Violin Forum/Message Board

[actonern]

I recently began experimenting with some madder lake that I bought from Kermer Pigments in powder form.

The stuff does not seem to disolve in much of anything. How do others prepare it to incorporate into varnish?

[Jeffrey Holmes]

Like many other pigments, lakes are suspended in the medium, not disolved. If you're planning to get into pigments in any serious way, a glass muller or mortar & pestle would be handy to have around.

glass muller
_________________
Jeffrey

http://holmesviolins.com

[actonern]

Jeffrey:

What would you mull the lake in? I thing Rubio used to use walnut oil and then apply the slurry as a glaze to then be overcoated with varnish.

Does that accord with your training?

[Michael Darnton]

Just a tease here, first: grinding stuff--



What you use for the job depends on the pigment. Some come very finely ground, and all you need to do is break up the clumps, and mix the resulting powder completely with the "wet stuff" you're using. For that, the flat-bottom muller on glass is the right and traditional tool. If the pigment is grainy, as many cheaper or home made pigments are, really the right thing to do is to start with mortar and pestle, which grinds much more aggressively and faster. It can take quite a while to grind unground pigments to a usable state.

What you do with the pigment depends on how you think varnishing should go. Traditionally (again) the pigment is mixed with the varnish, resulting in a colored varnish, not layered on with only oil, which is a modern idea used by only a relatively small number of working violin makers, I think.

[actonern]

Thank you Michael! Is it best to aim for the smallest particle sizes or is it possible to overgrind?

[Michael Darnton]

It is possible to overgrind, but I suspect you will get bored and give up before that happens.