Term Watercolor(French aquarelle, English painting in water colors, Italian aquarelle or aqua-tento, German Wasserfarbengemalde, Aquarellmalerei; from Latin aqua - water) has several meanings.
Firstly, it means painting with special water-soluble (i.e. freely soluble in ordinary water) paints. And in in this case It is customary to talk about the watercolor technique (i.e., a certain creative process in the fine arts).
Secondly, it is used, in fact, to directly designate the water-soluble (watercolor) paints themselves. When dissolved in water, they form a transparent aqueous suspension of fine pigment, which is part of the paint base, thanks to which it is possible to create a unique effect of lightness, airiness and subtle color transitions.
And finally, thirdly, this is how the work itself is called, done using this technique with watercolors. Their distinctive features consist mainly in the transparency of the thinnest layer of paint remaining on the paper after the water has dried. In this case, white is not used, since its role is played by white paper, visible through the paint layer or not painted over at all.
In all the variety of existing paints, watercolors are rightfully considered to be one of the most ancient and beloved by artists of various schools and directions.
Scientists know examples of works done in watercolors that are contemporary with Egyptian papyrus and hieroglyphs. IN Byzantine art Church liturgical books were decorated with watercolors. Later it was used for coloring drawings and underpainting on boards. Renaissance masters used watercolors to make sketches for their easel and fresco works. Many drawings, shaded in pencil and then painted with watercolors, have survived to this day. Among them are the works of such great artists as Rubens, Raphael, Van Ostade, Lessuer and others.
Due to their relative ease of use and relative availability, watercolor paints have become very widely used in the fine arts.
Composition of watercolor paints.
The basis of the composition of watercolor paints is finely ground pigment to which a small amount of various glues of plant origin (gum arabic, dextrin, tragacanthum, cherry glue, etc.) is added as a binder. The composition also includes, in certain proportions, honey (or sugar, glycerin), wax, some types of resins (mainly balsam resins), thanks to the addition of which paints acquire hardness, softness, plasticity, as well as other necessary qualities.
As a rule, watercolors can be hard - in the form of tiles, placed in special small containers (cuvettes) or soft - in tubes.
Russian manufacturers of watercolor paints
Of the largest and most famous manufacturers of watercolor paints in Russia currently existing, it is necessary to highlight two. These are Moscow OJSC Gamma and St. Petersburg ZKH Nevskaya Palitra. Both companies produce high-quality paint, both for professional artists, and for amateurs, students, schoolchildren.
The best quality watercolors among Gamma products can be called the Studio series (available both in cuvettes, 2.5 ml., and in tubes, 9 ml.).
At the Nevskaya Palitra there is no doubt the best watercolor is the “White Nights” series (also available in cuvettes, 2.5 ml. and in tubes, 18 ml.). Personally, I prefer to work with these paints (I mainly use cuvettes), but each artist, naturally, has his own tastes and preferences.
In addition to “White Nights,” the Nevskaya Palitra ZKH produces watercolors from the “Sonnet” and “Ladoga” series, but both are noticeably inferior to the first.
As an example, I will give samples of the full palette (painting) of the Moscow “Studio” and St. Petersburg “White Nights”.
Watercolor painting by JSC Gamma (material taken from the Gamma website)
Coloring of Watercolors of ZKH "Nevskaya Palitra" (material taken from the site "Nevskaya Palitra")
In addition, ZKH "Nevskaya Palitra" also produces a series of paints "Sonnet". Their quality is slightly worse than the above-mentioned watercolors, and the palette is not as rich, but they are cheaper.
Foreign manufacturers of watercolor paints
Many world-famous foreign companies producing artistic paints produce watercolors. As a rule, each company presents its products in two lines. Usually one of them is expensive, high-quality watercolor paints made from natural pigments for professional artists. This palette contains large number colors and shades, and the paints themselves are very durable and lightfast. The other line is intended for students, students, and art lovers. These paints can be made on the basis of synthetic substitutes; their characteristics are close to natural paints, but they are still inferior in quality, making them much cheaper and more accessible. They are less durable and lightfast. The palette contains a correspondingly smaller number of colors (shades).
