Pigments Gums & Resins
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Precipitate Chalk
Starting at: £6.30
Precipitate Chalk is fine and white. For use in aqueous mediums as a ground for oil and tempera paintings. Learn More -
French Chalk
Starting at: £5.50
French Chalk is a term commonly used to describe talcum powder and is also known as talc. This grade is very fine magnesium silicate It is sometimes used as a filler in pastels, to make soft sticks that produce velvety marks as it has a soapy like consistency.
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Gesso di Bologna
Starting at: £12.00
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 -
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Fullers Earth
Starting at: £6.30
Fullers Earth is used to remove plant debris and other impurities from cold-pressed linseed oil, as its large particle size and unusual shape attracts unwanted matter and pulls it down, away from the surface of the oil. Our Fullers earth consist sly of Bentonite.
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Whiting
Starting at: £4.00
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 -
Pumice Powder
Starting at: £5.70
Volcanic rock in powdered form. Used to provide tooth to grounds. Learn More -
Marble Dust
Starting at: £4.70
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 -
Gypsum
Starting at: £5.70
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 -
Plaster of Paris
Starting at: £5.50
For moulding when mixed with the same volume of water. Sets quickly and will not shrink. Learn More -
Fumed Silica
Starting at: £13.60
Call to Order
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 -
Alumina Hydrate Light
Starting at: £8.30
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 -
Pearl Lustre Pigments 1 kg
Starting at: £94.00
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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
Starting at: £12.90
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 -
Pearl Lustre Pigments 7g
Starting at: £4.70
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 -
Lapis Lazuli Pigment
Starting at: £10.20
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PB29
Lapis Lazuli is a natural mineral pigment, mined in Afghanistan and South America. For many centuries it was the most reliable blue pigment available, and became particularly significant during the Medieval and Renaissance periods, when its inclusion in a work of art denoted the wealth and status of the patron, or the holiness of a painting's subject. In commercial paint production it has largely been replaced by the more affordable Ultramarine Blue, although it still has a place on modern palettes due to its unique soft violet tone. It is a transparent pigment, with a low tinting strength.
Larger quantities are available by request.
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Smalt Dark Pigment
Starting at: £5.30
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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Smalt Light Pigment
Starting at: £5.20
Call to Order
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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Ivory Black Genuine Pigment
Starting at: £38.00
PBk9
Genuine Ivory Black is produced by burning reclaimed ivory, such as piano keys. These are antique, mainly Victorian pieces, using ivory with started out as hippo or walrus teeth, and offers a higher carbon content and greater tinting strength than modern-day equivalents, which are usually derived from animal bones. It is a particularly slow-drying pigment.
Larger quantities are available by request. While stocks last.
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Verdigris Pigment
Starting at: £4.90
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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Egyptian Blue Pigment
Starting at: £5.90
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 -
Blue Verditer Pigment
Starting at: £7.50
** While stocks last ** Blue Verditer, sometimes referred to as Bremen Blue, is a synthetic form of Azurite, or copper-calcium carbonate. It has a weak tinting strength and is sligtly transparent. It works best in water-based binders, as the acidity of linseed oil can cause discolouration.
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Realgar Pigment
Starting at: £12.75
Realgar, like Orpiment, is sulphide of arsenic, and these two substances are often found in close proximity to each other in nature. Realgar exists in small deposits throughout the world and has been used for its colour since ancient times, although its extreme toxicity means that it has been superseded by cadmiums in modern painting. It is an opaque pigment with poor tinting strength.
Larger quantities are available by request.
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Lead Tin Yellow Dark Pigment
Starting at: £4.80
Lead Tin Yellow Dark Pigment. Larger sizes available. Please ask for quotation. Learn More -
Lead Tin Yellow Light Pigment
Starting at: £4.80
Bright yellow first used in the Middle Ages as a replacement for Orpiment. Suitable for oil based media. Larger sizes available. Please ask for quotation. Learn More -
Synthetic Malachite Pigment
Starting at: £4.20
Synthetic Malachite is an artificial mineral pigment, copper carbonate, chemically based on Malachite. It has a medium tinting strength and good opacity. Larger sizes available on request Learn More -
Genuine Malachite Pigment
Starting at: £14.90
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 -
Azurite Pigment
Starting at: £11.80
PB30
Azurite is a naturally occuring copper carbonate, with a long history within European and Asian painting. It was mined in northern Europe, so was a less expensive source of blue than Lapis Lazuli, which was imported from Afghanistan. Medieval artists would often use Azurite in underpaintings, before applying layers of Lapis Lazuli during later stages of production.
It is best used in aqueous media, as the acidity of oils can cause it to darken in colour, although this can be somewhat counteracted by protecting the pigment particles with a protein such as egg yolk. It has a very low tinting strength, and the particle size tends to be quite large, to give a darker colour. It is sensitive to damp conditions, and is slightly transparent.
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Vermilion Genuine Pigment
Starting at: £17.00
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