|
 The artist needs to have a mortar and pestle.
Gall stone yellow is made from the gall stones of Oxen and pulverized .
The colour men ( suppliers , I think) add gum water.
Terra Sienna is a bright yellow earth, somewhat of a foul greasy
nature-- when burned it is a beautiful colour of yellow, red, brown.
Nottingham Oker is bright yellow earth.
Roman Oker is a reddish yellow earth-- used with gum water
Naples yellow is not in general use by miniaturists. It is a pale gritty yellow, very hard to grind and prepare; it is of a very sickly hue, and has a bad quality.
Of the Blues Ultramarine far excels the others. However, it is often adulterated and mixed with Smalt , finely ground in water and then dried.  To test a bit of Ultramarine, put a bit on a broad knife , hold over a candle without the smoke touching it,-- if pure it will remain brilliant, if adulterated, gray patches will show up.
The best Prussian Blue is dark and brittle.
Smalt is a fine bright blue, inclining to purple but so excessively hard that nothing but an agate flag and muller will sufficiently pulverize it for fine uses.
Indigo;; best is Rock Indigo. The way to check it is to break it;and if it is good, it will have a copperish hue; but if bad it will be of a dead blackish cast.
Verditer-- care must be taken not to put the pencil ( a fine hair brush ,actually) into the mouth as the its "qualities are pernicious."
Antwerp Blue: on breaking it one sees white specks. It appears to be a mixture of Prussian Blue, Verditer, and some white. Suitable only for draperies.
Sap-Green is made from juice of buckthorn berries.
Carmine is a fine bright colour. Various kinds are prepared by
chemists. The deep kind is purer.
Drop Lake is made from the shearings of scarlet cloth.
Chinese vermilion a good, charming red. Difficult to find real Chinese Vermilion. It comes from China in small parcels of fourteen ounces each marked with Chinese characters.
Indian red is a of deep purple cast. Hard and gritty , difficult to prepare. It is bought in the capital colour shops in London ready for use in an impalpable powder.
The Browns seem to require more preparation.
Lamp black is the smoke of burning rosin. A candle marking a plate is best.
King's yellow is a good colour but a rank poison.
Flake white is white lead. Not to be used alone as white for it will turn black. Must be covered with glass.
 One would have to say that the colour for painting miniatures came in chunks. In all, most of the colours had to be ground.
Later there is instruction for painting with wax crayons which are contrasted slightly from crayons with colours in pipe clay.
Then there are water colour crayons. These crayons are water colours mixed with the finest beeswax. These are for drawing.
Beeswax is heated and then pulverized colours are added. The melted wax is then poured into forms to give the shape of sticks to be held in he hand.
Another chapter says that Crayons are to be had in boxes --{like
Crayolas} except effort is made not to have them touch.
Water colours are usually bought ready prepared in shells, in powders at the colour shops.
Gum water for water colours has some sugar in it. A little
coloquintida will help keep it from being spoiled by flies.
 Gold leaf is ground to make Liquid Gold for Vellum Paintings, Fans .It is ground fine, mixed with mercury sublimate, a little dissolved gum temper Liquid silver with glare of Eggs instead of water.
Oil painting : House or picture? Colours are ground and mixed with oil such as linseed oil. I cannot find more on the oil , yet there is a description of grinding oil and Oker together.
What we call brushes are called pencils.Pencils for painting in miniature are not made of camel's hair but of the tips of squirrel's tails
|
The Farington Diary vol. I (internet archives)