Dutch watercolors
The most famous manufacturer of watercolor paints in Holland is the Old Holland company, which dates back to the mid-17th century. Her watercolors are represented by a rich palette of 160 colors.
Another, no less famous, watercolor manufacturer is the Royal Talens company, founded in 1899. Its products are on modern market represented by two lines:
"Rembrandt" (80 color palette)
"Van Gogh" (40 color palette)
English watercolors
One of the famous watercolor manufacturers in England is the Winsor & Newton company, founded in 1832 in London. IN present moment her watercolor is represented by two lines:
"Artists Water Color" (palette of 96 colors)
“Cotman Water Color” (40 color palette)
Another English watercolor manufacturer is Daler-Rowney. Its products are also represented by two lines:
"Artists" Watercolour" (80 color palette)
"Aquafine" (palette of 37 colors)
Italian watercolors
The most famous Italian manufacturer of watercolor paints is the company Maimeri. Currently her watercolors are represented by two lines:
"Maimeri Blu" (palette 72 colors)
"Venezia" (palette of 36 colors)
French watercolors
The famous French manufacturer Pebeo, the company was founded in 1919. Today, its product range includes two lines of watercolor paints:
"Fragonard extra fine watercolour" (palette of 36 colors)
Nowadays, several types of watercolor paints are produced: 1) solid paints, having the form of tiles of various shapes, 2) soft paints contained in earthenware cups, 3) honey paints, sold like tempera and oil paints, in tin tubes, and 4) gouache - liquid paints, enclosed in glass jars.
The binder of all best views watercolor paints use vegetable glue: gum arabica, dextrin, tragacanth and fruit glue (cherry); in addition, honey, glycerin, candy sugar, wax and some resins, mainly resins - balms. The purpose of the latter is to give paints the ability to not wash out so easily upon drying, which is certainly needed by those that contain too much honey, glycerin, etc.
Cheaper varieties of watercolor paints, as well as paints intended not for painting, but for drawings, etc., are included as binder also common wood glue, fish glue and potato molasses.
Due to the low stability of the main binding substances of watercolor, attempts have been made repeatedly to replace them with others that have greater strength; so far, however, nothing noteworthy has been proposed. This kind of innovation includes two types of watercolors: “watercolor fixed by fire” and “watercolor on a sarcocol.” In this case, the binder for paints is wax and resin-gum. Both of these techniques bear little resemblance to watercolor and, as we see, were not successful.
All the beauty and power of watercolor lies in its transparent colors, and therefore it is natural that it needs a special colorful material, which either by its nature would already best meet the needs of watercolor, or became such after a certain processing. Since even paints that are opaque in their essence, when finely ground, obtain a certain degree of transparency, one of the most important conditions when making watercolor paints is their finest grinding.
No method of painting requires such finely ground paints as watercolor; This is why preparing good watercolor paints by hand is not an easy task.
But in addition to fine grinding of paints when making watercolors, it is necessary to observe another, no less important condition- paints must be formulated in such a way that their powder, even when the watercolor is diluted with water, “hangs” in the binder and does not fall out of it. Only under this condition of “hanging” and gradual settling of the paint substance onto the paper is its uniform layout achieved; otherwise, the paint is distributed unevenly, forming dots, spots, etc.
The preparation of good watercolor paints is thus achieved by grinding them as finely as possible and preparing an appropriate binder.
To give some idea of the composition various types watercolor paints, below is given in general outline their description.
Solid tile paints
In the old days, only hard watercolor paints were prepared; nowadays hard paints are intended mainly for drawing work, for completing projects, plans, etc.; among the Germans they are called “Tushfarben”. The highest grade of paints of this type also serves for painting purposes; such, for example, are paints for painting miniatures. The cheapest type of paint is intended for schools and children.
