Types of paints in ancient Greece. Pigments of Western European masters until the end of the 17th century

HISTORY OF PAINT – FROM CAVE TO MODERN FAÇADE

Colors occupy a huge niche in our lives. However, most often we don’t even notice them - our car, motorcycle and bicycle have a colored coating. The floors and walls of our house are painted; on the walls we can hang various landscapes that are boring to us, skillfully made with oil paints; The facade of our house is painted with facade paint and even the fence behind the house is painted by a neighbor’s boy who dreams of becoming a great artist, and with paints from an aerosol can, freely sold around the next corner.
There is such a huge variety of paints and their colors that even a non-specialist can name a dozen of their different names offhand.
Without colors, our world would be gray, so man has always strived to find a way to brighten up reality. In prehistoric times, paints were made from colored clay and powdered minerals. The richer and more complex life became, the more colors were needed to capture it. Apparently, this is why the beginning of human development is judged by ancient painting on the rocks.
The appearance of colors and drawing refers to prehistoric times. Paints were known long before written reports about them appeared. Colorful images on the walls cave dwellings have remained in relatively good condition to this day. Some of them existed as far back as 15,000 BC. Thus, we can consider that the appearance of colorful substances was one of the first discoveries at the dawn of civilization.
Cave dwellers painted on the stones what surrounded them: running animals and hunters with spears. For rock paintings in the Lascaux cave (France), a natural mixture of minerals - ocher (from the Greek ochros - “yellow”) was used as paints. Oxides and hydrates of iron oxides gave the paint a reddish or yellow. Dark shades of paint were obtained by adding black charcoal to ocher. Primitive artists mixed their paints with animal fat so that they would stick better to stone. The color thus obtained for a long time remained sticky and wet, since animal fats do not dry as easily in the air to form a hard film as do modern paints.
Red ocher, similar in color to blood, was used to cover the bodies of the deceased before burial. Now about this ancient tradition reminds us modern name red iron ore - hematite (from the Greek haima - “blood”).
It should be noted, however, that in essence these primitive paints are very similar to modern ones both in composition and in production method. Animal fats, however, are no longer used, but gas soot, similar in composition to ordinary soot, is the most widespread black pigment. Currently, carbon black is subjected to special cleaning and processing in order to give the color greater strength and other properties. Primitive man, when preparing paint, ground the raw materials between flat stones, and today they use three-roll and ball mills for this purpose, i.e., essentially the same thing - they grind the raw materials so that they are simultaneously exposed to impact forces and friction.
Such paints could not be stored for more than one day, since upon contact with air they oxidized and hardened. It was difficult to work with these paints: more dark colors with a high charcoal content dried much more slowly than shades with a high ocher content.
During the Renaissance, each master had his own recipe for diluting paints: some mixed the pigment with egg whites - this is what the Italians Fra Angelico (1387(?)-1455) and Piero della Francesca (c. 1420-1492) did. Others preferred casein (a milk protein already used for frescoes in Roman temples). And the Flemish Jan van Eyck (c.1390-1441) introduced into use oil paints. He learned to apply them in thin layers. This technique best conveyed space, volume and depth of color.
At first, not everything went smoothly with oil paints. Thus, while painting the wall of the refectory of the Milan monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) tried to mix oil paint with tempera (paint based on egg yolk diluted in water). As a result of it" last supper"began to crumble during the master's lifetime...
Some paints remained incredibly expensive for a long time. Ultramarine blue dye was obtained from lapis, which was brought from Iran and Afghanistan. This mineral was so expensive that artists used ultramarine only in exceptional cases, if the customer agreed to pay for the paint in advance.
In 1704, the German chemist Diesbach tried to improve red paint, but instead received blue paint, very similar to ultramarine. It was called "Prussian blue". This pigment was 10 times cheaper than natural ultramarine. In 1802, the Frenchman Louis-Jacques Thénard invented a paint called cobalt blue, which was an even better substitute for ultramarine. And only 24 years later, the chemist Jean-Baptiste Gimet obtained “French ultramarine”, completely similar to natural one. Artificial paints were significantly cheaper than natural ones, but there was one important “but”: they could cause allergies, and often worse health.
