We
are often asked what distinguishes the handmade product from its mass produced
counterpart. Handmade does not mean that we grind our paint with slab and muller
and shape it with our hands. What makes our products handmade is the intensive labor
involved in making a paint solely from its base ingredients of pigment and medium. This
means using no additives whatsoever.
We are not willing to accept such compromises. We want the individual characteristics of each pigment to come through. This means that the formulation and milling of each pigment must be tailored to its particular traits. Each of our colors, therefore, has a slightly different feel to it. The cadmiums are very smooth, while some of the earths and cobalt colors are left slightly gritty to prevent over-grinding and loss of brilliance and clarity. All of this necessitates making the paint in very small carefully
controlled batches. It must be milled over and over, and each milling must be done with
painstaking methodicalness. One day’s production, for example, yields fewer than 200
Pigment Sticks.
These factors are what make the manufacturing of handmade paint as much a labor of love as a business.
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Additives, such as barytes and stearates are used in mass produced
paints to minimize the different physical properties of pigments. Using them makes the
milling of paint faster, easier, and cheaper. But this adulteration weakens the paint
film, dilutes the strength of the color, and dulls the clarity of its undertones and the
brilliance of its top tones. Furthermore, it gives all the colors a bland uniformity.
Our emphasis on the highest possible quality extends to our choice of materials
as well. This is why we are now importing some of our earth pigments directly from Italy,
why we have each of our cadmium shades made specifically for us, and why we insist on
using only natural waxes and oils.