medium drying rate. Suitable for all media except Lime-fresco. Toxicity B/C 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