Art Materials (Pigments)

Hello Reader,

In continuation, I received my Earth Pigments order rather quickly (I live just one state away) - I can honestly say I have no complaints. Also, you may have noticed it has been longer than usual since the last post, but I didn't want to bore you with useless info. I thought, better yet, I should use what I ordered and then write.

More than often common sense should tell us that adding a pigment to a medium is going to change its richness and darken that pigment; various mediums will offer differing results. Encaustic is no different and is reminiscent of how much rain changes the depth of colors in the southwestern landscape. I am only mentioning this as a friendly reminder when ordering pigments that unless the seller/distributer relays some kind of visual information on how much their pigments will change when combined with a medium, you must make the educated guess to what it might look like. A few tips on pigments are listed below.

*Remember that the medium will change the richness/darkness of the pigment; think about how things look wet.
*Measure by weight not volume when possible, pigment can settle or become compact among other things and it is difficult to correctly measure by volume; weighing will give you exactly what you need to be successful.
*Ventilate and wear a dust mask or respirator when working with pigments; many pigment are inert (basically like dirt), but others like cobalts and cadmiums can make you sick when improperly handled.
*Encaustic also has a few 'non' compatible pigments. Be sure with any medium that it is compatible- usually the distributor will tell you what is and isn't (Read more about encaustic and Pigments).

Art Materials (Pigments)

Hi Reader,

I made a recent order from The Earth Pigments Company where I purchased (obviously) pigments. I have kept my eyes out on new ways to improve upon this subject; however, it would seem that I am improving upon a lot of subjects lately. I also don't want to get to far off the subject of encaustic; outside of the brief Art Materials posts and the random ramblings on my homepage on the environment and birds. Anyhoo, pigments are important and from what I gather are important to a lot of folks who would like to learn more.

The Earth Pigments Company looks to be one of the easier sites I have visited. Although they do not offer a huge line of colors (many earth tones), they do offer MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on each of their pigments. They also have other info such as recipes and instructions; however, I would like to see them fix their recipe for encaustic- to much temper (if you get my meaning).

Thanks for reading
Jonathan Parks

P.S. I will let you know more when I get them.

Art Materials (Bacteria Fighting Pencils?)

Hey folks,

I was planning on writing about Koh-I-Noor woodless colored pencils; however, perusing their website I found this, http://www.koh-i-noor.cz/stopbacteria/en/introduction. What an idea, since I work somewhere that drool and pencils sometimes gos hand-in-hand, this seems quite amazing.

Needless to say, check it out, and while your at it- look at their woodless pencils.

Thanks for reading
Jonathan Parks