Solid watercolor paints are usually produced in various grades (feine, extrafeine, etc.), and both the selection of paint material and the composition of their binder depend entirely on the type of paint. Cheap binders are more often used here: animal glue that dissolves in cold water, and potato molasses, but they also use gum arabica, tragacanth, honey, etc.
To prepare solid watercolor paints, prepare a binder for them in three types. The most important of them is a solution of gum arabica in combination with candy sugar (in the proportion of 2 parts of gum to 1 part of sugar); in addition, a solution of pure candy in water and, finally, a solution of dextrin are prepared. This is done on the basis that some of the paints, such as bistre, carmine and gum gum, do not require gum arabica at all, and one piece of candy is enough to bind them together; chrome paints, including emerald green, due to gum arabic, become completely insoluble in water over time, and therefore dextrin is used for their preparation. The quantitative ratio between the paint powder and the binder should be such that the sample of the manufactured paint changes as little as possible upon drying. This attitude is best achieved through experience. The paints in the finest powder are mixed with a binder, and then the dough is dried enough so that it can be molded using a metal mold.
Paints in tiles, tablets, etc. should not be brittle or soft. Great content gum arabica in paints makes them very fragile; This fragility disappears if the paints contain, in addition to gum arabica, a sufficient amount of sugar. In the case when the binder of the paints consists mainly of animal glue, the paints, when somewhat damp, wrinkle in the hands.
Chinese ink
Encre de Chine. Tusche. Indian inc. China inc.
This popular paint goes on sale in finished form, that is, combined with a binder. Its preparation is a specialty of China, the birthplace of paint, where it has been manufactured since time immemorial. For a long time, however, it has been manufactured in Europe.
Real Chinese ink is obtained, according to some people, from soot obtained by burning sesame oil, into which is mixed the bark juice of a tree unknown to us, as well as ginger juice and an extract of plants unknown to us. Animal glue is also added here, and the whole mixture is scented with camphor or musk. According to other reports, Chinese ink is made from soot obtained from the oil of pine trees.
From the above it is clear that mascara in China is produced in various ways and from various materials, why the quality of the product is very diverse.
In Europe, mascara is currently being produced good qualities, prepared from soot according to various recipes.
One of the most important conditions for preparing good paint is to finely grind the soot. If the carbon that makes up soot is converted into a colloidal state by mechanical or chemical treatment, then the size of its grains will be smaller than the wavelength of light. In this form it exhibits the greatest coloring power and acquires a red-brown tint. Mascara prepared in this way is able to penetrate the pores of the paper, and after drying it is no longer washed off with water. In China, mascara is crushed mechanically. In Europe, they are used for this purpose. chemical methods, thanks to which it is possible to obtain cheaper colloidal carbon.
In Europe in lately Mascara is prepared mainly in a liquid state, and its binder is a solution of shellac in borax, which, when dried, is insoluble in water. The British call this mascara incom; among the French and Germans it goes by the name liquid Chinese ink.
Mascara is sold in tiles and columns, as well as in liquid form - in bottles. A good ink is one that gives a black tone on paper with a pleasant, slightly brownish, metallic tint, is homogeneous and glassy when fractured, easily dissolves in water without forming sediment in it, dries quickly and does not wash off from the paper when dry, and the edges of its strokes do not spread.
Soft colors
Couleurs moites.
To prepare soft paints, which are much easier to dilute with water than hard paints, the main basic material for the binder is the same gum arabica and dextrin, to which a significant amount of honey is added (for 1 teaspoon of gum to 1 teaspoon of honey). Honey is introduced in its non-crystallizing parts, i.e. in the form of levulose. In addition to honey, or instead of it, glycerin is also used.
The binder for soft watercolor paints is composed in this way: first, honey is purified, mixed with water, which is taken four times more by weight than honey; The resulting foam is removed from the honey, and then the water is evaporated, turning the honey solution into a syrupy liquid. The honey processed in this way is mixed with a solution of gum traganta, which is taken in an amount of 1/3 of the total volume of honey.