In 1870, the International Society of Dyers decided to find out which paints were harmful to health. It turned out that there were “no” ones, except for one: emerald green. It was made from a mixture of vinegar, copper oxide and arsenic. This paint was used to paint the walls of Napoleon's house on the island of St. Helena. Many researchers believe that he died from arsenic vapor poisoning that came from the wallpaper.
Despite the fact that the appearance of paints dates back to prehistoric times, the modern paint industry was created relatively recently. Less than 200 years ago, there were no ready-made paints and the ingredients had to be mixed and ground before use. It happened, however, that the most far-sighted of entrepreneurs realized all the advantages of producing ready-to-use mixtures. This is how the paint and varnish industry was born. However, even after its inception, many people preferred to mix the ingredients themselves to obtain paint, so for many years both ready-made paints and raw materials for them were on sale side by side. Still, ready-made paints took over, and gradually the production of separate oils and pigments ceased.
50 years ago, paint consisted mainly of: pigment or a mixture of pigments, linseed oil in one of the many forms that existed then (linseed oil, polymerized linseed oil) and turpentine as a thinner. Thinner was necessary to bring the paint to the desired consistency. Ready-to-use paints had a similar composition at that time.
Since then, however, much has changed in the composition of paint, and paints have appeared that are more durable and best qualities ensuring easy application with a brush, no brush marks and good flow. Turpentine was largely replaced by other solvents. As for pigments, they are also currently in use. most of those that were used 50 years ago: natural earth pigments of varying degrees of purity and artificially prepared lead white. Over time, this range has been replenished with new products. chemical industry, organic and inorganic.
Previously, there were more poisonous paints: arsenic was included in cinnabar (“yellow gold”), and lead was included in red-orange red lead. Today the palette of artificial colors is very wide. A larger number of pigments are produced artificially and are of inorganic origin - they are more stable and have a constant quality chemical composition, which is very important in mass production. But, oddly enough, the demand for natural pigments not only has not disappeared, but is also gradually growing again (by 5.5% per year); Most likely, this is due to the improvement of production techniques and the transition to more environmentally friendly technologies.
Facade paint occupies a large niche in modern construction. Nowadays, these paints have an incredible palette, all sorts of special qualities and can satisfy every whim.
Rumor has it that for the first time the need to paint the facades of city buildings appeared at the beginning of the last century, when phaetons with internal combustion engines began to appear en masse on the streets of large cities, which added black soot from poorly burning fuel to the city air fragrant with horse manure. . Later they got involved in this “dirty business” industrial enterprises, most often located almost in the center of industrial cities. In the end, the facades of the buildings became so black that they had to be painted instead of washed, as they had done before.
Today, the decoration of the building facade is the final stage construction or reconstruction work. The facade is the face of the building, its business card. Despite the craze of architects for the latest construction and facade systems made of glass and plastic, facade paint still does not give up its finishing positions.
Thanks to modern technologies And the latest materials Currently, there are unlimited possibilities for the design of facades, in particular, for giving any building its individuality (whether it is a new or a renovated building). Defining appearance building, it is necessary to take into account the aesthetic functions performed by the façade covering and ensure that it meets the construction criteria. Properly selected and executed facade coating not only makes the facade beautiful and clean, but also protects it from destructive effects environment During a long time.
A particular danger to plaster and stone substrates comes from water in any state. That is why the most important requirement for any coating is its ability to protect the wall from rainwater and moisture. But at the same time, this coating must provide good diffusion ability for air and water vapor. Decisive criteria for assessing the quality of façade paints are also their good adhesive strength, color stability, light fastness, and resistance to ultraviolet irradiation.
When it comes to finishing the facade, it means not only painting it. This is a whole list of works aimed at creating a beautiful and durable protective coating. To perform them, you need not only paint, but also special putties, primers, and often repair solutions. And only on condition correct selection All of the listed components and the execution of work in compliance with existing technologies ensure the façade a long color life.

