Just a quick post this weekend, unfortunately. I discovered a painful but abundant way to create a new pigment completely from scratch. Let's just say that although the ochre color is consistent and was plentiful for me this weekend, I don't think anyone would have been able to handle the odor.
Hope to be feeling better next week,
Troy
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
Llamas Get Skittish Around Shears
On May 12th, Alyssa, Ravenna and I went to Fibrefest International 2007 convention, in peaceful Abbotsford, BC.
Besides learning that I’m allergic to llamas and /or alpacas (which were in abundance), I also had a chance to speak to people at two booths which directly relate to this art project.
The first booth was the Peace Arch Weavers and Spinners Guild. They let me try my hand at one of their looms. Quick lesson here: Weaving by hand is very, very time consuming! But it’s also fun. I talked to them about appropriate material for creating a painting canvas. They were all in agreement that flax (linen) would be the way to go for canvas material, as wool and other animal fur won’t hold the paint as well. The downside to weaving linen, however, is that it has very little stretch compared to other fibers. This means that it’s easier to make errors, creating an irregular canvas surface.
After I told them about my project, they thought idea of one person doing everything from scratch was unprecedented historically. They said that one thing that bound society together was the interdependence of people. In the past, one person would grow the flax, have another rett the flax, another spin it into thread and yarn, and someone else to weave it into canvas. Specializing makes for better products. More importantly to them, specializing helped foster community, as everyone depended on one another for survival. They thought that it would make more sense to barter for goods and services if I wanted to replicate how things used to be done. They have a very valid point, and although I am still planning on doing most of the steps on my own, I think it might be OK to get help from others (someone to man the bellows during smelting?), barter services or goods (I’ll have some nice apples and plums soon, and could barter them for other from scratch items). Besides, my family is already watering my flax for me. For what it’s worth, Dale Chihuly has a whole team of artists who work with him to create his vision: (wiki entry)
And Damien Hirst just hires people to do his art for him. OK, I think that’s going just a little too far.
The second booth I visited was Wild Rose Fibres
Colleen Hovey is the owner, and gave me an impromptu lesson on how to use a drop spindle, to spin fiber into thread. She sells a wide variety of fibres and is a dealer for Kromski Spinning Wheels, shipping throughout Canada and the United States. I was planning on buying some flax from her to learn how to spin fiber as a proof-of-concept for the flax that is growing at my parent’s house. But when I told her about my project, she donated 50 grams to the cause! So, if you are thinking about spinning your own yarn, please visit her website!
I’ll be giving an update on my spinning & weaving results in the coming months. Coming up next, Bamboo gathering. It worked for the Skipper & Gilligan, so why not me?
Besides learning that I’m allergic to llamas and /or alpacas (which were in abundance), I also had a chance to speak to people at two booths which directly relate to this art project.
The first booth was the Peace Arch Weavers and Spinners Guild. They let me try my hand at one of their looms. Quick lesson here: Weaving by hand is very, very time consuming! But it’s also fun. I talked to them about appropriate material for creating a painting canvas. They were all in agreement that flax (linen) would be the way to go for canvas material, as wool and other animal fur won’t hold the paint as well. The downside to weaving linen, however, is that it has very little stretch compared to other fibers. This means that it’s easier to make errors, creating an irregular canvas surface.
After I told them about my project, they thought idea of one person doing everything from scratch was unprecedented historically. They said that one thing that bound society together was the interdependence of people. In the past, one person would grow the flax, have another rett the flax, another spin it into thread and yarn, and someone else to weave it into canvas. Specializing makes for better products. More importantly to them, specializing helped foster community, as everyone depended on one another for survival. They thought that it would make more sense to barter for goods and services if I wanted to replicate how things used to be done. They have a very valid point, and although I am still planning on doing most of the steps on my own, I think it might be OK to get help from others (someone to man the bellows during smelting?), barter services or goods (I’ll have some nice apples and plums soon, and could barter them for other from scratch items). Besides, my family is already watering my flax for me. For what it’s worth, Dale Chihuly has a whole team of artists who work with him to create his vision: (wiki entry)
And Damien Hirst just hires people to do his art for him. OK, I think that’s going just a little too far.
The second booth I visited was Wild Rose Fibres
Colleen Hovey is the owner, and gave me an impromptu lesson on how to use a drop spindle, to spin fiber into thread. She sells a wide variety of fibres and is a dealer for Kromski Spinning Wheels, shipping throughout Canada and the United States. I was planning on buying some flax from her to learn how to spin fiber as a proof-of-concept for the flax that is growing at my parent’s house. But when I told her about my project, she donated 50 grams to the cause! So, if you are thinking about spinning your own yarn, please visit her website!
I’ll be giving an update on my spinning & weaving results in the coming months. Coming up next, Bamboo gathering. It worked for the Skipper & Gilligan, so why not me?
Monday, July 2, 2007
Squaxin Island Tribe Museum Visit
On our way back from Portland (in April… maybe I should start posting twice weekly), we visited the Squaxin Island Tribe Museum Library and Research Center in Shelton, Washington. Driving north on Hwy 101, the road crisscrosses through many tribal reservations.
