Raw Materials 

Dry pigments are used to create a variety of painting media such as oils, acrylics, watercolors, egg tempera, and encaustic. Dry pigments are often used in mixed media and decorative painting techniques as well.

To create an artist’s oil color, pure dry pigments are thoroughly ground and mixed into refined or cold pressed linseed oil to form a stiff paste. Gamblin Artists Colors offers a range of dry pigments for painters who want to make their own oil colors.

Regardless of the binder used to mix dry pigments, artists should be very careful when handling powders. A respirator mask should be worn so that no pigment dust is inhaled.

Glitter describes an assortment of small, reflective particles that come in a variety of shapes and colors. Glitter particles reflect light at different angles, causing the surface to sparkle or shimmer. The size of glitter is similar to confetti, sparkles, or sequins, but somewhat smaller.

Since prehistoric times, glitter has been made from many different materials including stones such as malachite, and mica, as well as insects and glass. Modern glitter is usually manufactured from plastic and is rarely recycled leading to calls from scientists for bans on plastic glitter.

USES

Prior to fabrics made with modern glitter, sequins were sewn or woven on to fabric to give it a glittering appearance. Edible glitter made from gum arabic and other ingredients is even used by culinary artists.Glitter is used in cosmetics to make the face and nails shiny or sparkly. Additionally, it is used in children's arts and crafts to color and texture items. The small, brightly colored particles often stick to clothing, skin, and furniture, and can be difficult to remove.Glitter coatings or finishes are frequently used on fishing lures to draw attention by simulating the scales of prey fish.Due to its unique characteristics, glitter has also proven to be useful forensic evidence. Because of the tens of thousands of different commercial glitters, identical glitter particles can be compelling evidence that a suspect has been at a crime scene. Forensic scientist Edwin Jones has one of the largest collections of glitter consisting of over 1,000 different samples used in comparison of samples taken from crime scenes. Glitter particles are easily transferred through the air or by touch, yet cling to bodies and clothing, often unnoticed by suspects.

A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light. Most materials selectively absorb certain wavelengths of light. Materials that humans have chosen and developed for use as pigments usually have special properties that make them useful for coloring other materials. A pigment must have a high tinting strength relative to the materials it colors. It must be stable in solid form at ambient temperatures.

For industrial applications, as well as in the arts, permanence and stability are desirable properties. Pigments that are not permanent are called fugitive. Fugitive pigments fade over time, or with exposure to light, while some eventually blacken. Pigments are used for coloring paint, ink, plastic, fabric, cosmetics, food, and other materials. Most pigments used in manufacturing and the visual arts are dry colorants, usually ground into a fine powder. For use in paint, this powder is added to a binder (or vehicle), a relatively neutral or colorless material that suspends the pigment and gives the paint its adhesion. A distinction is usually made between a pigment, which is insoluble in its vehicle (resulting in a suspension), and a dye, which either is itself a liquid or is soluble in its vehicle (resulting in a solution). A colorant can act as either a pigment or a dye depending on the vehicle involved. In some cases, a pigment can be manufactured from a dye by precipitating a soluble dye with a metallic salt. The resulting pigment is called a lake pigment. The term biological pigment is used for all colored substances independent of their solubility.

In ancient Chinese paintings, mineral color has a glorious history, the original quaint pottery of Banpo, the majestic paintings and lacquer paintings of Mawangdui, the magnificent murals of the Dunhuang Caves, and the fine brushwork of Tang Lifu. These constitute a splendid China. History of drawing. Although the appearance of the literati ink painting in the Chinese painting circle since the Song and Yuan Dynasties had its deep and unique artistic charm, the over-unified expression techniques and simple tools and materials of the ink painting could no longer meet the aesthetic demands of the modern people and it was difficult to express the rich and colorful modern. Life, at this point, most painters in the art world today have varying degrees of confusion, and the reinvigoration of traditional mineral pigments has promoted the use of Chinese painters' lives.

Mineral color is a traditional painting material. After nearly 20 years of efforts, the Tianya Art Center successfully explored and developed several major types of high-quality mineral color, including natural mineral color and new rock under the guidance of Japanese experts. More than 4000 kinds of mineral color, water-dry mineral color, mica mineral color, and flash color have formed the most complete mineral color system at home and abroad. The use of precious stone materials has reached international advanced level from quality to quantity. Tianya Art Center focuses on innovation on the basis of inheriting traditions. It develops the original single stone and stone into one stone and eighteen colors. The center has also developed natural hemp paper, heavy colored rock color painting special glue, heavy colored rock painting special board brush and other special use with mineral color.