In general, paints can be defined as a collection of substances designed to change the color of an object. In a person’s life, colors are found at every step, be it your home or a holiday village. Without even thinking about it, we see the result of the “activity” of paint everywhere: from paintings painted by great artists to painted facades of houses and fences. Any of us, after thinking a little, can name more than ten names of paints used in different areas of life.

The role of paint is difficult to overestimate. Without bright colors the world and objects would be very boring and dull. It is not without reason that people try to imitate nature, creating pure and rich shades. Paints have been known to mankind since primitive times.

Primitive times

Bright minerals attracted our eyes distant ancestors.

It was then that a person figured out how to grind such substances into powder and, by adding some elements, obtain the first paints in history. Colored clay was also used. The more people developed, the greater the need to capture and transmit their knowledge. At first, the walls of caves and rocks, as well as the most primitive paints, were used for this. It is believed that the oldest discovered rock paintings for more than 17 thousand years! At the same time, painting prehistoric people quite well preserved.

Basically, the first paints were made from the ferrous natural mineral ocher. The name has Greek roots.

For light shades They used a pure substance; to obtain darker ones, black charcoal was added to the mixture. All solids were ground by hand between two flat stones. Next, the paint was mixed directly with animal fats. Such paints applied well to the stone and did not dry out for a long time due to the peculiarity of the interaction of fat with air. The resulting coating, as mentioned earlier, was very durable and resistant to the destructive influences of the environment and time.

Mostly yellow ocher was used for rock painting. Reddish shades were left for ritual drawings on the bodies of deceased tribesmen.

Presumably, it was these rituals that gave the modern name to the mineral red iron ore - hematite, with Greek language translated as "blood". The red color is given to the mineral by anhydrous iron oxide.

Ancient Egypt

Time passed, and humanity discovered new types and methods of producing paints. About five thousand years ago, cinnabar appeared - a mercury mineral that gives paint its scarlet color. Cinnabar gained the greatest popularity among the ancient Assyrians, Chinese, Egyptians, as well as in ancient Rus'.

At the dawn of the heyday of their civilization, the Egyptians discovered the secret of making purple (violet-red) paint. From special type Secretions were extracted from the snails, which were then added to the standard composition of dyes.

Since ancient times, people have used lime, which is the end product of burning limestone minerals, oysters, chalk and marble, to create white paint. This paint was one of the cheapest and easiest to make. In addition, white lime can compete with ocher in terms of the antiquity of the recipe.

Egyptian tombs and pyramids of the pharaohs carried over from the heyday of Egyptian civilization an amazingly beautiful and pure shade - lapis lazuli, natural ultramarine. Even after several thousand years, the drawings have not lost their brightness or faded. The main coloring pigment in this paint is a mineral powder called lapis lazuli. In Ancient Egypt, lapis lazuli was very expensive. Most often, the priceless paint was used to depict the sacred symbol of the Egyptians - the scarab beetle.

It must be said that since ancient times, paint production methods have not undergone significant changes. Solids are also ground into powder, although using special equipment. Instead of natural fats, polymeric substances are now used. But to receive dark shades They still use soot, but it has already been purified using modern methods.

Ancient China

Chinese civilization holds the palm in the creation of paper. Here, beyond the Great Chinese wall, light watercolors appeared. Their composition, in addition to coloring substances and oils, includes honey, glycerin and sugar. To create paintings with watercolor paints, you need a suitable base. Canvas, wood, stones and others traditional items, on which paints are applied, cannot be used for this purpose: watercolors will not work well on them. Therefore, when painting with watercolors, only paper is used. This explains the fact that such paints appeared in China, which is the progenitor of paper production.

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages gave the world oil paints. Their advantage is greater durability and reliability, as well as relatively short drying time. The basis for such paints are natural vegetable oils: nut, poppy, linseed and others.

During the Middle Ages, people learned to apply oil paints in thin layers. Due to this, the resulting picture acquired depth and volume. Color rendering has also improved.

However, not all masters medieval painting created their own paints based on vegetable fats. Some people mixed dyes with egg whites, others with casein, which is one of the derivatives of milk.

Due to the unique features of the production of different paints, there were some historical incidents. “The Last Supper,” created by the famous medieval master Leonardo da Vinci, began to collapse during the artist’s lifetime. This happened because oil paints based on vegetable fats were mixed with paints based on egg whites diluted in water. Chemical reaction The problem that arose in this case interfered with the reliability of the coating and the safety of the painting.

