Since 1977 Kremer Pigmente has provided products for preservation, restoration and fine arts for customers worldwide.
Kremer Pigmente offers over 1500 Pigments, of which 250 are produced in our color mill. Raw materials from all over the world are carefully treated and manually rubbed, sieved, scratched and filtered into powder. Striving for the highest quality and purity standards, Kremer Pigmente has become the world leader in the field of historic pigments.
Binders provide a bond between the individual pigment particles and allow adhesion to the painting surface. We distinguish between organic and inorganic binders, as well as water-dilutable and solvent-soluble binders.
Many of our ready to use colors are still crafted in our company laboratory and production site in Aichstetten. We use pure pigments only and work according to century-old recipes.
We produce custom-made paints and artist colors in nearly any binding medium according to our customers’ needs. Customers also have the ability to commission the treatment of their own raw materials such as rock powder, earths, coarse pigments or precious stones like ruby or emerald. We are equipped with
machinery for all kinds of material and are able to mill, grind or sieve upon individual request.
Technical inquiries for all applications can be directed to our qualified staff in Aichstetten – either on site or by phone. Our online-shop also provides extensive product information, application advice and Safety Data Sheets. Recipes and a suitability list also help customers put together the appropriate choice of pigments.
Kremer owned shops are in Aichstetten, Munich and New York but more than 100 artist & restoration material stores in Germany and around the world offer a range of Kremer Pigmente products. Online orders are shipped worldwide.
We present you a base coat produced according to an alchemistic recipe from the High Renaissance. Brown stained sculptures, wood carving and the violins from the Cremonese masters exist since the late-Gothic. Until today the characteristics of this base coat has been unknown. We have combined the best of natural resources to gain the curiously hardness and colorfulness of this secret base coat. The wood from maple and fir gets stony-hardened and amber-colored. Due to the base coat the wood loses its absorption and the sound gets precise and sustainable.
Application: The wood needs to be polished multiple times as usual. The base coat is applied evenly inside and outside with a soft brush or a sponge. After a few minutes the outside surplus should be removed with a cloth. The process should be repeated outside up to three times. The consumption is about 100 gram per violin. Varnish after the last polish with spirit or oil varnish.
Kremer Pigmente oil varnishes are lightfast, translucent and suitable for wood surfaces and musical instrument making. They are handmade in the Color-Mill in Aichstetten. The cooked resin oil varnishes come in 6 different colors and are ready to use.
David Rubio, in conjunction with various research institutes, has developed a mixture that bears a certain similarity to the historical primers. This mixture consists of calcium lactate, alum, manganese sulfate, titanium white, iron oxide yellow and mica, which are mixed with water to a thin paste. The dry wood is soaked with a solution of potassium water glass in water. Immediately afterwards the mineral pulp is applied in a thin layer. This yellowish mass is then wiped over again with potassium silicate solution. Then the primer must dry.
Linseed oil, poppy seed oil and walnut oil will harden when exposed to oxygen. If these low viscosity drying oils are applied thinly to wood, they penetrate the structure and make the surface less sensitive to water. The inner surfaces of woodwind instruments can be saturated with e.g. walnut oil, thus considerably extending the playability of flutes. First oil coats on external surfaces will wear off quickly. The final excellent durability is achieved by re-applying multiple coats. Until the Renaissance period, this wood treatment was the standard for wooden furniture and wooden instruments.
Madder lake is one of the oldest known pigments and was already used more than 3,000 years ago. It is traditionally made from the root of the madder plant Rubia tinctoria. For this purpose the madder roots are dried and ground. Afterwards the dyes are precipitated with salts. Lakes vary in shades of orange, violet, brown, pink and dark red, depending on which coloring components were isolated. In contrast to most other vegetable dyes, madder lake was highly valued not only by dyers but also by painters. Compared to other natural lakes, the light fastness of madder lake is relatively good, since the alizarin it contains is quite stable. Other dye components, such as pseudopurpurin, are less resistant. Madder lake is a typical glaze pigment and can be used in oil and water colors.
The idea of combining the good properties of the drying oils with the strength of the resins was obvious, but difficult. Natural resins cannot simply be mixed with oil. If, for example, colophony is heated for a longer period of time, its properties change. The rosin becomes more brittle and loses much of its stickiness. This boiled liquid rosin can be mixed with hot linseed oil in liquid form. The addition of turpentine oil prevents the cooked mix of oil and resin from solidifying (due to the risk of fire, only carry out in outdoor areas). The colophony required for this can be obtained from all kinds of coniferous wood balsams and also from amber. If the drying oil is first saponified, then the mixture is called soap lacquer.
As a protection against bacteria and insects, many plants can form resins and balms, which are released when the bark is damaged or when the plant is in ill health. Resins such as sandarac, mastic, conifer - balms such as larch turpentine, canada balsam etc. have "always" been used in medicine for wound treatment because of their antibacterial effect. Even in the 1960s, larger injuries were still covered with mastic bandages. In the English-speaking world, mastic means not only the resin of the mastic bush, but also adhesive putty. Sticky balm is extracted from many coniferous trees. When the balsam is heated, turpentine oil is obtained as a volatile component and colophony as a solid residue. Dissolutions of mastic and sandarac in ethyl alcohol (spirit of wine) are used for lacquer-like coating. Mixtures of drying oils with resins and balsams will increase the durability.
A large number of important protein-containing binders are obtained from the animal sector. Protein components like casein can be fully seperated from skimmed milk. Casein glue is obtained by dissolving casein with alkalis. If casein is dissolved with lime, the result is a fairly water-resistant lime-casein glue. From skin, nerves, bones and many other animal components of cattle, pigs and also fish, one can obtain the usual glues, which are mostly named after their raw material. The harder the glue, the stronger the bond, the more elastic, the lower the adhesive strength.A good compromise is good bovine skin glue or fish glue which are both elastic and strong. These protein glues are mostly used to glue the individual pieces of an instrument. Casein glues are also used for surface design, especially on leather. Salianski isinglass glue is especially suitable for bows.
Shellac is a resinous secretion of the lac insect. After the crude lac is gathered from the tree, it is crushed and graded and the largest particles, called seed-lac, are selected for making the best grade of shellac varnishes.
27 pigments in shellac, 27 x 3 ml glasses, in a wooden box
Kirby et al.
Practical Recipes and their Historical Sources, 114 pages, 70 colour illustrations, paperback
J. und R. Hammerl; Wissenswertes über Harze und Grundstoffe für Geigenlacke, Anleitungen und Rezepte.
address | Hauptstrasse 41-47 - 88317 Aichstetten - DE |
phone | 0049 7565 914480 |
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