Pigments, Paint and Painting: A practical book for practical menTerry, George
Science
Pigments, Paint and Painting: A practical book for practical men
Terry, George
Paint; Painting, Industrial; Pigments
Calcium carbonate is sometimes present to the extent of 2½ to 6 per
cent., and at other times is quite absent, its place being taken by
½ to 1 per cent. of lime (calcium oxide); some of the English umbers
contain about 2 per cent. of calcium sulphate (gypsum) in addition to
the carbonate. Alumina may occur to the amount of 2½ to 12½ per cent.,
or may be wanting altogether. In a sample of Derbyshire umber analysed
by Hurst there appears to have been over 30 per cent. of barium
sulphate (barytes), which looks suspiciously like adulteration.
Almost every variety of shade may be found in umbers. The darkest and
richest in colour--a warm violet-brown--is the so-called Turkey umber,
mined in Cyprus, and formerly shipped viâ Constantinople; this is
of very fine quality and commands the higher price in the market. A
reddish-brown Irish umber, known as Cappagh brown, obtained from the
Cappagh mines in Cork county, is much esteemed among artists, both
for water-colour and oil painting, and especially for the latter when
it has been subjected to a preliminary desiccation at a temperature
of about 170° F. Heated to the boiling point its colour changes to a
rich red, resembling burnt sienna. Cornish umbers are of fairly good
quality. Derbyshire umbers are poor, and incline to a reddish tint,
besides being gritty. Sometimes they are adulterated with a little lamp
black, which renders the tone more like that of Turkey umber, and thus
deceives the unwary buyer.
There are three conditions in which umbers come into commerce: (1) as
raw lump, being the mineral just as it is mined; (2) as raw powdered,
when it has been ground very fine and levigated or washed in flowing
water, whereby the particles get assorted according to their several
degrees of fineness; and (3) as burnt, being the powder after it has
been subjected to calcination in a closed furnace. Some umbers are so
soft that they can be washed without any previous grinding, but this is
not generally the case. The apparatus used in grinding and levigating
is common to all pigments where these processes are employed, and will
therefore be described once for all in a later chapter. The calcination
is conducted at a red heat, and by this process the tint is made darker
and warmer, but it must not be pushed too far or the pigment will
blacken.
While different samples of umber present differences of tone and shade,
from a yellowish to a violet brown, they are alike in being very
durable and proof against the injurious influences of air, light, and
impure atmospheres; ordinary acids and caustic soda have no appreciable
effect. They mix well with other pigments without provoking any change,
and are equally satisfactory as oil or water colours. They do not
admit of much adulteration, except in the substitution of an inferior
grade for a superior one, and possibly the addition of barytes as a
make-weight.
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