Extended playtime
Besides working with gouache and watercolor, I have found something else that seems very interesting to me: painting with cold wax. I already apply a protective layer of beeswax and carnauba wax to my paintings, but you can also paint with that.
The official medium also contains damar resin and, unfortunately, a petroleum-like substance, turpentine or spirit. But! Of course we can also make this ourselves. Beeswax, damar chunks and… yes, I had to do some research on that. Odor-free and odorless turpentine solutions exist, but that is only the smell that is gone, the toxic fumes are still in it, not to mention the use of fossil raw materials and the non-biodegradability.
And there are more brands that have adapted their line ecologically, but I wonder if I can’t just make my cold wax medium more spreadable with linseed oil. For my research I ordered some thinners and oil mediums and the original cold wax medium of Zest-it.
The substrate for oily mediums must also be approached differently. My gesso for gouache probably won’t do, although I will try that of course In my research I read about a surface of among other things hare glue. That hare glue has always held me back from further research, because making the glue was quite laborious: cooking for 6-8 hours at a specific temperature.
But now I have come across a recipe that is much simpler, namely putting it in boiled cooled water for 24 hours and if you want to use it, heat it up in a bain marie. I have now ordered hare glue, as well as damar resin chunks and marble grit. It’s time for a lot of experimentation again.
In the coming weeks I want to explore the following:
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Lightfastness of Creall products
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Home made Cold wax medium with beeswax, damar resin and linseed oil
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Making hare glue as an ingredient for oil ground
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Making oil ground in 2 ways: * with marble grit and casein * with glue water (hare glue), pigment, lime and oil
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Does PVA glue work as a substrate for cold wax?
In short: Playtime!