From: Katharine Thayer (kthayer@pacifier.com)
Date: 03/31/03-07:27:55 AM Z
Judy Seigel wrote:
"I made some notes, BTW, on pigments listed as staining in the
literature I
have from W-N, & a couple of other companies... some agree with, some
don't agree with Daniel Smith and/or Hilary Page, most don't agree with
me
-- tho ALL have thalo & quinacridone red as non-staining (as do I)"
I agree that the "staining" pigments don't stain in gum printing if
used in proper proportions, but I find the assertion that these
pigments (specifically thalo (PB15) and quinacridone red (PR 209)) are
nonstaining pigments in and of themselves, to be a curious assertion.
All my sources as well as my personal experience say that these pigments
by themselves have a strong tendency to stain. They are so concentrated
as they come, that they need to be diluted even when used very
intensely. Thalo (PB 15) depending on the paint brand can be very
intense even at surprisingly low concentrations compared to other
pigments.
There seems to be some confusion about how size of granule and the
nature of the compound (organic or inorganic) relate to staining. My
understanding is that the organic pigments (including thalo and
quinacridone red) tend to stain more and also tend to be very fine. The
statement made earlier, attributed to someone from W&N, that the
mineral (earth) pigments stain more because they have larger granules,
is simply inconsistent with my observations and knowledge, and if
someone from W&N said that, that just confirms my opinion of W&N as a
company.
M. Graham has been my favorite paint for years; a good reasonably priced
paint. It's made in Oregon and I didn't realize it was distributed clear
to the east coast; since none of my big catalogs list it I assumed it
was only available regionally.
A couple more thoughts about paint brands, unrelated to the above
discussion: as I've said before, I haven't found that there are
important differences between paint brands as far as how well they work
for gum printing; it's just a matter of learning the printing range for
your particular pigment as formulated by your particular brand. With
that understanding, all brands of artist quality paint are equally
amenable to gum printing, in my experience. The reason I use some brands
and not others is more about personal preference and convenience, than
about technical superiority. I started out using Graham paints because
they were cheap and available locally; I continue to use them because I
know them well. There's something to be said for simply knowing your
materials-- how they handle and how much pigment you need to use; this
becomes second nature after using a particular brand for a time. I also
use Daniel Smith, for pigments that aren't available from Graham,
because DS is also in the northwest and I can order one day and have
delivery the next day.
I don't use Winsor & Newton paints because I think they are overpriced,
for one thing. People sometimes think they are getting a better paint
just because they are paying more; I've seen no evidence in my own
testing that Winsor & Newton paints are superior to the Graham and
Daniel Smith paints, for example. What's more, I find some of W&N's
policies less than consumer-helpful, such as their inflated lighfastness
ratings. Alizarin Crimson (PR 83), for example, is an inherently
fugitive pigment. Anyone who thinks that PR 83 becomes less fugitive
simply because W&N lists it as "moderately durable" is letting
themselves be fooled by a rating system that's designed to make things
look better than they are, rather than to give the consumer useful
information. If you look at a chart of W&N colors, you'll see that B
(moderately durable) is the lowest rating they have; in other words
their B (moderately durable) is equivalent to Daniel Smith's more honest
IV (fugitive) rating for their own alizarin crimson. It's like grade
inflation: just because no one gets a D doesn't mean there aren't any D
students. All the paint manufacturers use the same pigments bought from
the same few pigment purveyors. And while perhaps slight differences in
lightfastness can be achieved by different milling or mixing practices,
you can't escape the inherent characteristics of the pigment. Alizarin
crimson is fugitive no matter what brand you buy; the slight differences
between the brands are immaterial in the light of its fundamental
fugitive nature. So, caveat emptor. I myself prefer brands that give
honest ratings that provide real useful information to the artist,
rather than brands that give ratings that are intended to make that
manufacturer's paints look better than they actually are. My 2cents.
Katharine Thayer
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