| Author | Message | ||
  Jay Unregistered guest |
Speaking of that, anyone ever play around with tea? Some Jap-/Chin-ese techniques use it to 'age' papers to a parchment-like appearance, & to quite nice effect. Learned of that thru a 'Traditional Oriental Watercolor Techniques' video. Also, tea leaves or instant tea (powder) can produce some interesting textural effects sprinkled into various degrees of dampness on the paper, tilted to induce flow, swirled, etc. Try painting some eggs, sprinkle in tea & (as Ranson says) 'fiddle with it'. <g> I keep a small shaker of it (alongside my salt, heh heh), in my kit. I haven't tested for (nor tried to verify) durability or lightfastness, but those cultures are fairly ancient. /Jay | ||
George Unregistered guest |
Speaking of tobacco, did you know that tobacco, when boiled down makes an interesting watercolor color? In fact there are a lot of common (easy to acquire) plants, flowers, roots, and barks that make beautifully soft and delicate watercolor colors. The only problem is that they all fade in a very short period of time. A few years ago I played with the idea of making a watercolor painting by using only these kinds of beautifully delicate homemade colors and then entering the painting in a watercolor show. My plan was to send the painting to the dump after the show rather than watch it fade away. I haven’t gotten around to it yet – maybe when I retire I’ll do it. | ||
Jay Unregistered guest |
Oh heck yes - at least anything (Alizarin etc) that UV will fade, as fluorescents emit high amounts of it. Ever notice how many Polaroid photos hanging on office & cubicle walls are faded? Even old advertising headers on counter displays; labels on cans in old grocery stores, etc. Guess what the culprit is! It's even recommended that ('those in the know') fishermen not have spools refilled at the sporting goods/tackle dealers with monofilament from last year's stock - fluorescent light actually weakens it, & causes the inherent lubricant to chalk off. Which is why lots of tackle shops have winter or early-spring 'penny-a-yard refills' sales -- it's a loss leader (no pun intended) plus they're clearing old stock. UV is some nasty stuff! But insofar as watercolors, just consider modern lightfastness ratings as your guide - they're basically tested against sunlight, which is much stronger than fluorescent lighting in UV. /Jay | ||
Marie Advanced Member Username: Marie Post Number: 147 Registered: 8-2006 |
Interesting question. I'm not an expert here, but I just found this in a discussion of inkjet printing on Kodak's website. Light sources rich in the higher energy ultraviolet end of the spectrum, such as sunlight through a window or unfiltered fluorescent lights, tend to accelerate print fade relative to incandescent sources. A more detailed reference is here: http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/2The_Environment/04ProtectionFromLight.php | ||
Eugene Advanced Member Username: Eugene Post Number: 135 Registered: 8-2006 |
I once designed for a cigar manufacturer and learned that the florescent lights in the display cases were notorious for fading cigar tobaccos, especially the candelas (the green shades of tobacco). Does anyone know if florescents are more likely to cause fading of watercolors than incandescents? Just wondering. |
