Powder Paint Preperation & Software Suggestions

Powder Paint Preperation & App Tips

There are numerous actions in using powder paints/earth pigments to paint rawhide:

Paint & Sizing Planning
Creating Brushes
Painting the conceal
Utility of Fixative (Sizing)
Paint & Sizing Preparation
Powdered paint pigments have been made from a assortment of crushed native rocks and mineral deposits and were utilized from the earliest times for painting rawhide and buckskin. They also have been stocked frequently in numerous early trading posts. Buckskin was frequently painted by merely rubbing in dry powder, but, for rawhide, powdered pigment was normally combined with cover glue for sizing. This resolution can also be applied to paint tanned hides, but a somewhat thinner answer ought to be employed. (See resolution mixing under.

Outlined below are the paint supplies that are necessary:

Powdered paint or earth pigment
Fixative/Sizing
Alternatives:

The painting instructions beneath refer to the use of either powdered or liquid disguise glue.
A good substitute for powdered disguise glue is Knox gelatin, discovered at most supermarkets. Knox gelatin is purified conceal glue.

An additional conventional sizing is prickly pear cactus juice
Bone or wood "paintbrushes" or very stiff artist's brushes
A number of little containers for mixing paint and sizing

Just before mixing paint with fixative, the earth pigment ought to be ground to a extremely high-quality powder, then sifted via a good sieve to eliminate any noticeable particles. When creating the paint answer, do not make quite very much at 1 time. A small paint goes a extended way, and it is greatest to experiment at initial right up until understanding what functions greatest. Various colours can be combined together in order to acquire the exact shade desired. For instance, a little black combined with red will make the characteristic dark brown utilized for outlines, even though a small yellow combined with blue makes green. Sometimes, a drop of black can be additional to the green for a a bit different shade, and so on.

Notice: A common misconception is that the painting on parfleches need to have a watery, washed-out appear. This comes from observing museum specimens whose shades have faded around time. Whilst the paint need to not be "electric", it should be reasonably saturated and bright.

Sizing Consistency - For painting tanned buckskin, the sizing resolution ought to not be sticky but also really should not feel very like plain drinking water, being only extremely somewhat sticky when felt with the fingers. This will aid preserve the layout effectively uninteresting, as a shiny, contemporary-paint appear is to be avoided.

A bit heavier glue answer is preferred when painting rawhide pieces, thus giving the paint a lot more of the characteristic shine. Experiment with diverse consistencies on scrap rawhide right up until you locate your preference. A excellent place to begin is with a answer that offers a tiny bit of sticky tension to your pores and skin as you attempt to separate your fingers.

Make up some liquid sizing by adding a tiny quantity of liquid or powdered disguise glue to warm water. Experiment right up until you've extra adequate conceal glue to make the blend just a small syrupy, then skinny this blend with a small a lot more warm h2o right up until watery, not syrupy. Then, in a separate container, mix one portion powdered pigment paint with 2 parts of this liquid cover glue and a single aspect 100% clear aloe vera gel (offered in shops below "skin care products").

Check this combination on a dampened item of your parfleche. If it sits on leading of the rawhide and doesn't soak in, then slim the combination with aloe and much more of the watery glue answer. If it soaks in and bleeds, then thicken the blend with a lot more powder paint. The ideal paint combination will soak into the rawhide with no bleeding. The identical holds true for painting tanned hides. The solution really should not sit on prime of the leather, but ought to also not bleed following it soaks in.

Brushes - Earth pigment paint was traditionally applied by a piece of bone fashioned into a "brush". An alternative to bone was a wooden stylus. Both are straightforward to make, but the bone holds a lot more paint. The bone "brush" is truly a stylus created from a really porous section of bone. The stop joints of prolonged bones or items of rib are ideal. Use a saw to lower off sections from completely cleaned bones. Cook greasy bones for a brief time in really hot water to take away the fat. (Do not boil.) Use a belt sander or huge file to make a beveled finish on the most porous aspect of the bone. This conclusion might be �½" to 1" wide and ought to be one/16" to 1/8" thick. (These dimensions are not essential.) Make at least a single brush with a very slender edge to be utilized for design outlining.

A wooden brush is also simple to make. Minimize a picket dowel, such as a 6" extended piece of dried, cured tree branch, about three/8" - �½" in diameter. Willow is simple to discover and operates well. Get rid of the bark from the stick. Reduce a lengthy bevel (roughly 30 degrees) on the greater end of the stick. This is your concluded brush. Because this "brush" is not specifically porous, it will maintain very much less paint than the bone brush, and thereby demands frequent dipping.