Natural ingredients coupled with hand-made production made the paints quite expensive material. This was especially true for natural lapis lazuli. The mineral lapis lazuli, used in the manufacture of ultramarine paint, was imported to Europe from the Middle East. The mineral was very rare and, accordingly, expensive. Artists used lapis lazuli only when the customer of the work paid for the paints in advance.

New discoveries

The situation began to change at the beginning of the 18th century. A German chemist named Diesbach worked on improving the quality of red paint. But one day, instead of the expected scarlet color, a scientist received paint of a shade very close to ultramarine. This discovery can be considered a revolution in paint production.

The new paint was called “Prussian blue”. Its cost was several times lower than that of natural ultramarine paint. It is not surprising that Prussian blue quickly gained popularity among artists of the time.

A century later, “cobalt blue” appeared in France - a paint that turned out even cleaner and brighter than Prussian blue. In terms of external qualities, cobalt blue turned out to be even closer to natural lapis lazuli.

The pinnacle of activity of scientists and researchers in this field was the invention of an absolute analogue of natural ultramarine. The new paint, which was produced in France almost a quarter of a century after cobalt blue, was called “French ultramarine.” Now pure blue colors have become available to all artists.

However, there was one important circumstance that significantly reduced the popularity of artificial colors. The components used in their composition were often harmful or even deadly to human health.

As it was found out in the 70s of the 19th century, emerald green paint posed a particularly great threat. It contained vinegar, arsenic and copper oxide - a truly terrible mixture. There is a legend that in fact former emperor Napoleon Bonaparte died from arsenic vapor poisoning. After all, the walls in his house, located on the island of St. Helena, where Bonaparte was in exile, were covered with green paint.

Mass production

As is already known, paints were used cavemen when creating rock paintings. However, mass production of paints began less than two centuries ago. Previously, all paints were made by hand: minerals were ground into powder and mixed with binders. Such paints were not stored for long. After only a day they became unusable.

At the dawn of the development of the paint and varnish industry, both ready-to-use paints and raw materials for them were available for sale. handmade, since many people adhered to conservative views and made paints “the old fashioned way.” But with the development of industry and new technologies, ready-made paints gradually replaced manual production.

As the paint industry developed, paints became better and safer to use.

Many harmful substances - for example, arsenic and lead, which were part of cinnabar and red lead, respectively - were replaced with less dangerous synthetic components.

Inorganic substances give the paint resistance to destruction, and also help maintain the brightness of the color due to its constant composition, which is important when producing paint on an industrial scale.

However, in Lately demand for natural paints. Most likely, this is due to their environmental friendliness and safety due to the natural components they contain. The transition to environmentally friendly technologies is due to the general environmental situation on the planet.

So often, looking at pictures brilliant artists, many people’s hands begin to itch. I want to create it myself brilliant masterpiece painting, albeit on the scale of your family. The soul requires beauty, and the hands require canvas and brushes.

It's hard to imagine modern world without the use of paints. It is used in everyday life and industrial purposes, painting entire structures and placing warning markings. Humanity's use of paint in various areas of its activity is rooted in the deep layers of history.

Scientists and archaeologists have found numerous drawings and rock painting in different corners globe. The fact of using coloring pigments during various rituals has also been proven. Ancient burials have been repeatedly found, the age of which is about 20-40 thousand years BC. The bottom of the grave and the remains are completely covered with red ocher. Similar graves were found in Ukraine and Karelia.

In addition, scientists found parts of a house that burned down in 1240. Among the items found were boards for writing icons, containers with paints and other icon painter's utensils. Already in those days, icon painting workshops flourished, which was confirmed by similar finds on the territory of Novgorod.

How were paints created in Rus'?