Honey paints
The name of the paints already indicates that they should contain honey as part of their binder. The latter indeed forms the bulk of it; gum arabic is a smaller part. But, in addition to honey, this also includes glycerin, which replaces a certain amount of honey, and if you want to reduce the cost of paint, honey is replaced with potato molasses, which does not crystallize.
Paints with a high content of honey and similar substances should, upon drying, be easily dissolved in water and even spread in damp air. To avoid this, Copai balsam is added to the solution of gum arabica and honey, as well as wax or mastic dissolved in essential oils. Resins and wax form an emulsion with a solution of gum arabica and honey; Honey watercolor is thus very similar in the type of composition of its binder to gum arabic tempera.
Copai balsam, wax, etc. are introduced into the watercolor binder in this way: 4 parts of Copai balsam are heated in a porcelain cup and 1 part of mastic resin and 1/4 part of bleached wax are placed in it. Keep this mixture on the fire until everything is completely dissolved in it. Then 5 parts of a thick solution of gum arabica are poured into the resulting solution, and everything is mixed until a uniform mass is obtained, resembling a white ointment and representing an emulsion.
Gouache
The composition of these watercolor paints, enclosed in glass jars, is close to honey paints, but they are liquid and contain more water than honey ones.
The binder of gouache can be identical to watercolor, but it can also be an emulsion. In the latter case, the gouache will have a tempera character, but its colors will lighten when drying much more than is observed in tempera.
Under the name “gouaches for decorative painting” (gouaches pour la décoration artistique), Lefranc’s company launched paints for painting panels, models and similar decorative works. There is no information about the binder of these paints. Most their assortment consists of paints, apparently of coal origin.
The need for this kind of paint among artists is undeniable, since ordinary watercolor and gouache paints are completely unsuitable for the purposes mentioned above.
The binder for decorative gouache can be varied, in any case, it should be cheaper than gum arabic. Here, ordinary carpenter's glue can be used, from which the ability to gel is removed by special treatment, or the same glue mixed with vegetable glue. The best binder for such gouache is wheat starch treated with alkali.
Wheat starch is known to be one of the most valuable species starch. Its composition is more complex than that of potato starch, and the glue obtained from it has good binding ability, which, under certain conditions, lasts for a long time. Thus, glue obtained from wheat starch alone can already serve as a good binder for decorative gouache. It does not darken paints like dextrin and gum arabic, as a result of which they acquire a velvety matte finish, which other binders do not provide.
The recipe for the starch binder will be as follows:
Water for it......................... 1300 - 1350 g.
Paints prepared with this binder apply smoothly and well - they are laid out on paper, primed cardboard, canvas and any matte surface, and they brighten greatly, acquiring a light and sonorous tone.
Colorful materials for decorative gouache can be very diverse: mineral paints and paint-varnishes that do not change from weak alkalis are also suitable here. For paints that suffer from alkalis, the binder is neutralized by hydrochloric acid, which is introduced into the binder immediately after its preparation is completed in small portions with constant stirring. To preserve the glue in this case, 3.5 parts of formalin are added to 100 parts of starch.
For posters and similar paintings, in addition to mineral paints, you can use artificial paints of organic origin that have great sonority, such as: lithol, para-red, geranium varnish, green viridin, violet, blue, yellow varnishes, malachite green, etc. p. If you want to give greater strength to the binder of decorative gouache, you can add wood glue to the starch glue solution. The recipe will change as follows:
Wheat starch......................... 100 g.
Water for it................................... 1400 g.
Caustic soda................................... 7.2 g.
Carpenter's glue................................ 10 g.
With pure wood glue, no special disinfection is required; otherwise, phenol is used.
Watercolor paints Available in porcelain cups and tubes. The production technique for these types of paints is not fundamentally different and basically goes through the following processing stages: 1) mixing the binder with the pigment; 2) grinding the mixture; 3) drying to a viscous consistency; 4) filling cups or tubes with paint; 5) packaging.
