In the ’90s there was a plugin for Photoshop that would make tiles with symmetries and tessellations. Unfortunately the company that made it, Xaos Tools, went defunct and the plugin wouldn’t work on newer versions of Photoshop. So, I kept an old version of Photoshop running in an old version of MacOS, either in an…
These are Ternes-Burton style tabs and pins. Although the tabs can be 3D printed, it’s best to cut them from 7.5mil mylar with a Cricut cutter or laser. The holder keeps everything together. I print these for my students. The pins should fit back-to-back snugly into the holder. Your particular printer may make that loose…
This is a stub of a post, to be fleshed out soon. Painting and drawing techniques, common in monotype, can be employed in intaglio prints through offset printing and lift ground technique. For more on the lift ground, see this post. Monotype offset Here we have energetic brushwork monoprinted from the slab, the ink from…
Printmaking is often about reversals – mirror images but also the light line that a scribe makes through a hard ground, eventually printing black. For many, myself included, this is a difficult bit of mental gymnastics. I sought a simpler way to get from drawing to print. While lift grounds may not exactly be simple,…
This glue is used in traditional chalk gesso as well as a sizing layer to control absorbency, provide adhesion, or to separate an organic substrate from acidic oil paint. Soak the powdered glue in water. Many textbooks and recipes will say overnight but I’ve found that modern granulated rabbitskin glue, with its small granules, needs…
Selection of colors is complex and subjective. I’ll offer here a broad and somewhat concise starting point. Here, I am talking about color selection and more specifically, raw dry pigments. Much of the advice here also relates to prepared tubed paint. I would perhaps add that the light fluffy powders of synthetic organic pigments (Quinacridone,…
What you see in the image above is a setup for calibrating a press with or without micrometer gauges. The usual procedure for calibration is to zero out the gauges by taking the roller to the bedplate and then setting the micrometer barrel & thimble to zero. The problem is that the roller isn’t just…
Some pigments may need some help in mulling a workable paint. A higher acid value oil such as Pale Grinder’s Oil is a good start, but if that still doesn’t do the job, a little stearate paste can be used. This is often used in commercial paint to gel the oil which prevents pigment settling,…
Many common materials you might use for panel construction come in 4×8 foot sheets. If you want to get many equally sized pieces, here’s a PDF you can bring with you to a place like Lowe’s or Home Depot.
Mix dry ingredients. Quarter the butter lengthwise, and flour the pieces so they don’t stick together. Cut the butter into tiny pats and toss them into the flour. The butter can also be frozen and grated but I didn’t like the texture of the resulting biscuit. Add buttermilk and mix lightly. Turn this very wet…
1 1/2 cup corn meal*1 cup self rising flour1 teaspoon baking soda2 teaspoons baking powder3 or 4 eggs, depending on size1 stick butter, melted in skillet1 cup of buttermilk1/2 tsp kosher salt if your butter is unsalted Preheat oven 400 degreesMelt butter in skillet, then allow to cool a little.Whisk dry ingredients and wet ingredients…
Gum Arabic is a water soluble sap from the acacia tree. This is the binder for watercolor and gouache paints. We use it also in the fountain solution for polyester plate lithography. Here’s the recipe, thanks to Natural Pigments. 150 grams of gum arabic powder 500 ml distilled water heated to around 140°F a couple…
This is a simple medium to add to tube color in order to bulk up the volume of paint. It also makes the paint more transparent and lowers tinting strength. This can be useful when using colors like the pthalos. The batch makes about 1 litre of medium, perhaps 7 large tubes. This size batch…
Of course this isn’t art related but handy to have around the (outside of) the studio. 1 gallon of white vinegar2 cups of Epsom salt1/2 cup of dish detergent’ This can be put into a spray bottle or a fancy pump version made for the task can be found for around $10.
32oz cold water 1/2 tsp citric acid crystals 1 tbsp gum arabic solution
200 mL Mop & Shine floor polish 100 mL Liquitex Pouring Medium 100 mL Golden Carbon Black Fluid Acrylic 50 mL Water
I use this etchant with aluminum but it is also effective for zinc and steel. When used with aluminum, there is no need for rosin because the metal will effectively aquatint itself. This etchant is based on electro-chemistry and is not corrosive in the sense of traditional etching acids like nitric or hydrochloric. Copper sulfate…
I’ll be adding more here but in the meantime, here’s a list of suppliers for dry pigments. There are thousands of pigments, some safe and suitable and others not. Please consult with me before placing an order. Your health, the longevity of your artwork, and keeping you from spending too much money – all these…
Prehistoric cave painters made pigment in much the same way, without the aid of a DeWalt cordless drill for stirring though. Construction sites often scrape off the topsoil, which is organic matter we’re not interested in, to reveal wonderful colors. You’re likely to see reds, oranges, and yellows – all forms of iron oxide, along…
Egg yolk is a fine binder for pigment, having been used for centuries. The process is fairly simple Egg tempera and casein should be painted onto a rigid surface like a panel. You can prepare that panel traditionally with rabbitskin glue gesso, as described here. You could also mount paper to a panel to provide…
Varnish serves two purposes, protection and rejuvenation of the painting’s surface. Wet paint has a relatively even surface that reflects light consistently. As the painting dries, because of absorption and evaporation, that surface becomes microscopically rougher, scattering light, making the painting look hazy and dull. Varnish evens out that surface, making it look like it…
The term gesso simply refers to chalk, gypsum, or plaster. The term came to be used in the 20th century to describe a primer made from chalk and acrylic polymer emulsion. What follows is a recipe for traditional gesso made with hide glue, used in egg tempera, casein, and even oil painting. Add the marble…
Casein is a paint made from milk protein. It can be used like watercolor or like oil paint in many ways. It’s really easy and cheap to make up in the studio. Here’s a recipe for the binder that you can then mix with dry pigment to make paint. Step one, put these ingredients into…