The history of the creation of paints in Rus' is a deep study. Many of the dyes were used to dye woven material and yarn. Mostly natural ingredients were used: saffron, woad, madder, chermes, turmeric, buckthorn. Each plant gave its own unique shade. By mixing several colors, it was possible to vary the intensity of the shade and obtain new unusual tones. In the 19th century, a way to extract yellow shades was found - a decoction of alder, birch and ash was used for this. Ledum was used to produce green paint. And by the end of this century, the palette of colors was replenished with synthetic components. Most often they were used to give new colors to materials; indigo, chrysamine, red blood salt, aniline pigments, cadmium yellow, ultramarine and other dyes were used.

Paints of various shades of natural origin were widely used for painting residential buildings, painting churches, carved decorations of various buildings, furniture and interior items. Artificially produced colors were used much less frequently. In the 19th century, mummy, red lead and verdigris were used to paint iron roofs. Houses were often whitewashed in the spring with a mixture of chalk and lime. In the military sphere, wooden knives and leather parts of weapons were often painted.

The paper industry was not far behind. A wide range of coloring materials have been developed for coloring paper. At the end of the 18th century, paints created according to a special recipe began to be used in printing. paper bills. The composition was kept in the strictest confidence and was entrusted only to a few people. There was even such a profession as a paper dyer.

Currently, the range of paints is amazing. Its use has reached industrial scale. Agree, it is impossible to imagine the modern world without this important invention.

Municipal budgetary educational institution

"Secondary school No. 22"

City competition research work and schoolchildren's projects

"I am a researcher"

Direction: Fine Arts

RESEARCH

Topic: Making paints for painting in ancient times

student of 3 “B” class

Head: Elena Viktorovna Solovyova

teacher primary classes

Artemovsky urban district

2018

Content

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………3-4

1.Main part

1.1. History of the emergence of paints in ancient times…………….…….5-7

1.2. The history of modern paints……………..…..7-8

1.3. Food colorings……………………………………………….8-9

1.4. Composition of paints………………………………………………………………. ..9- 10

2. Experimental part……………………………………………………………11-13

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………14

References…………………………………………………………….15

Appendix………………………………………………………………………………16-18

Introduction

Nature has rewarded us with an extraordinary gift - color vision, and with it made it possible to admire the beauty of the surrounding plant world. Who has not admired the colors of a flowering meadow, forest edge, autumn foliage, gifts of the garden and field? But not everyone knows where nature gets such a rich palette of colors.

I chose the topic of paint research because I really like to draw. One day I thought about the questions: when did paints appear? What were they like? After all, before there was no such variety of colors as there is now; you had to do everything yourself.

Goal of the work: find out what paints were made from in ancient times.

Tasks:

1. Find material on the topic of my project in various sources.

2. Find out the composition of ancient paints.

3. Study what substances paints are made of.

4. Conduct an experiment:

Make your own paints at home;

Draw pictures with different paints and compare pictures drawn with paints: at home and in industry.

Object of study : paints for home use and industry.

Subject of study : getting paints at home.

Hypothesis:

Suppose that in ancient times people obtained paints from various parts plants.

Possibly used as paint various breeds stones

The following were used in the projectmethods:

Working with various sources of information;

Experiment.

1.Main part

1.1. The history of the origin of paints in ancient times.

The role of paint is difficult to overestimate. Without bright colors, the world and objects would be very dull and dull. It is not without reason that people try to imitate nature, creating pure and rich shades. Paints have been known to mankind since primitive times.

Bright minerals attracted the gaze of our distant ancestors. It was then that a person figured out how to grind such substances into powder and, by adding some elements, obtain the first paints in history. Colored clay was also used. The more people developed, the greater the need to capture and transmit their knowledge. At first, the walls of caves and rocks, as well as the most primitive paints, were used for this. It is believed that the oldest discovered rock paintings are more than 17 thousand years old! At the same time, the paintings of prehistoric people are quite well preserved.

Basically, the first paints were made from the ferrous natural mineral ocher. The name has Greek roots.

For light shades, pure substance was used; to obtain darker shades, black charcoal was added to the mixture. All solids were ground by hand between two flat stones. Next, the paint was mixed directly with animal fats. Such paints applied well to the stone and did not dry out for a long time due to the peculiarity of the interaction of fat with air. The resulting coating was very durable and resistant to the damaging effects of the environment and time.