To mix pigments with a binder, mechanical mixers with a tilting body are usually used. For small quantities, batches are most often prepared by hand in megalic enamel tanks using wooden spatulas. The binder is loaded into the mixer and the pigment is introduced in small portions in dry form or as an aqueous paste. Grinding of watercolor paints is carried out on three-roller paint grinding machines. Due to the sensitivity of some paints to iron, it is recommended to use rollers made of granite or porphyry, and replace the steel skiving knife with a wooden one.
When grinding on a paint grinding machine, the pigment is thoroughly mixed with the binder into a homogeneous paint paste.
The quality and quantity of grinding depends on the wettability of the pigments, the viscosity of the binder, the degree of grinding and hardness of the pigments, the rotation speed of the shafts and the amount of their clamping.
Coarsely dispersed pigment requires additional grinding, which deteriorates the quality of the paint, contaminating it with materials when the rollers are worn and metal dust from the knife. To eliminate this, it is not recommended to grind the paste more than 4-5 times. To grind watercolor paints, you need to have separate paint grinders for a group of pigments that are more or less similar in shade. One machine is for white paints, another machine is for dark brown and black, a third machine grinds yellow, orange and red, and a fourth machine grinds green, blue and violet.
When switching to grinding another paint, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse and clean the machine shafts.
In the production of watercolor pastes, diluted solutions of binders are usually used, since when using thick solutions during grinding, a homogeneous paint paste is not achieved, and the pigment is not sufficiently saturated with the binder.
The ground paint is sent for drying in order to remove excess moisture and obtain a thick paste for packaging in cups or tubes. The paste is dried in special drying chambers or on granite slabs at a temperature of 35-40° C. After removing part of the water, the thickened paste is rolled into ribbons 1 cm thick, cut into separate square pieces the size of the cuvette area and placed in a cup. The paint is placed on top with a sheet of cellophane and finally wrapped in foil and paper with a label. When producing watercolor paints in tubes, the tubes are filled with paste automatically by tube filling machines.
Watercolor paints in cups are convenient to use; they are easy to take on a brush and retain a semi-dry consistency for a long time. The disadvantage of these paints is that they are easily contaminated with a brush when preparing mixtures; in addition, when performing large works, rubbing paints with a brush in a cup provides little paint material and takes a lot of time.
From a technological point of view, the production of watercolors in cups inevitably involves the introduction of a number of additional operations: manual placement in cups, wrapping in foil, drying the paste, etc.
Paints in tubes are much more convenient: they do not get dirty, they are easily mixed with water without prolonged rubbing and provide a large amount of paint material. You can use less concentrated glue solutions, which makes it possible to better clean gum from foreign mechanical impurities. Watercolor with a thinner consistency is more convenient to grind on paint grinding machines and the paste is easier to pack into tubes.
The disadvantages of paints in tubes include: a tendency to thicken due to drying or the action of pigments (especially those poorly purified from water-soluble salts) on binders, transforming them into an insoluble state and making them unfit for use.
Often the emerald green paste hardens, which almost always contains boric acid, which coagulates gum arabic. To eliminate this drawback, emerald green must be well freed from boric acid and rubbed not with gum arabic, but with dextrin.
Strontian yellow, chromium oxide and chromium yellow also gel due to the interaction of chromic acid salts and dichromates with gum. Dextrin must also be added to the binder of these paints.
Gelatinization is also observed in watercolor paints, which contain finely dispersed pigments with high adsorption capacity, mainly of organic origin, for example, krapplak.
Pigments with a high specific gravity and poorly wetted by the binder sometimes separate from the binder, and the ink paste separates. When the metal of the tube and the pigment interact, the shade of the paint may change. Watercolor painting transparent, clean and bright in tone, which is difficult to achieve through glazing with oil paints. In watercolor it is easier to achieve the finest shades and transitions. Watercolor paints are also used as underpainting for oil painting.
