Making distemper with pure pigment?

[Nigel Watts]

In all the distemper recipes I have read whiting (powdered chalk) and glue size is used as a base to which pigment is added if a colour other than white is required.

I want my cornice to be similar in colour to the medium oak graining I'm applying to my woodwork. The closest I have so far been able to get to this is with pure Raw Sienna pigment and no whiting. Is a distempter made without whiting likely to work? The pigment is not all that cheap so I am reluctant to make a decent sized batch unless I know it has a good chance of working.

 

[Dave Alder]

Nigel, Yes the whiting / chalk is the pigment in a white/off white distemper.
For deep colours or in your case grain effect colour just subsitute your pigments for the whiting. In your previous batches of distemper did you keep a record of the ratio between pigment and size? If so then keep the same ratio. Not exact but a good starting point.

 

[biffvernon]

Pastel shades are typical of distempers as they have lots of cheap chalk and a little expensive pigment. Leaving out the chalk and using pure gimgment might get expensive. I wonder what happen if you use clay intead of the shalk and then add a little pigment to taste?

 

[Nigel Watts]

I believe that my living room's original 1840 decorative scheme (of which I found traces) was of an entirely fake oak panelled room: wood effect wallpaper; a border printed to look like a carved oak moulding; grained woodwork and a cornice distempered to look like wood.

I had ambitions for recreating the scheme in its entirety but this would have entailed making my own wallpaper or recreating it in trompe l'oeil painting. Since my wife has long since run out of patience I have agreed a compromise. The woodwork and cornice will be restored to something approaching their original finish, but I will hang a manufactured wallpaper (she wants dark green, which should look good with the medium oak colour).

I have just finished the oak graining in one half of the room and will be trying out a finish for the cornice this evening.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Paint can be so deceptive. My test with pure pigment turned out far too dark, so I can mix it with whiting. I feel sure that this will be a good thing as it will almost certainly increase the opacity.