KREMER PIGMENTE GMBH & CO. KG

Turpentine Rosin Oil thick

for violin varnishes

Primer Coat GD

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.

Oil Varnishes for violin making

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.

Rubio Mineral Ground

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.

Oils

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

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.

Amber, Colophony, Pine Turpentine

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.

Resins and Balms

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.

Glues

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

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.

Scouring Rush

For scratch-free smoothing surfaces.

Orange Madder

genuine madder root lake, yellow-orange dye

Varnish and Gesso Brush, Kolinsky

pure red sable hair, lacquered mahogany handle.

Solvents

Dyes

Set: Kremer Retouching Colors in Shellac

27 pigments in shellac, 27 x 3 ml glasses, in a wooden box

Natural Colorants for Dyeing and Lake Pigments

Kirby et al.

Practical Recipes and their Historical Sources, 114 pages, 70 colour illustrations, paperback

Franklin Titebond®

wood glue

Logwood

Lignum Campeche

Cochenille

Coccus Cacti, dried, silvery gray lice

Walnut stain

watersoluble, Van Dyck Brown, oak stain, walnut stain

Geigenlacke

J. und R. Hammerl; Wissenswertes über Harze und Grundstoffe für Geigenlacke, Anleitungen und Rezepte.