Search results for 'ground pigment'

This warm earthy yellow is made from the quintessential London ‘stock brick’ of the 18th and 19th centuries. This pigment has a medium grain size and is transparent. Learn More

This soft yellow ochre is sourced from near the ancient woodland of Epping Forest in North London. Given legal status by Henry ll as a Royal hunting ground for the Monarchy this forest has a rich cultural and geological history. This pigment is a fine particle size and is semi-opaque.

Follow @londonpigment on Instagram for an insight into the stories behind the colours and how she makes them. 

NOTE: many of these colours are made in extrmely limited batches so please email us at info@cornelissen.com for further infomation on what is currently availible. 

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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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PB32

Smalt is a kind of cobalt blue glass or frit, and its use as a pigment dates from the 1600s in the glass-making regions of Saxony. We offer two shades, light and dark, which are determined by the particle size of the pigment; the more finely ground the powder, the paler the colour. Before the introduction of Ultramarine Blue, Smalt was available in a wide variety of grades. It is a very transparent pigment, which is easily overwhelmed in mixtures due to its weak tinting strength. It works best in water based media. When ground in oil, it can become almost invisible in dried oil-paint films because its refractive index is so close to that of linseed oil.

Larger quantities are available by request.

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Made from pulverised historic London bricks collected from the foreshore of the Thames near Tower Bridge and Wapping this deep red pigment is essentially a variety of red ochre. During the Victorian era, London Clay was dug up and fired on construction sites to produce the building materials for the city. Red brick pigment has a medium grain size and is opaque. Learn More

PB32

Smalt is a kind of cobalt blue glass or frit, and its use as a pigment dates from the 1600s in the glass-making regions of Saxony. We offer two shades, light and dark, which are determined by the particle size of the pigment; the more finely ground the powder, the paler the colour. Before the introduction of Ultramarine Blue, Smalt was available in a wide variety of grades. It is a very transparent pigment, which is easily overwhelmed in mixtures due to its weak tinting strength. It works best in water based media. When ground in oil, it can become almost invisible in dried oil-paint films because its refractive index is so close to that of linseed oil.

Larger quantities are available by request.

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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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PBk10

Graphite powder is an allotropic form of pure carbon, ground to 200 mesh. It is transparent and lightfast, with a slight sheen. It can be applied directly onto a paper support.

Larger quantities are available by request. This variety of graphite is a naturally occurring material sourced from Sri Lanka.

Toxicity: A/B

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This watercolour paint making set includes a 30ml glass vial of gum Arabic crystals and another of Hampstead Orange, a pigment rich in iron oxide. A pamphlet detailing a a watercolour recipe and an introduction to London pigment is also included. The perfect gift for artists getting into making their own art materials or those interested in handmade British earth colours. The pigment itself has a fine to medium grain size and has been washed, levigated and ground to create a stable high quality artist’s pigment.

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Mars Black makes our Luminescent Watercolors “pop” and also provides an exciting, unexpected background for all your standard watercolour paints. Soft pastels, graphite and watercolour pencils show up beautifully on both the buff and black. *Please note, this product is stored offsite. Please allow extra time for your order to be processed and dispatched. Learn More

Buff Titanium is great for value studies and provides a gorgeous, classic-looking surface for work in neutral grays, earthy reds, black and white. *Please note, this product is stored offsite. Please allow extra time for your order to be processed and dispatched. Learn More

Daniel Smith Watercolour Ground creates a soft, absorbent watercolour surface with a slightly cottony texture that's similar to cold pressed paper. With this breakthrough archival quality ground, you can rescue flawed paintings, create new work on any surface, lift and scrub without damaging the painting surface. *Please note, this product is stored offsite. Please allow extra time for your order to be processed and dispatched. Learn More

Pearl Lustre Pigments 7g. Colour swatch on the left indicates colour on a White Background and Colour on a Black Background on the right. Learn More

Pearl Lustre Pigments 1 kg. Colour swatch on the left indicates colour on a White Background and Colour on a Black Background on the right. Learn More

Pearl Lustre Pigments 100g. Colour swatch on the left indicates colour on a White Background and Colour on a Black Background on the right. Learn More

Cornelissen Glass Mullers are handmade using superior boro silicate laboratory glass, which is 40% harder, more heat resistant, and offers better clarity than soda-lime glass. The base of each muller is ground perfectly flat, and sand-blasted to create a fine tooth to facilitate the grinding of pigments. The tall handle features an ergonomic top, to ease fatigue when grinding large amounts of pigment. Mullers act as flat-bottomed pestles, which are used to grind pigment into a binding medium, suspending it evenly to create a uniform covering of binder around each pigment particle. Using a muller and slab, rather than simply mixing pigment and binder together, will create a more homogenised and stable paint. Use in conjunction with a Cornelissen Glass Slab to make paint efficiently. The sand-blasted texture of the muller and plate helps to push and distribute the pigment throughout the binder quickly. This will mean less grinding, and more painting! Learn More

Roberson Glass Mullers are handmade using high quality-glass. 

Mullers act as flat-bottomed pestles, which are used to grind pigment into a binding medium, suspending it evenly to create a uniform covering of binder around each pigment particle. Using a muller and slab, rather than simply mixing pigment and binder together, will create a more homogenised and stable paint. 

Roberson Glass Mullers are handmade using superior boro silicate laboratory glass, which is 40% harder, more heat resistant, and offers better clarity than soda-lime glass. The base of each muller is ground perfectly flat, and sand-blasted to create a fine tooth to facilitate the grinding of pigments.

Use in conjunction with a Cornelissen Glass Slab to make paint efficiently. The sand-blasted texture of the muller and plate helps to push and distribute the pigment throughout the binder quickly. This will mean less grinding, and more painting! 

NOTE: Sizes may vary slightly as these are handmade products. 

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Alumina Hydrate is an inert pigment with highly absorbent properties, which can be ground into oil paint as an almost colourless extender. It is often used as an additive in commercial oil paints, particularly in conjunction with transparent or lake pigments, as it provides stability and a homogenous consistency without effecting colour or gloss, although it may effect the pigment strength. When combined with linseed oil, it produces an almost transparent painting medium for extending oil colours. Sometimes referred to as Lake Base. Learn More

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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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

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

Colophony is a by-product of the distillation of turpentine. It is soluble in most solvents, but considered an adulterant in varnishes and paints, as it forms a weak surface that is prone to darkening and cracking. It is, however, a key ingredient in wax-based etching grounds, imparting hardness, and can be used in powdered form (rosin) to make aquatints. Learn More

An inert substance with coarse texture and no colouring capability. Use in grounds and to provide tooth to mixed paints. Also used as an adulterant. Can be used for thickening acrylic and oil mediums. Learn More

Volcanic rock in powdered form. Used to provide tooth to grounds. 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

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