RomanArmyTalk

Can anyone recommend me good supplier of pigments for making paints ? I cant find in my country anything in this matter.

I would like to paint my scutum .. finally, but I have still no experience in making paints in ancient way.

"Period" paints for Romans are typically either casein (milk based) or encaustic (hot wax). A single US source for both is Sinopia in San Francisco
[url:3jut7cl8]http://www.sinopia.com[/url]
There must be others in other countries, but I haven't looked for them. Commercial milk paint in the US is either the Old Milk Paint Company (dry mixes) or Shiva (tubes).
Sinopia also sells all sorts of European pigments, which you can mix with the Old Milk Paint company base or white casein, for a huge variety of colors.

The best supplier of pigments for historical work I know of is Kremer Pigmente from Aichstetten. They specialise in museum and restoration supplies and they do online sales.


http://www.kremer-pigmente.com/

Be advised, though, that while excellent, they are pricey, and unless you absolutely need a specific pigment only they have (they have white lead, cinnabar, Egyptian blue, azurite, genuine ultramarine and real verdigris, among other things) you may save money buying at a local art supply shop. Just be sure you get 'the real thing'.

Volker

Thanks a lot for your help. I am starting to study this subject
I see that pigments are extremly expensive, maybe I can find some minerals to make them cheaper from Russia. They have everything

I am just thinking, if roman painted theirs shields in such way like in medieval ages and then in renessaice too ..
I mean that on the wood layer, and fabric layer (or skin) was PLASTER LAYER .. and then paint layer .

Do we have any evidance for it from ancient times ?

Quote:Thanks a lot for your help. I am starting to study this subject
I see that pigments are extremly expensive, maybe I can find some minerals to make them cheaper from Russia. They have everything

I would advise againsat trying to make the yourself. Grinding to the required fineness is incredibly time-consuming, and buying a pigment mill will offset any savings you make for a long time. Kremer is pricy, but I would suggest trying a more downmarket art supplier. In Germany, boesner sells pigments of good quality at something like EUR 3-7 per 250g jar and I can't imagine prices being higher in Poland. You won't get the full range, but modern artists still use red and yellow ochre, hematite (iron oxide red), caput mortuum, lampblack and green earth, ultramarine is synthetic, but almost indistinguishable from real lapis lazuli without a lab analysis, and you can use chrome oxuide green as a substitute for verdigris and tin sulfide or titanium dioxide for white lead. None of these should break the bank. If you know an artist or art teacher, ask them about their sources.

Quote:was PLASTER LAYER

Cacaius, check out this thread. Dan Peterson thinks so, others don't.

[url:ejdlmpfa]http://www.romanarmy.nl/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=3172[/url]

Cheers.