Mostly yellow ocher was used for rock painting.

Chinese civilization holds the palm in the creation of paper. Here, behind the Great Wall of China, light watercolors appeared. Their composition, in addition to coloring substances and oils, includes honey, glycerin and sugar.

However, there was one important circumstance that significantly reduced the popularity of artificial colors. The components used in their composition were often harmful or even deadly to human health.

As it was found out in the 70s of the 19th century, emerald green paint posed a particularly great threat. It contained vinegar, arsenic and copper oxide - a truly terrible mixture. There is a legend that in fact the former Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte died from arsenic vapor poisoning. After all, the walls in his house, located on the island of St. Helena, where Bonaparte was in exile, were covered with green paint.

However, recently the demand for natural paints has returned. Most likely, this is due to safety due to the natural components included in the composition.

1.2. The history of the emergence of modern artistic paints.

Millennia passed. Man needed other paints, more durable and bright, ones that could be used to paint shields, tanned leather, hats and weapons, and then the first fabrics.They learned to produce yellow paint from the bark of barberry, alder, milkweed and mulberry.

Brown - from a decoction of onion peels, walnut shells, oak bark, henna leaves.

Some berries are useful for obtaining red color.

In short, each of the colors that both adults and children use today has its own long and amazing history.

If purple owes its origin to a sea snail, indigo to a bush, then carmine originates from... insects. From tiny tropical insects thatcalled "cochineal".

So, if good colors were obtained with great difficulty and were very expensive, then why now there are so many colors and they are so cheap?

Nowadays paints are made from coal tar and other substances. It turned out that in black coal you can find all the color wealth of Mother Nature. Today, only sonorous names and amazing stories have been preserved from ancient paints.

It is simply impossible to describe in detail all the stages of preparing paints, but we will try to briefly describe the process of creating some paints.

Watercolor paints kneaded on the basis of natural resin of plant origin, and honey, glycerin or sugar are used as a binder. That’s why they write “Honey Watercolor” on the packages. Despite the harmlessness of the composition, you should not try watercolors: the composition also contains some antiseptics, in particular phenol. If it enters the body, it can cause poisoning. Watercolor paints come from China, just like paper.

Gouache its composition is close to watercolor paints. However, when drying, gouache paints become significantly lighter and their surface becomes velvety. This is due to the fact that white is added to the gouache, which gives this effect.

Oily paints are most often made on the basis of linseed oil. These paints were first made in Europe in the 15th century, but who exactly invented them is unknown. When dry, oil paints do not change their color, allowing you to achieve amazingly deep tones and shades.

1.3. Food colorings

Of all the ways to obtain paints from natural materials from ancient times, some have survived to this day. We all practically use them at least once a year. For example, we paint eggs with onion peels.

I learned from my mother that the easiest way to get food coloring is to chop, puree foods (fruits, vegetables) and squeeze out the juice. Red and pink paints are obtained from raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, currants, cherries, red syrups, jam, and beets.

Purple paint obtained from the juice of red cabbage.

Orange dye is made from a mixture of red and yellow dye, as well as carrot juice.

Yellow paint is obtained from the pulp and zest of lemons and oranges.

Green paint can be obtained from kiwi juice or parsley leaves, which are pureed and juiced.

Brown dye comes from strong coffee.

1.4. Composition of paints

In any paint, 4 components can be distinguished: coloring pigment, binders, solvent, filler. Each of these components affects the properties of the paint.

Glues of animal or plant origin, resins, hydrocarbons that can be dissolved in water or oils, hardening oils, and various polymers are used as binding elements.

In paints, these substances play the role of film formers. That is, when the paint dries, it is thanks to the binders that they form a durable film on the surface that retains pigments and fillers.

Solvents are needed to make paints less viscous, making them easier to pick up on a brush and apply to the surface to be painted. The choice of solvent depends on what kind of binder is used in the paint; as a rule, water, oils, alcohols, ethers and other hydrocarbons play this role.

Fillers are added to paints to modify their texture and matte finish. You also cannot do without fillers when making heat-resistant paints, including those used in pottery for painting products.