Although they are considered separate nations from the US, you don’t have to deal with the border crossing wait as you would coming into Canada. (For more basic information on tribal reservations, wikipedia has a good starting point: Tribal Reservations)
At the Museum, I met Charlene Krise, executive director of the museum. When I asked her about traditional paint making techniques, she had a couple of suggestions. The first suggestions was to try baking or firing my parent’s red clay dirt to get even darker colors. Looks like this might expand my palate, and also make for a lot of experiments!
She also mentioned that a number of tribal artists used to use chum (salmon) eggs as the basis of their paint medium. These eggs have a very high oil content. (I think I’ll stick with walnut oil, at least for now).
I spoke with her brother George, one of the artists featured at the museum, and asked him what kind of paint he used on his cedar sculptures. He uses acrylic. To him, it’s the act of creation that is important. He doesn’t feel that native art is any less authentic if modern paints or tools are used. He still has an intimate connection to his art, and it was just as moving to me. As photos were not permitted inside the museum, I encourage you to visit or take a look at their website.
http://www.squaxinisland.org/
http://www.squaxinislandmuseum.org/
Although they are considered separate nations from the US, you don’t have to deal with the border crossing wait as you would coming into Canada. (For more basic information on tribal reservations, wikipedia has a good starting point: Tribal Reservations)
At the Museum, I met Charlene Krise, executive director of the museum. When I asked her about traditional paint making techniques, she had a couple of suggestions. The first suggestions was to try baking or firing my parent’s red clay dirt to get even darker colors. Looks like this might expand my palate, and also make for a lot of experiments!
She also mentioned that a number of tribal artists used to use chum (salmon) eggs as the basis of their paint medium. These eggs have a very high oil content. (I think I’ll stick with walnut oil, at least for now).
I spoke with her brother George, one of the artists featured at the museum, and asked him what kind of paint he used on his cedar sculptures. He uses acrylic. To him, it’s the act of creation that is important. He doesn’t feel that native art is any less authentic if modern paints or tools are used. He still has an intimate connection to his art, and it was just as moving to me. As photos were not permitted inside the museum, I encourage you to visit or take a look at their website.
http://www.squaxinisland.org/
http://www.squaxinislandmuseum.org/
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Canvassing for Linen
Since hemp is not legal to grow in the states and Canada, (although you wouldn’t be able to tell up here), and I don’t want to blatantly break the law on this project (why risk deportation from the Great White North?), I decided to grow flax to convert into linen. I could also use the seeds for linseed oil, but 1), seed and fibers are harvested at different times and 2) I’m hooked on using walnut oil ever since I started using M. Graham paints several years ago. It smells better and my brushes clean up nicely with only walnut oil & soap, saving me the effort of creating turpentine from scratch.
When I was in Colton, I visited K’s Nursery, bought three flax plants for a total of $6, and a bag of potting soil for $2.00. Very helpful and friendly people. Unlike other Nurseries in the region, they sell a lot more than just Christmas tree saplings.
They don’t have a website but follow the link for their contact info.
http://www.specialtynursery.org/members/
Here’s two shots of the plants in April:
I planted them at my parent’s property. Here’s a shot of their condition as of today (thanks sis!). They were moved a bit to make way for a walkway to my parent's new house (thus the different background). My plan for these three plants is to let one be harvested for fiber (for a proof of concept test), and the other two for seed. If I’m lucky, I’ll have enough flax from the seed to make a canvas.
Coming up: My visit to the Squaxin Island Native American Museum, and Fibrefest International 2007
When I was in Colton, I visited K’s Nursery, bought three flax plants for a total of $6, and a bag of potting soil for $2.00. Very helpful and friendly people. Unlike other Nurseries in the region, they sell a lot more than just Christmas tree saplings.
They don’t have a website but follow the link for their contact info.
http://www.specialtynursery.org/members/
Here’s two shots of the plants in April:
I planted them at my parent’s property. Here’s a shot of their condition as of today (thanks sis!). They were moved a bit to make way for a walkway to my parent's new house (thus the different background). My plan for these three plants is to let one be harvested for fiber (for a proof of concept test), and the other two for seed. If I’m lucky, I’ll have enough flax from the seed to make a canvas.
Coming up: My visit to the Squaxin Island Native American Museum, and Fibrefest International 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
We Have Paint! (One color anyway)
When I got back to Vancouver, I did a number of things to my parent’s soil to turn it into paint-ready pigment. (This is just proof of concept, so ignore the modern tools like plastic bowls, sledgehammers, knives, etc)
Sift: This was to remove really large particles.
Slurry: Make mud and let it settle to let the coarse heavy particles settle at the bottom, and finest particles separate to the top.
Drain: Duct tape, it works for everything!
Dry: My own dried out mud puddle. Cool cracks, huh? Looks like almost all the breaks are three lines from a single point.
Separate: Found it was easiest to use a carving knife. The coarse particles came right off, and the silt was harder, and actually carved pretty well. Too bad it’s so fragile, or I could sculpt with it.
