Pigment/Paint Compounder
As an Artist and Sign Painter, I have mixed all manner of paints and have sometimes made, say, a bronze paint by combining bronze powder with a mixing varnish. As part of my research concerning the Shroud of Turin (see Sindonologist), I made the pigments and paints discovered thereon (red ocher and vermilion tempera) using medieval methodology.
For instance, I ground up the mineral cinnabar, levigated it (that is, after stirring it in water, I allowed the large particles to settle out and siphoned off the water containing the finer ones), then evaporated that to yield a delicate powder: the pigment vermillion. I combined that with natural collagen ( animal gelatin) to produce a tempera paint.
I have also made other pigments—e.g., red iron oxide, by calcining green vitriol—and combined them with such media as gum arabic (to make watercolor), linseed oil (oil paint), etc. Similarly, I have made various inks (see Ink Scholar).
