How to make traditional gesso 

Not entirely unbelievable. There's nothing in tempera that would rot the canvas.

@@JamesKingsilentlife The cat piss present does rot it though, and the green mold isn't very good either. But, as I stated, nobody believes me anyways, and I have warned the Ministry of Culture repeatedly, as well as the National Gallery, as well as Prague Castle, where the painting originally belonged, according to 1621 art collection list. It was stolen 350 years ago. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-79RL_sXbors.html

You're welcome!

Those proportions are more or less correct, yes. Remember, however, that the ratio of dry granules to water is 1:20 by weight. Once you've added the granules to the water, the liquid will weigh a bit more than 400g. Then the ratio of this glue to calcium carbonate is 1:1 by weight. So, you'll need the corresponding extra weight of calcium carbonate. Doing it visually with old fashioned scales, like in the video, is perfectly accurate. You'll learn by experience how much you need to prepare for a given number of panels. Make sure to watch the follow-up video about how to apply the gesso. It's quite tricky at first. All the best!

@@JamesKingsilentlife Thank you very much, I have seen your videos a hundred times, thanks for the tips, and your wishes!

Hey...wait minute...wasn't Passepartout a character in Around the World in Eighty Days, starring David Niven?

i wonder what the "white pigment powder" was tho...

@@agwbcfjc2 yea !!! Thinking it was Jackie Chan??? great film

I can only vouch for my recipe as presented in the video, Valentina, but your requirement could be satisfied by the part in my follow up video, (link in description) where I describe how to apply the gesso to a board, and how to make the gesso less absorbant. Whenever I use someone else's recipe for anything, I always end up tweaking it for my own use. Every painter needs to find the perfect solution for their own needs, so you should definitely give your idea a whirl. Just make sure to try it on an expendable painting, before getting too ambitious in scale. My rule of thumb is that if something is going to crack, break or otherwise fall apart, it will do so within a week. If it's still intact at that point it will probably last.

Maybe, but that's way outside my realm of expertise! Have fun experimenting!

Very late reply: Thanks, I'll give it a go. Always interesting to try new variants.

This is outside my skill set, I'm afraid.

Sorry for the late reply Genevieve! I don't pay enough attention to my channel! The thin plywood shouldn't be a problem at that scale, as long as you are careful to dampen the rear at each stage, as described in the video. I'm glad you found the dampening between layers useful. This was a game changer for me too. It shows how a small detail of technique can make the difference between success and disaster.

I dont mean to be off topic but does any of you know of a method to log back into an Instagram account..? I somehow forgot my account password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me.

@Briggs Jaxon Instablaster :)

@Dominik Magnus Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site through google and im in the hacking process atm. Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

@Dominik Magnus it worked and I actually got access to my account again. I am so happy! Thanks so much, you saved my ass !

Sorry Sara, that's outside my experience.

Pas de quoi! Ne manquez pas la vidéo suivante, qui vous donnera les astuces nécessaires pour bien appliquer le gesso.

Oops, j'ai répondu sur l'autre compte. Lost Spring Band, c'est moi!

Indeed, the glue to water ratio looks a lot like 50/50 on the screen, but the ratio is by weight, not volume. If you try to make the glue with a 50/50 ratio by weight, you'll soon appreciate the difference! That would be a hell of a lot of glue granules! I've never tried this ratio, but I can guess that you'd end up with something looking more like toffee than chicken soup!

Sounds fine to me. Make sure the wood is just a little rough (light rub with sandpaper) to give the gesso something to grip on to. And remember - however much you trust someone's advice, test any unfamiliar process on small expendable panels before diving into a potential masterpiece!

Never used it for that purpose, but I suppose it would work. As always, try it on an expendable test piece first!

You're welcome! Be sure to check out the accompanying video about how to apply the gesso to a panel. This will help avoid common mistakes. Hope you enjoy the results!

Never tried it Didier, but I can imagine it working very well. Thanks for the tip!

You're right to say that it isn't gesso without the chalk. I suppose the acrylic glue has replaced the rabbit skin in theatres as it is just easier to handle, store, etc. It probably is cheaper to make your own gesso, but that's not the main reason to do so. It's more a question of controlling the quality and the degree of absorbency you need for your particular requirements. Don't worry about losing the recipe. It's very simple, as described in this video, and you can find further details in the reference material listed in the 'credits' at the end. Be sure to watch the following video about how to actually apply it to a panel, as this can be tricky. My instructions are intended as a reliable base from which an artist can improvise to make a finely tuned 'custom' gesso for their own work. And yes, it was, and still is used on fine furniture, although possibly in a 'stickier' version, as you suggest. Indeed, the only thing that varies is the ratio of glue to water. The most important thing is not to let it boil during preparation - hence the use of a double boiler.

