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Oil paint on linen
#1
Hello again,
I'm slowly moving toward finishing my mini-La Tene shield and have decided to face it with linen instead of leather or rawhide.  I'd like to paint it with linseed oil and ochre so it'll be water-resistant, but I've recently read that linseed oil can degrade plant fibers like flax and cotton, which is why painting canvases are sized with glue to prevent the fibers from absorbing oil.  Do you think this is likely to be a problem for a shield facing?  If so, is there any period-appropriate substance other than animal glue that can be used as a sizing?
Dan D'Silva

Far beyond the rising sun
I ride the winds of fate
Prepared to go where my heart belongs,
Back to the past again.

--  Gamma Ray

Well, I'm tough, rough, ready and I'm able
To pick myself up from under this table...

--  Thin Lizzy

Join the Horde! - http://xerxesmillion.blogspot.com/
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#2
Shields were meant to be used in battle. The facing will need repair after every battle and it was further damaged in the field by wear, mud, water, and blood, so it didn't really matter whether linseed oil degraded the fibres. If you want to use the shield for a non-period purpose (e.g. keeping it on display for an extended period of time) then you may need non-period materials.
Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen & Sword Books
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#3
Point taken, but I'm neither in a position to attend reenactment events where I might use a shield more often than every few years, nor repair it if it's heavily damaged when it is used. So I would prefer not to find when I do have the opportunity to take it out that the facing is disintegrating, which would necessitate an almost total rebuild.

If there is no period-appropriate solution, then I might size it with waterproof wood glue.
Dan D'Silva

Far beyond the rising sun
I ride the winds of fate
Prepared to go where my heart belongs,
Back to the past again.

--  Gamma Ray

Well, I'm tough, rough, ready and I'm able
To pick myself up from under this table...

--  Thin Lizzy

Join the Horde! - http://xerxesmillion.blogspot.com/
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#4
(01-17-2021, 04:39 PM)Dan D\Silva Wrote: Point taken, but I'm neither in a position to attend reenactment events where I might use a shield more often than every few years, nor repair it if it's heavily damaged when it is used.  So I would prefer not to find when I do have the opportunity to take it out that the facing is disintegrating, which would necessitate an almost total rebuild.

If there is no period-appropriate solution, then I might size it with waterproof wood glue.

Mostly the Roman Dura oval shields were primed with gesso directly on the wood, the rectangular shield is encaustic wax applied to skin, I think I might be right in saying that the persian gilded wooden scabbards were also prepared with gesso... the only painted shields I've actually seen in the flesh were from Illerup and painted directly on the wood.

Anyway I doubt it would be  a problem canvasses have to survive for a long time I expect its not likely to fall apart very quickly if you use linseed oil direct...

For my combat shields I used thinned PVA worked fine...
Ivor

"And the four bare walls stand on the seashore. a wreck a skeleton a monument of that instability and vicissitude to which all things human are subject. Not a dwelling within sight, and the farm labourer, and curious traveller, are the only persons that ever visit the scene where once so many thousands were congregated." T.Lewin 1867
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#5
I like diluted PVA
Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen & Sword Books
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#6
Thanks. I've got some old-fashioned gesso left from an earlier experiment. It's not very water-resistant but it might work with a solid layer of oil paint on top.
Dan D'Silva

Far beyond the rising sun
I ride the winds of fate
Prepared to go where my heart belongs,
Back to the past again.

--  Gamma Ray

Well, I'm tough, rough, ready and I'm able
To pick myself up from under this table...

--  Thin Lizzy

Join the Horde! - http://xerxesmillion.blogspot.com/
Reply


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