Crush: I didn’t use a mortar and pestle this time, but will on my next test batch.
Mix with oil: Used M. Graham Walnut oil, and mixed it with a palate knife for about a half hour or so.
Final paint: Not too bad considering I made it from my parent’s front yard dirt! It’s still a little coarse, as it has the consistency of chocolate icing. I’m going to do a slurry on the fine pigment to see if I can get better results. Still, better than ketchup.
Other ideas with this soil;
I ran magnet I found on a shopping cart (cow magnet being marketed as a kid’s toy) through the pre sifted stuff, and it picked up iron particles! I’m going to try to isolate these, and rust them (maybe keep in water for a while?) to get an iron oxide powder for a really deep red.
Firing the silt may create darker colors. I’ll have to try this sometime too.
Next post: Details on how the canvas is coming.
Sift: This was to remove really large particles.
Slurry: Make mud and let it settle to let the coarse heavy particles settle at the bottom, and finest particles separate to the top.
Drain: Duct tape, it works for everything!
Dry: My own dried out mud puddle. Cool cracks, huh? Looks like almost all the breaks are three lines from a single point.
Separate: Found it was easiest to use a carving knife. The coarse particles came right off, and the silt was harder, and actually carved pretty well. Too bad it’s so fragile, or I could sculpt with it.
Crush: I didn’t use a mortar and pestle this time, but will on my next test batch.
Mix with oil: Used M. Graham Walnut oil, and mixed it with a palate knife for about a half hour or so.
Final paint: Not too bad considering I made it from my parent’s front yard dirt! It’s still a little coarse, as it has the consistency of chocolate icing. I’m going to do a slurry on the fine pigment to see if I can get better results. Still, better than ketchup.
Other ideas with this soil;
I ran magnet I found on a shopping cart (cow magnet being marketed as a kid’s toy) through the pre sifted stuff, and it picked up iron particles! I’m going to try to isolate these, and rust them (maybe keep in water for a while?) to get an iron oxide powder for a really deep red.
Firing the silt may create darker colors. I’ll have to try this sometime too.
Next post: Details on how the canvas is coming.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
M. Graham Factory Tour
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve taken the trip to my parent’s new place in Colton, OR, but I’ve finally been able to catch up with enough things to get back to documenting this project. The most exciting part was when Alyssa and I met Art Graham, owner of M. Graham paints. In addition to some invaluable tips that he had for my project, he also showed me how they made paint, and as luck would have it, they were making my favorite oil color when we visited; Ultramarine Blue.
If you would like to learn more about the best paints I’ve ever used, I’ve devoted an entire page to the visit.
Here are some things I’ll try based off of his advice:
Earth Tone Pigments
Many earth tone pigments are literally that: they come from dirt. Now, the pigments that any professional paint maker would use are going to be a lot more refined and have a much, much higher level of quality control and consistency than I’ll be able to come up with, but it is reassuring to know that I can actually use that beautiful red-clay color from my parent’s property in my work. The suggested way to do this is to filter the earth and remove any inconsistent particles, then crush it repeatedly. Afterwards, mix it with water and let it settle. The finest particles will settle at the top. Skim these off, and repeat the process. When done, I should have a substance about as fine as talcum powder, which can be mixed with the medium.
Black & White Pigments: Am I Willing to Kill an Animal for this Project?
Art mentioned that I might want to try pulverized chicken bones for white pigment. Apparently, the earliest tempura paints were made from egg yolk and ground chicken bones. Also, if I can burn the bones properly, I may also be able to get a really good black from them, too. This brings up a question that I’ve been wrestling with for a while on this project: am I willing to kill an animal for art? I think it will be a lot more justifiable if the rest of the animal is used too, but except for slugs, spiders, flies, mice and a few very unfortunate barnacles, I can’t say that I’ve ever killed anything. It’s funny how something that our race used to do to survive now brings with it such a moral dilemma. I’m going to experiment first on bones from leftovers. That at least delays my decision on black & white tones for a few more weeks.
Walnut Oil Medium
For walnut oil, I could do what Leonardo Da Vinci did: boil the walnuts and skim off the oil.
Green Pigment
Oxidized copper. I’ll see if I can find any copper ore on or near my parent’s place. If it’s off the property, I’ll have to see if someone is willing to trade it for labor, or perhaps something I’m already growing.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Pay Dirt!
For Easter, we visited my family, who had just moved into their new property (40 acres near Oregon City). Most of the property’s soil is a deep red clay. This soil is what reignited the idea of this art project in my mind. I thought that it might make a nice pigment.
As luck would have it, when we visited, my sister’s foundation on her new house was being installed (my sister, her husband and kids live on the same property), and there was a huge mound of dirt from which I took samples.
While I was there, I was able to do a couple of tests on the soil. As I didn’t have time to finish them, I smuggled some back to Canada with me.
But, I was able to create a slurry (i.e. mud) and let the contents settle. There turned out to be a fair amount of silt on this particular sample. The idea is to use the silt as a pigment.
More on this soil and my results up in Canada on the next post!
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