I'm afraid I have no experience with casein. The gesso I use is perfectly customised to my requirements, so I'll be sticking with it for a good while, but I would be very interested in the results of your experiment.

Hi James, I used your ration and it worked well i believe. I'm still coating the panels and have not yet had a chance to paint on them but I feel confident about it! I will let you know when they're up on my website if you want to check them out. Thanks again for uploading this video!

Hope it went well on your panels! I notice that my video about how to apply the gesso to a panel has only about 700 views, compared to this video which currently shows over 5000. I find this odd since the application of gesso is at least as tricky as making it!

Hi James, the casein gesso experiment went well i do believe. on some of the first panels, I would rub my finger on it and there was a dusty residue, but after a longer period of time it dried completely. I attribute this to atmospheric conditions. I used slaked plaster for my gesso recipe, and did the 1:1 by weight that you suggested. I believe it worked great! I suppose the true test is time it's self. The application was definitely tricky. I read The Artist's Hand book and also followed your video and achieved a system that was satisfactory for me. I'm on the road right now, but will post a link to see the panels I made as soon as I can. Thanks for helping out, James! Dominic

Hello Dominic, I have some questions regarding your recipe/process for casein gesso. Do you use borax or baking soda or something else and do you make your own casein? Is the gesso kept warm for application. Do you have any reading recommendations etc.? Regards Alex

I never have, but I think it might work just fine. Try it on a small panel first.

@@JamesKingsilentlife actually after commenting that. I went and made some gesso with the gym chalk glue and some white paint. It worked really well

@@purplerider2362 Hey, glad to hear it! I'll have to try that some time!

I've never tried, but I know terracotta has a tooth and absorbency which would take gesso well. It is also rigid, so there would be no danger of cracking, as long as the terracotta is fully fired and will no longer shrink. Don't put the gesso on un-fired clay, as the gesso will crack as the clay shrinks during drying. Good luck!

You're welcome!

I've never had occasion to try it, but I've heard that it works well.

@@JamesKingsilentlife The mural si un course. Clove is fine ando .1ml/egg of ampicilina hace extender the emulsión lige exponentially!

I prefer to work on rigid surfaces, so I can't offer any advice for gesso on canvas, I'm afraid. A recipe for non-cracking gesso on a flexible surface is the holy grail for painters. I suspect that Rubens's generation used an oily lead white primer, not gesso, when painting on canvas.

maybe add some vegetable glycerine, but even then it will still crack maybe...

I don't know 100% but I've used calcium carbonate and plaster of paris interchangeably in my work with no issues.

@@thedude1744 Hello, it looks you know your stuff👏👏 I hope you can help with my dilemma. I am looking for a peeling effect after applying RSG (following a couple of German artists) however can’t find an answer I painted the canvas with acrylic paint, then applied RSG, dried 24 hours and don’t know what to do next in order to get cracks/peeling results. Would be really grateful for your feedback/suggestions

No, don't try it. That is burnt lime, you could burn your skin and your paintings.

It is suitable for both!

It is certainly suitable for both, but if you are painting with acrylics you might as well save yourself a lot of time by just using acrylic primer right off the art store shelf!

Tiago M I would recommend any tub of cheap acrylic gesso for beginners, but as soon as you start making paintings you want to keep or sell, then you should be prepared to invest in quality materials. This said, the ingredients for this gesso are not particularly costly. The most expensive ingredient is your time! That's why I recommend making enough for several panels at once. I devote a couple of days for making four or five panels. It becomes less time consuming as you become more experienced, but it is never a quick process. Be sure to watch my follow up video about how to apply the gesso. There are some points of technique which you must follow to avoid disaster! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-T47B0WSPSj8.html

Looking through my old comments, I see that I replied to you on my other channel. You probably figured out already that it was me, but, just in case, The Lost Spring Band is me and my sons having fun during the lock downs, and beyond.

You're welcome!

Hi Karin. Linen is a particular kind of cloth, more suitable as a support for oil painting than cotton or any other fiber. You can probably find a supplier on the web, but ideally you'll find a shop selling lengths of cloth, cut to size. These are usually catering to the tailoring market. They will have various grades of linen in stock, from coarse weave to fine weave. It must be pure linen, which is grey in colour, not a mix of linen and cotton. You will choose according to the kind of work you want to produce. Fine detail will require a finer weave in the same way as different grains of paper suit different styles of drawing. Nowadays I rarely use linen canvas for my own work, as I prefer the rigid support of wood. Please note that my gesso is only suitable for such a support. It will crack if you use it on flexible canvas. However, you can glue a piece of canvas to a wood panel if you really want that texture, and that will allow you to use my gesso recipe. Just make sure you wrap the canvas around the edges and secure it with staples or tacks in the same way as for a regular canvas.