The shade of watercolor paints changes when drying - it becomes lighter. This change occurs from the evaporation of water, due to which the spaces between the pigment particles in the paint are filled with air, the paints reflect light much more. The difference in the refractive indices of air and water causes a change in the color of dried and fresh paint.
Strong dilution of paints with water when applied thinly to paper reduces the amount of binder, and the paint loses its tone and becomes less durable. When applying several layers of watercolor paint to one place, the result is oversaturation with the binder and stains appear. A layer of watercolor paint is applied on top of the drawing on slightly damp paper.
When covering paintings done with watercolors, it is very important that all paints are more or less evenly and in sufficient quantities saturated with a binder.
If individual parts of the paint layer contain an insufficient amount of glue, then the varnish, penetrating into the paint layer, creates a different environment for the pigment, not optically similar to the glue, and will greatly change its color.
When the paints contain a sufficient amount of binder, then when varnished, their intensity and original shine will be restored.
For a uniform and uniform coating, the paper should not be held horizontally, but at a slight angle, so that the paints slowly flow down.
Chapter 14. Pastel, drawing materials and brushes
The word pasta means dough. This is the appearance of the pastel mass before being molded into pencils.
Pastel is a type of drawing done with colored pencils.
At first, mainly sketches for paintings were made with colored pencils, and then at a later time, pastel acquired independent meaning and was used by outstanding artists.
Pastel, in contrast to watercolor, does not have transparent paints, since it is prepared with a very small amount of binder in order to form the pigment into rimless pencil sticks for more convenient rubbing of paint and better adhesion of the powder to the surface.
To prepare pastels, use weak solutions of tragacanth adhesives, gum arabic, dextrin, gelatin, sugar, soap, honey, strongly diluted with emulsion tempera, especially wax, milk, malt decoction, oat glue, etc. Gelatin is used in solutions no higher than 3%.
Gum arabic (above 2%) forms a hard crust on the surface of pencils and makes paints brittle.
The flexibility of paints can be increased by adding honey, candy and glycerin.
Skim milk, weak solutions of soap, honey and highly diluted tempera emulsions are used mainly for kaolin and zinc white pencils due to their very weak astringent force. Oatmeal glue and malt decoction are used for pigments that tend to harden, such as krapplak, Paris blue and cadmium red.
To prepare different pencils, depending on the quality of the pigment, different binders are needed.
Some pigments form dense pencils without a binder. Pencils made with gypsum or kaolin require very little binder. Tracanthus is considered one of the best binders for colored pencils.
Gum tragacanth refers to substances released when certain plants are injured.
Tragant gum is colorless or slightly colored, swells very strongly in water and is used as a binder for many purposes.
Colored pencils are made in three grades: hard, semi-hard and soft, which depends on the properties and quality of the binder and on the admixtures of various substances that give them softness.
Let us list the requirements for colored pencils: color according to the standard; the pencil should not crumble or break; have sufficient light resistance and are easy to shade; adheres well to a primed surface; have an intensely pure color and give the design a matte-velvety appearance; It's easy to write on paper without slipping.
Of the pigments used in pastels, only durable and light-resistant ones are used, i.e., those that are included in oil paints, and finely dispersed ones, as for watercolors.
The following are used as white pigments: kaolin, melted chalk, gypsum, light spar, talc, etc.
Due to the easy changeability of gypsum and kaolin when fixed with fixatives, it is recommended to use them in a mixture with zinc white in a ratio of 1: 1 or 2: 1.
Zinc or titanium white as covering pigments are quite suitable.
The binder for colored pencils usually consists of glue and water and is a solution of weak concentration no higher than 3%.
To prepare the solution, weigh 3 g of tragacanthum and pour it into 100 cm3 of warm water and leave it alone for 8-10 hours.
The contents are then heated until a paste forms.
If the pigment requires a smaller bond, for example, ocher, sienna (containing alumina), then a 3% gum solution is diluted with water by half and three times by volume.
