Re: pigments and more

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From: Richard Sullivan FRPS (richsul@earthlink.net)
Date: 10/02/01-04:00:27 PM Z


Brahma,

Replies in context:

>There is one thing, though, that I am wondering about. To produce
>ochres, siennas and umbers on a commercial basis, the companies involved
>in this probably cannot take pigment straight from the veins. It would
>become much too expensive. So I have the suspicion that if I get to a
>site where a beautiful pigment is being produced commercially and I get
>access to a vein where the pigment is in its pure state, I could get a
>superior powder pigment. Or?

Could be. I think when it comes to pigments, different is the operable
word. Although you term intensity does have a ring to it.

>Next week I'll be in Sardinia to check out the Sardines and their
>pigments. Maybe I'll find something interesting.

Sardines? You caught me with that one.

>Also, I CAN'T STAND BIG-TIME INDUSTRY! What's the use of all these
>gigantic machines producing day and night while millions of people are
>jobless. I like cottage industry. Less greed. More fun. I don't want a
>robot produce my shoes. I want a guy doing that, a guy who LIKES making
>shoes, a guy who's proud of being a good shoemaker. Back to a society
>that's based on agriculture I say! Hold it, hold it. We're getting
>OT....

Good point that is if you can afford good handmade shoes. maybe in EU you
can get them but here they are e x p e n s i v e ! I get my tennies at
remaindered at Walmart.

> > Ever seen a Hegman gauge or know if you can buy one cheap? This is the
> > tool used to measure pigment grain size. I've never seen one but I've
> > seen the nice mahogany boxes they come in which leads me to think
> > they're not cheap.

>Must be that block of steel with a gauged groove that gets thinner and
>thinner. You put the pigment in the groove, use a scraper, and where you
>start seeing marks from the pigment, that spot indicates the size of the
>largest particle. Yes, they seem quite expensive.

Yup, that's the puppy.

> > http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/Technical_papers/gum_arabic.htm
>
>Very interesting. Is your gum from Sudan? BTW, did you know that the gum
>you sell is much faster than Winsor&Newton's and Schmincke's?

I doubt anything is coming out of Sudan but some form of terror. Sort of an
anarchic state like Somalia I think.

Ours is a food grade gum. We mix it ourselves. messy and time consuming. We
also have a commercial grade liquid that Livick recommended. Meridel
Rubenstein uses our liq from powder too.

> > Your story is fascinating and I'd like to share it on my web site. Can
> > I put it up?
>
>Of course.
>
> > Would you care to expand on it?
>
>I've got a hundred things to do before I head for Sardinia, so there's
>not much time for expansion. But you know what would interest me? I'd
>like to find a way to make Green Earth pigments darker. The print I've
>made the other day with a blue-green Cyprian green earth powder pigment
>(OD'd the pigment brutally) came out very nice, but I'd still like to
>have it darker. Any idea? Maybe one can burn it???

Try burning it couldn't hurt. You're way ahead of me on this pigment thing.
Maybe a cottage industry brewing here? Need a retailer?

Cheers.

--Dick Sullivan

>Greetings
>
>Brahma


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