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BRUSHES
These
Unique Fresco brushes made of fine bristle - the only suitable material
capable to withstand alkaline action of the lime are being handcrafted
in Italy by dedicated craftsmen, following the centuries old tradition
and technique.
LIME
PUTTY
Calce
Florentine - Lime
Putty of the highest quality. The only Lime Putty we use in our studio.
This Lime Putty comes from the same resource (pit) is being used on major
fresco restorations in Italy.
PIGMENTS
One
remarkable characteristics of painting on freshly laid plaster is that
the single pigment "goes a long way" and with some practice
gives the painter an infinite array of tone variations and color. Over
80% of vibrant yellows on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are painted
with just yellow ochre.
For your convenience we
assembled two studio tested fresco pigment sets from the historic
palette.
Please note that all of
the pigments in the sets except bianco
san giovani can be ground with distilled water and kept under the
layer of water for future use.
bianco san giovani
must be kept in powdered form. Grind it with distilled water as needed
for your painting day.
more about storing
pigments at
Cafe al Fresco Forums in
"Storing
Pigments" topic
Test pigments the following way -
grind some pigment with water and mix the resulted paste with lime putty.
Leave to sit for a long while (month?). If color changes - do not use it.
However this test is not the
"ultimate test" - time is the best tester!
Here is an example from my studio:
I have about 2LB of the beautiful green - it was manufactured for fresco
in 1930th, the original tin reads "Fine Fresco Pigments" - gift
from a friend, former WPA artist. Guess what? this thing (gp) turns to
ugly yellow almost as you mix it with lime. My explanation would be - some
chemical reactions are very "slow" (read about it somewhere)-
this pigment tested as perfect for fresco 70 years ago, but now formula
became unstable.
So go figure!!!
Pigments you can trust:
Lime White
Cadmium Yellow, light
Yellow Ochre
Raw Sienna
Burnt Sienna
Pezzuole Red
Earth Red, red oxide
Light Red
Venetian Red
Cadmium Red
Raw Umber
Burnt Umber
Terra Verde
Malachite Green
Verdaccio
Veridian
Cobalt Green
Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine
Lapis Lasuly (cost an arm and a leg)
Glass maulers are expensive, traditionally they where substituted with
small polished blocks of marble or granite. You can get those cheaply in
local marble place
To Go Shopping click the
banner below!
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Step by step tutorial on preparation for Fresco.
We will guide You through development of the concept and design,
building composition based on giornatas, calculating the
time and steps, ordering material.
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| Developing of the Cartoon and making tracings. From
concept sketch and color rendering to full scale Cartoon and color
study. Finalizing giornatas layout and making tracings.
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| Wall preparation. Plaster selection and
application. Sand and lime mixtures. Humidity control and
moisture. Tools and equipment. Tips from master-plasterer Ian
Hardwick.
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| Pigment selection and color preparation. Pigment
grinding and storing ground base colors. Use of white and
monitoring mixed colors during painting. Tools and equipment.
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| Painting and joining giornatas. Steps
in painting. Morning, midday, evening differences. "Golden
Hour" and drying challenge. Plaster behaviors and planning of
the painting day.
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| Our Studio Fresco Workshop. Enrolment
information. Pricing and schedule. "Learn Fresco painting
technique first hand" from Ilia Anossov - painter and Ian
Hardwick - plasterer.
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| Materials for Fresco. Where and how to find
and buy fresco supplies. Lime, pigments, brushes, etc. On-line
ordering.
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