The amount of binder for pigments is established in each individual case experimentally on the basis of preliminary tests, since pigments with the same name often have different properties.
Preparing pencils
The pigment powder is washed with water in a mortar into a stiff dough and then a binder solution is added
The paste is dried a little in the air so that it can be molded into pencils. The dough should not be too dehydrated so that it does not crumble or stick.
The slightly dehydrated dough is rolled out in your hands or between two glasses (pressing too hard is not recommended).
You can also obtain pencils by pressing them in sleeves, as well as in metal tubes.
Often the mass is pressed in the form of a thin “sausage” through the matrix of a screw press; For these purposes, you can easily adapt an ordinary small meat grinder.
The tone scale is obtained by diluting with white fillers.
The pigment in the dough is divided into two parts: one part is the original full tone, filler and glue solution are added to the other half, then mixed and again divided into two parts. This operation is repeated up to 10 times, obtaining pencils of many shades containing various quantities filler.
Some pastel pencils, such as emerald green, glide across the paper; this deficiency is eliminated by adding talc or calcium stearate to the dough.
Dry pencils should be hygroscopic and easily absorb moisture.
If the pencils turn out to be too hard, then they must be crushed again, mixed with water and the binder removed, and then added a little skim milk or a very diluted solution of soap or oatmeal glue.
Pencils are dried on paper at a low temperature of 20-40° C.
Nowadays, several types of watercolor paints are produced:
1) solid paints in the form of tiles of various shapes,
2) soft paints placed in earthenware cups,
3) honey paints, sold, like tempera and oil paints, in tin tubes,
4) gouache - liquid paints placed in glass jars*.
The binder for all the best types of watercolor paints is vegetable glue: gum arabic, dextrin, tragacanth and fruit glue (cherry); in addition, honey, glycerin, candy sugar**, wax and some resins, mainly balsam resins. The purpose of the latter is to give paints the ability to not wash out so easily upon drying, which is certainly needed by those that contain too much honey, glycerin, etc.
Cheaper varieties of watercolor paints, as well as paints intended not for painting, but for drawings, etc., also include ordinary wood glue, fish glue and potato molasses as a binder.
Due to the low stability of the main binding substances of watercolor, attempts have been made repeatedly to replace them with others that have greater strength; so far, however, nothing noteworthy has been proposed. These types of innovations include two types of watercolors: “watercolor fixed by fire” and “watercolor on sarcocole”, proposed by J. Vibert and described by him in his work “La science de la peinture”. In this case, the binder for paints is wax and resin-gum. Both of these techniques bear little resemblance to watercolor and, as we see, were not successful.
All the beauty and power of watercolor lies in its transparent colors, and therefore it is natural that it needs a special colorful material, which either by its nature would already best meet the needs of watercolor, or became such after a certain processing. Since even paints that are opaque in their essence, when finely ground, obtain a certain degree of transparency, one of the most important conditions when making watercolor paints is their finest grinding.
No method of painting requires such finely crushed paints as watercolor *; This is why preparing good watercolor paints by hand is not an easy task. But, in addition to fine grinding of paints, when making watercolors, another, no less important condition must be observed - the paints must be composed in such a way that their powder, when the watercolor is diluted with water most abundantly, “hangs” in the binder and does not fall out of it. Only under this condition of “hanging” and gradual settling of the paint substance onto the paper is its uniform layout achieved; otherwise, the paint is distributed unevenly, forming dots, spots, etc.
The preparation of good watercolor paints is thus achieved by grinding them as finely as possible and preparing an appropriate binder **.
* The particles of finely grated paints here are about 25 microns (0.00025 mm) or less in diameter and are thus in the so-called state of water. "suspension" or "colloidal solution".
**On this basis, ideally composed watercolor paints are a mixture of a colloidal solution inorganic matter(finely ground mineral paint) with colloidal solution organic matter(glue, gum, etc. paint binders).