Painting the Hide - You can paint the conceal even though it is nevertheless on the body, but it must be lightly hydrated. If a conceal is not stretched, then parfleches will warp if painted although moist, then allowed to dry. The trick is to stretch the drenched disguise, let it partially dry, paint it, then allow it to entirely dry. Particulars are as follows:

For the huge, flat folded parfleches, initial, eliminate the dried conceal from the stretching frame and minimize out the disguise in the common define of the parfleche but with extra conceal around all edges. Partially rehydrate the cover by dipping it in a tub. When fairly moist - but not soaked - stake out or re-stretch the conceal in a body. When it is nearly dry (just barely damp), paint it (as beneath), then let it to dry. Once fully dry, unstake the conceal and minimize out the actual shape of the parfleche.

For smaller parfleche articles, minimize out a item of rawhide greater in all dimensions than the expected finished product. Nail it to a item of 3/4" plywood to hold it in location even though painting but stretch it only extremely a bit. This will also maintain it from warping when it dries.

Paint is to be utilized to the flesh side. If the location to be painted has dried out, it really should be barely dampened with a sponge or cloth. If it is extremely moist, the paint will bleed.

Painting really should be completed with a really stiff brush, wood stick or bone brush in order to get the correct impact, and the paint really should be rubbed into the conceal throughout its app. Some old items really have an incised appearance from this procedure. Be aware that, in previous parfleches, the various paint colors do not touch. In a triangle style, for instance, the outline of the triangle is initial painted. Then the fill shade is additional to the inside of the triangle, but the fill colour only comes close to - but does not touch -the triangle define. This prevents colour bleeding.

Fixative App - The use of "sizing" (also referred to as fixative) is the exact same as applying a skinny, clear varnish around a completed contemporary painting on canvas. Sizing really should be used although the parfleche is nonetheless tacked out or stretched.

When the whole parfleche has been painted, the next step also needs a moist surface. For a tiny parfleche, the surface may possibly still be damp. But if the complete item or any component of it has dried, it ought to be frivolously rehydrated. Take a moist (not wet) rag or outdated towel and lay it above the hide. Do NOT rub the rag into the disguise but, rather, lay it down gently more than the painted location. Enable the disguise to absorb some of the moisture for just a couple of minutes. The idea is to make the cover damp but not so damp that the paint will smear.

When damp, the surface area need to be gently coated with a light layer of thinned conceal glue, aloe vera gel, or prickly pear juice. The sizing answer ought to be a tiny thicker than the paint and cover blend described over, but it really should nonetheless be skinny sufficient so that if flows on very simply. Practice on a item of scrap rawhide right up until you get a satisfactory resolution blend. (Observe: The hide glue, when dried, may possibly produce a yellowish cast on the ended cover.) Use extended, gentle strokes, and do not go again around your function (to stay away from smearing the paint).

Allow to dry. If you deem it needed, a 2nd coat of fixative can be utilized more than the 1st. The conceal does not have to be re-dampened for this second coat. But, once more, use lengthy strokes and do not go back again more than the function.

As a substitute of making use of cover glue fixative, painted parfleche may possibly be coated with a uninteresting finish spray varnish or artist's fixative. This performs fairly properly in humid parts of the country where conventional sizings can remain tacky for some time right after utility. Though the use of industrial items is not conventional, it does give satisfactory outcomes.

Observe: Some parfleche makers actually coat the whole parfleche surface area with fixative Before they apply the painted designs, then apply yet another coat of fixative more than the style. You may possibly wish to experiment with this variation in technique to see if you prefer the final "look" of the style and design work.

Finishing the Parfleche- Following the rawhide totally dries, eliminate the tacks holding it to the board and minimize out the concluded form. Rawhide can be lower with tin snips, heavy leather shears, or even a hand-held electric jigsaw.

Holes will be required for lacing up sides or tying a flap cover in area. Ideally, holes ought to be burned. Tiny, industrial soldering irons with pointed suggestions perform effectively for this and are accessible in hobby shops or hardware merchants. Or you may well choose to use a big, heated nail held with a pair of pliers or vise grips. Burning the gap seals the hole edges and assists stop lacing from tearing the hole. Tiny holes produced with an unheated awl can be used for sinew-sewing the sides of an envelope.

Make all the holes, then attach the laces. Your parfleche is now concluded and ready for use.

Further Assets - Just as there are several tanning methods among Native Americans, there is an practically endless number of "tricks of the trade" for generating and painting parfleches. The data above will aid get you started, but we also suggest that you experiment on your personal, speak to others who do parfleche function, and seek out written sources this kind of as the following:

The American Indian Parfleche: A Tradition of Abstract Painting by Gaylord Torrence, Univeristy of Washington Press in association with the Des Moines Artwork Center. 1994. ISBN -205-07333-one.

Indian Rawhide: An American Folk Art by Mable Morrow, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. 1982. ISBN -8061-1637-4.
© 2005 Crazy Crow Trading Post Revised 3/8/06

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