2. Experimental part.

So, after studying various literature, we found out that paints consist of a pigment and a binder. I decided to try to get paints at home, compare them with modern ones and try to draw a picture with them.

For the experiment I needed:

Charcoal;

Egg yolk.

Coffee.

Turmeric powder

Beet.

Experiment 1. Making black paint.

I used charcoal as a pigment and egg yolk as a binder.

Grind the charcoal into powder, sift and mix with egg yolk. I got black paint.

Experiment 2. Making brown paint.

I used coffee as a pigment and egg yolk as a binder.

I ground the coffee in a coffee grinder, sifted it and mixed it with egg yolk. The result was brown paint.

Experiment 3. Making orange paint.

I used turmeric powder as a pigment and egg yolk as a binder.

Mixed pigment (turmeric) with a binder (egg yolk). I ended up with orange paint.

Experiment 4. Making pink paint.

I used beet juice as a pigment and egg yolk as a binder.

Mixed beet juice with a binder (egg yolk). I ended up with pink paint.

Experiment 5. Drawing with paints homemade.

Having received the paints, I decided to try to draw a picture with them and compare the paints and the resulting picture with the picture made in gouache.

p/p

Properties of modern paints

Properties of homemade paints

Gouache color is more saturated

Paint color is less saturated

Thick

Thick and viscous

Lays on paper easily and evenly

They lie unevenly and unevenly on the paper.

Dries quickly

Takes a long time to dry

Does not deform the paper when drying

Deforms paper when drying

Experimental results.

Having compared a drawing made with homemade paints with a drawing made with gouache, I came to the conclusion that it is easier to paint with modern paints, the work is brighter, the paper does not deform, dries faster, and you can use a larger number of different color shades.

Conclusion

The resulting research helped me learn the history of ancient paints, as well as:

Find out the components of ancient paints;

Learn what substances paints are made of.

My hypothesis was confirmed: paints can be made independently from various parts of plants at home.

As a result of the experiment I conducted, I learned:

create your own paints at home;

made a comparison of drawings drawn with paints different ways manufacturing: at home and industrially.

As a result of the research, I checked all myhypotheses and confirmed them in the work.

The methods used helped me achieve my goal.

In the future, I would like to continue the experiment and create paints of other colors and shades using other binders and pigments.

Bibliography.

Alekseeva V.V. What is art? – M.: Soviet artist, 1973

Orlova N.G. Iconography – M.: White City, 2004

Encyclopedia for children: Art. Part 2. – M.: Avanta+, 2005

Petrov V. World of Art. Artistic Association XX. –M.: Aurora 2009

Ecology of consumption. Life hack: Dyeing has been known to mankind since time immemorial, according to archeology - at least 30 thousand years. There were no chemical factories then, as you understand, but our ancestors...

Dyeing has been known to mankind since time immemorial, according to archeology - at least 30 thousand years. There were no chemical factories then, as you understand, but our ancestors were very inventive in choosing the means to diversify the color palette of fabrics and yarns.

Arab merchants, for example, brought from India a dye whose very name reveals its origin - indigo. It was made from the stems and leaves of plants of the indigofera genus. Just imagine: to obtain 3 kg of products, it was necessary to process a whole centner of plant materials! By the way, basma is still produced from indigofera leaves today.

Alizarin, which was extracted from the roots of madder in ancient Egypt, Persia and India, was very common. Another ancient dye was purple. Tyrian purple was extracted from scarlet snails by grinding them with water. The resulting mixture was soaked into the fabric and dried outside, in the sense of not indoors. Only after this did the material acquire a purple color.

It was a colossal work, because just one gram of dye had to be crushed into nothing less than 10 thousand fragile creatures. But in Venice, the raw material for local purple was some kind of dried bugs (though Venetian purple was less valued).

The review of the world history of textile dyes could be continued, but since “this is a saying, and a fairy tale... the fairy tale will be ahead,” then let’s better stop here and move on to the question of what did the Russians use for dyeing?. It turns out that they were very well aware of the opportunities that this provides vegetable world, and taking these possibilities into account, different colors were obtained.

