Having learnt the techniques of extracting pigments from natural sources, I thought I would see if I could find stone locally that might give me a new colour.
What stone did I use?
Just along the road from us there was, in the early part of the twentieth century, an ironstone quarry.
The quarry was big enough to possess its own rail system and a locomotive called Munition, which arrived on site in 1918.
This is Singapore, an identical engine to Munition. Photo: Barry Reynolds
The quarry is long gone, leaving fields, farms and a cluster of domestic properties, but it seemed a good place to look for stone to extract pigment from.
This is the stone, fresh out of the field, which I then broke up in a brass mortar and pestle.
What is the process?
Grind further with water…
Add water, mix and pour off the water containing the pigment into a jam jar, leaving the sediment behind.
Keep grinding, mixing and pouring into successive jars. You can see the pigments starting to settle out here.
The pigment when dry
And the final result?
Here’s the pigment made into egg tempera paint – a lovely golden brown and my first local colour.
I’m really chuffed with that!