 More about M. Graham & Co. Artists' Color:
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Pigment
Pigment is a finely ground substance
that shares its color effects when mixed with a liquid vehicle
to create paint.
Pigments used in all media are the same
although not every pigment is easily incorporated into each medium.
Two customary classifications of pigment
are Inorganic (mineral) and Organic (vegetable or animal) including
those artificially prepared. They are also divided into the categories
of transparent and opaque.
Pigments are usually named for their
resemblance to natural objects, inventors, places of origin,
intended purpose or composition. Cobalt Blue, for example, derives
its name from "Kobold" (Goblin of the Mines) because
the reflection from its crystals resembled goblin eyes to silver
miners.
Pigments used in artists' colors must
meet stability and permanency requirements when exposed to mediums,
light and air, and must be carefully tested for quality and safety.
All pigments are not created equal and while many commercial
grades conform to basic requirements for artists' colors, only
a few are capable of providing the attributes of brilliance,
strength and permanence that distinguish true artists' quality
color.
Mixing
Each ingredient of an artists' color
is carefully measured by weight and slowly mixed until it has
achieved a smooth and uniform viscosity. This is called the "pre-mix"
and can take anywhere from an hour to two days to achieve an
ideal paste for milling. Each color requires an entirely different
approach and the quality of this mix depends entirely upon the
skill of the color maker.
Milling
In order to ensure that each pigment
particle is surrounded by a layer of vehicle, color must be milled.
Three rollers, moving in opposite directions at different speeds
apply pressure to the paint paste and cause a shearing action
that breaks down agglomerations of pigment. Colors must be run
repeatedly to create the quality of dispersion that will render
the most beautiful color...this process will often require several
days, especially for harder pigments such as Alizarin Crimson,
which can take as much as three days for enough color to fill
500 tubes. When color is fully dispersed, it is then aged for
as long as several months to develop its fine working properties.
Filling
The color is placed into a small hopper
where it is fed by means of a piston and cylinder in carefully
measured quantities through a nozzle into a tube. Each tube is
filled through the open bottom of the tube, one at a time, by
hand. (Paint tubes are received from the manufacturer with the
cap in place.) After filling, each tube is weighed and inspected
for flaws.
Crimping
Each tube is sealed by a device that
flattens, folds and compresses the bottom of the tube in one
revolution of the hand crank. This is also the last stage in
quality control and great care is taken not only to properly
seal the tube but also to provide a final examination for any
imperfections.
The tubes of color are now ready to
be boxed, cartoned and shipped.
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