Deep Blue

We're pretty much settled in, but the problem with any move is that your patterns and habits are disturbed. New patterns emerge and old ones wither away. Case in point; this project. It's taken me until tonight to simply grind some of the lapis lazuli that I bought back in March. But the results are very promising!



I took the tiny grains from the John Garsow purchase and put them into the mortar. Obviously, some of the stuff in there isn't lapis. I took out as many purities as I could before grinding. After making a somewhat coarse grind, I mixed it with walnut oil. It was too coarse to use with a brush, but it might work OK with a palette knife. (see left most sample)





So, I put the remainder of the pigment back in and ground it some more (maybe 3 more minutes) Sure enough, it works fine with a brush. (second to left). It is also a little duller. Art Graham told me cobalt can become grayer when the crystals are crushed too fine. I think a similar thing might be happening here with the lapis. The good news is I can choose the best grind for my painting application instead of relying on a paint maker to do that for me. The bad news is I doubt I'll ever have identical batches!

At any rate, the color is much more vibrant, deeper and darker than the Chilean lapis lazuli that I bought in Canada (right two samples)!

Birthday Blues

More Blue Goodness

Today’s my official birthday! Last weekend, I had a party (see here for blue cake: )

Last Friday, I had even more blue goodness. I was able to take some comp time from work and go to a gem show. http://www.intergem.net/

I bought Lapis Lazuli from three vendors there. Now then, how should I handle money with this project? Most if not all Lapis comes from either Afghanistan or Chile. I doubt I’ll be going to either place in four years. Anyway, the prices are listed with each entry. As always, click on an image for an enlarged view



Here’s a the remaining samples I bought in Canada. It is from Chile. I wetted them so you can more accurately see their color.














Here’s the polished stones I bought from Gems Stones of Africa. They were $5, and as you can see, had a lot of calcite and other non-lapis in them. Still, they’re pretty. I think they also had better grades, but they were more money of course, and since I didn’t need polished rocks, I kept searching. http://www.gems-stones.com















Here’s the start of some either really large buttons, or very garish earrings. I bought these from C&C International for $6 a piece.














Finally, here’s a small number of the pound or so of rocks that I bought from John E Garsow for $70. He & his wife were the most helpful at the show. He had three grades to choose from. I was going to get the highest grade, but when I told him it was to crushed into paint, he told me that I could get some really nice but small stones in the 2nd & 3rd grade bins for much less. I spent about 20 minutes sorting out the best ones, and he threw in a couple more after weighing them (to offset the water & because I bought so many I’d guess). He even gave up his chair so I could spend the time needed sorting without hurting my back. I asked him if he had any other ideas for paint, and he though ‘pristine’ or some type of Magnesium oxide might make a good white. I bought $5 from him, and will post it if the results are good.


Next step, crush & add oil or egg yolk (for tempera paint)!

Looking forward to your opinions on how to deal with money for an art from scratch project. Offset it by doing community service @ minimum wage equivalents? Other ideas?

Ultramarine Blue the Hard Way

I’ve been pretty busy with the project this week. First off, I’ve got a spiffy new Project Status Banner at the top of my blog, for easy reference on how far I’ve come. Also, I’m drying out and prepping the green copper rust from last week (hopefully I’ll be able to make it into a pigment for next entry). The blue clay that I’ve refined is taking a VERY long time to dry. I don’t think it’ll make a good grey pigment, but I might as well run the experiment through its paces.

Lastly, I’ve finally gotten around to grinding and mixing the Lapis Lazuli that I picked up at Mountain Gems in Burnaby. The folks at Mountain Gems were very helpful and friendly. I called ahead before I showed up to see if they had any in stock. Not only did they have some, they also emailed me a link on how to prepare it for paint! Talk about great service.

For those not in the know, Lapis Lazuli is a type of rock that used to be made into a pigment for tempra and oils back in the day. When we discovered a way to make the Ultramarine Blue synthetically, its use as a pigment diminished. This is fine, because it’s a beautiful rock for many other purposes (carving, etc). Note to any stone sculptors and jewelers out there: If you’re doing any Lapis sculpture, please contact me so I can take the unusable chips off your hands! This stuff isn’t cheap!

Here’s the samples I bought, with one small piece already crushed. When crushing, it gives off a distinctive odor (which prompted me to put on my painter’s mask). It smells like a hair salon when someone’s getting a perm!



Here’s a sample of the pigment mixed with walnut oil. Note that it is a bit greyer and duller than the stone. That’s most likely due to one of two things: The impurities in the cheaper Chilean stone is diluting the color, or the act of crushing the stone is making it duller. Art Graham mentioned that this can happen to cobalt blue if you create a dispersion incorrectly. (see factory tour notes)



This final shot shows the difference between my first and second batch. The first batch looked really dull to me, and my guess was that my tools were not clean enough (the copper test rusted my palate knife. I thought I got all the rust off, but looks like I was wrong)