If you go in the woods today, you'd better go in disguise

The family and I headed down to Veneta, Oregon, to attend the Oregon Country Fair recently. If you’ve never been, it could be best described as “Woodstock in an Ewok Forest” And thank God for the shade of the trees. That weekend was hot! Without them we would have been goners. Instead of staying at a hotel and taking a bus in each day, we decided to camp on some farmland near the fair with friends. A number of farms offer campsites, but we settled on Darling’s Reunion. This would have been a wonderful choice if I was single, in my 20s and didn’t need any sleep. Still, it was a great experience. And having camped at the Fair, Zumwalt park, and Darling’s, I can say that this is the best place to go for a great party. There were a number of vendors at Darling’s Reunion, and some of them had some nice gems for sale. The most prolific gem dealer there was form the Pink Bus. I picked up some Peacock Ore and will see if I can make it into pigment.





I also got two pieces of either turquoise or variscite from another vendor (kind of easy to mix-up).




There was also a really nice piece of malachite at another vendor’s table for a good price, but I was out of money, and there weren’t any ATMs nearby. *sigh* I might have to stick with copper and vinegar for green.

My Dealer was Back in Town...

I got a flyer & a phone call from John Garsow, letting me know that the Gem show would be coming back to Seattle in June 27th-29. I took my daughter with me. What I didn’t realize was that it was the same date as Seattle’s Gay Pride parade & Festival, ending in the same location So, traffic was almost as bad as the parking, but she really enjoyed seeing all the people dance on such a hot day at the water fountain. She’s not even four, and she’s already been to a Democratic Caucus, the Oregon Country Fair & a gay pride festival. I think this is wonderful, but now I’m pretty sure this website will be flagged by some church group as a prime example of how the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Anyway, below are some pictures of things I picked up from John at the show. I know for certain that the blue rock is Azurite.





I think the white one is Brookite (which contains titanium oxide) or Barite and I *think* the green stone is Variscite. This is what happens when I bring my daughter places. I get distracted and end up buying things without getting the facts. I’ll add an addendum to this entry once I confirm the exact nature of these rocks.







Of course, the reason I’m getting all these rocks is to crush them and turn them into paint. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Next Entry on Monday, August 4th!

Two Pigment Tests in one day!

I felt especially productive this weekend, and Ravenna wanted to hang out with me in the garage, so I tried two new pigment tests. Both additions have made it into the header. Hey, anyone out there know how to make this header an image map using Google's Blogger? I'd really love to have each color link to their respective entries!

Pristine




First up is what I *think* is called ‘Pristine’. I got it from John Garsow when I bought a bunch of Lapis Lazuli from him. We were hoping it would make an OK white. I think it is some sort of magnesium oxide, but I couldn’t find anything on the web about it recently. I’ll send an update if I do. In the meantime, please comment if you recognize this rock/stone/mineral/thing.









The rock looks fairly white, with possibly a little rust or dirt on the outside. The powder looks great. However, when I mixed it with walnut oil, I got a light and somewhat grey. I’m thinking the grey came from one of four possible sources.

1. The impurities in the rock


2. The impurities from my mixing board


3. A chemical reaction with the walnut oil (I can test this by trying this pigment out with a different medium)


4. Some sort of reaction with my palette knife metal (I can try something else to
   mix the pigment & the medium together)

It’s not very opaque, so I think I’m going to keep looking for a better white (maybe go back to eggshells? I don’t know)


Jasper



Second up is some Jasper that I got on Saturday. I picked it up, along with a bunch of other gemstones from Scratchpatch. This is a place in Seattle that encourages you to come by, and sit in and examine a bunch of gemstones. You can then pick out the ones you like, and pay for them by the bag full. Ravenna and I went there, and we both got a medium bag of assorted rocks, for $8 a piece. It was really fun to take our shoes off and sit on a bunch of pretty tumbled rocks! I liked how they felt on my feet and legs. So next time you’re in Seattle, stop by there and try it out. Science, Art & More is about a block away, so make a day of it!










Jasper is mostly silica and impurities (in this case iron(III) ). It crushed fairly easily with pliers & a sledge hammer, and will probably crush well with a big rock, once I decide to make a production run (not using any modern tools)












I was a little worried that it wouldn’t mix with walnut oil very well, because of how it handled at first. It seemed to repel the oil. But once I started mixing it, it seemed to hold the oil fairly well. Sidenote: It’s amazing how each paint handles so completely differently from each other. I know my pigment particle sizes are really big compared to consumer paints, but it still never ceases to amaze me how different they behave and feel. This pigment is the reddest material that I’ve found so far, although my parent’s burnt soil comes close (not as pure of a red).

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)