Yellow and brown

Having decided to get solar coloring, our ancestors could use more than two dozen plants. Some of them were used in their entirety: immortelle, heather, cuff, navel, string. And in the genus of gorse, shrubs and subshrubs of the legume family, there is even a species that is called just that - dyeing.

For the same purpose, flowers and leaves of goldenrod (also called golden rod), jumper (also having a second name - impatience), and sickle grass were used. Only flowers were taken if it was about the umbrella hawkweed and, oddly enough, the meadow cornflower, and also the horned frog. By the way, the leaves of birch and black grass (or verbolosis) were used.

The zealous owners also did not forget about the root system of plants: sorrel and iris turned out to be useful here (it received a very affectionate nickname - iris). And the bark was taken from hazel and wild apple trees for dyeing purposes. Sometimes certain plant parts were chosen based on the material to be dyed. Thus, the leaves and stems of the moss moss (aka the ram), as well as the flowers of the rapeseed, were taken into account when working with wool, and the swimsuit was used only for canvas.

Both yellow and brown tones can be obtained from the bark, leaves and berries of alder buckthorn. As experts note, the dye from this plant is very resistant to fading.

Orange and red

To make the canvas “red,” there were significantly fewer folk methods. This could be provided by black alder bark. And in order to achieve the desired result with the help of celandine, alum was added to it.

In the red range there were more possibilities and, mainly, the roots of plants were used as dyes, in particular, cinquefoil (also called cinquefoil and silver), buckwheat (i.e. crayfish necks), soft bedstraw (this is a cosmos grass) true bedstraw (we are talking about rennet - yellow porridge). If the material was wool, then they used the roots of St. John's wort. But there was also a ground part of the grass, thanks to which the tissues “turned red”: this is white pigweed, or, more simply, quinoa.

Blue, blue and green

The blueness of the canvas was given with the help of ash bark, and if it was necessary to dye wool, cornflower or buckwheat flowers. Bird buckwheat (popularly called ant grass) is capable of coloring the material in Blue colour, in this case the whole plant is used, like woad, which has several more expressive names: blueberry, blueberry, blueberry, and in addition also krutik. This same woad-krutik was used as a dye for woolen materials and was highly valued in the handicraft carpet production. Blueberries were used to dye flax blue and wool blue.

By the way, the just mentioned woad-krutik was also used to obtain green color. However, along with other plants. So, in particular, the stems and leaves of the well-known stinging nettle and stinging nettle, i.e. trefoil, leaves of club moss, roots of tansy (wild mountain ash).

Black

In order to achieve the black tone of the material, several plants were used. These include berries and roots of voronets (funnel), meadowsweet bark, leaves and stems of podbel, bearberry leaves (in other words, bear's ears) and the juice of a herb with the amusing name of brilliant zyuzik. He has a whole series folk names: water horehound, wolf's foot (or paw), wild mother plant, forest hemp, marsh nettle, speckled grass, heart grass, chickweed).

"Colorful abilities" of plants

During the course of the story, it was already mentioned in passing that some representatives of the earth’s flora are capable of obtaining different tones using different technologies. And the first thing that comes to mind is the well-known onion peel and beets. But they are not the only ones in this group.

So, using the flowers and leaves of an apple tree, or its bark with the addition of alum, you can achieve both red and green paint. From the flowers and leaves of St. John's wort, the fabric and with appropriate processing can turn either red or yellow. Double-edged moss (otherwise known as green grass, dog) is capable of “coloring” the canvas with green, yellow and red.

Blackberries can give fabrics a crimson and purple color, and oak bark with the addition of rusty iron can give it a dark blue to black color. If wild galangal is supplemented with the same rusty iron, or alum, the same effect will be obtained. White alder can even color the material in colors from yellow to black, if you add to it either - again - rusted iron, or... fir cones.

Concluding this short review, I would like to express two thoughts. Firstly, to rejoice at how well our ancestors used plant gifts, what enormous work they did in collecting, preparing them and producing dyes, and how extensive and deep the knowledge about the properties of plants was, accumulated over the centuries. Secondly, How great are the possibilities of the plant kingdom and how grateful we should be to it! Of course, hand and artisanal dyeing is rarely used now, but that’s not the point...Do you want to try? published