+ploopie flooper No, I'm afraid you can't make gesso without some kind of glue. I've heard that linseed oil can be added to the chalk powder/glue mix to make a more flexible gesso for stretched canvas, but I can't see any reason for wanting to use it otherwise. If the gesso is too absorbent for your painting technique you can modify this with the turps/varnish as demonstrated in the video on how to apply gesso. I don't know what scale you're working on, but you might make some small test boards to see what suits you best.

+James King ok, this is an amateur question as I am new to oil paint (used acrylic for years). but what is the difference between painting on a primed surface and a gesso'd surface? if I used linseed oil with white pigment in it, painted on a raw piece of wood, and painted on that surface, would that have the same strength to last hundreds of years like the use of gesso does? is it only that gesso provides a really great surface to paint on? is it more luminescent? is that the only reason to use it? or is the use of glue what gives the structure to adhere to the wood? I know linseed oil is used by carpenters to preserve wood surfaces, but I don't know much more than that. Thanks again for your expert advice on these inquiries.

+ploopie flooper The difference can only be appreciated by experience. Try simple acrylic gesso, then try traditional gesso, and you'll see what I mean. I find it easier with my gesso to acheive the smooth surface I love to paint on, and to control the degree of absorbency. And, yes, it is luminescent, particularly if used with some lithopone white as suggested in my videos, although the addition of white pigment will make it a little harder to acheive the absolute smoothness which is the distinctive quality of traditional gesso. I'm not crusading against acrylic gesso, but I do want to give artists the choice, rather than being dictated to by the art materials market, which naturally tends to favour profit margins over product quality. If you're new to oil painting you need to look into the principle of 'fat over lean'. This means that each layer of a painting should have a progressively higher oil content, allowing it to have a greater flexibilty than the layer below. The closer a layer is to the surface, the more it will be required to move, albeit infinitessimally, under the influence of changing air pressure, humidity, etc. If you dive straight in with a lot of linseed oil you'll be restricting your possibilities thereafter.

Of course, if you choose to paint 'alla prima' with only one layer of paint, which is the method favored by most 'plein air' painters, this won't be such an important consideration.It's interesting how the romance languages seem to bubble up to the surface of English when we talk about painting!

+James King Thanks for your well guided replies, James. Quite helpful!

+ploopie flooper Yes, I often use this gesso on canvas glued to a panel. It will work on any well braced, rigid surface. I find that diluted wood glue is fine for fixing the canvas to the board. Be sure to apply the coat of rabbit skin glue to the canvas before applying the gesso. I apply two coats of glue to such a surface to make sure that the canvas is well protected from the acidic properties of the linseed oil in my medium. Finally, depending on the grain of your canvas, you may have to apply more coats of gesso to get it smooth. It depends how much of the grain of the canvas you want to be apparent. If the grain is extremely coarse you might even consider making a thicker gesso and applying it with a spatula or palette knife. In any case, this gesso is perfect for calibrating just the texture you need.

+James King Great info! Thanks for your reply. I know rabbit skin glue is also used for making musical instruments. would you advise using it to construct the wood frames for my panels? and can I use it to glue the canvas to the plywood? My desire is to use the same glue for the entire structure. Less ingredients.

+ploopie flooper In theory it's ok to use the rabbit skin glue to fix the canvas to the wood. Probably best to use it full strength (one part dry glue to twenty parts water), and cover the front surface at the same time. You might choose to scrape away the excess with a flexible spatula. This serves to seal the interstices of the canvas. Then, once this is dry, you can procede straight to the first coat of gesso. I'd also recommend wrapping the edges around the wood support, and tacking it down as you would on a canvas stretcher frame. I say this because I once got a surprise when some canvas I'd glued down with rabbit skin glue just peeled away from the wood. It's a good point about wanting to limit your ingredients, but I like using acrylic glue as it's extremely tough and reliable, and it's always there in the tool cupboard ready made. I never paint with the stuff, but I'm happy to use it for what it does best!

+James King Great advice. Thanks James and happy painting!

Not a clue, mate. Sorry! What are you planning to use the putty for?

@@JamesKingsilentlife filling and patching on gessoed pieces. Thank you for the reply!

I can't imagine any weight being lost simply by reducing rabbit skin granules to powder, so, yes the same proportions should apply. In any case, whatever recipe you follow, it always comes down to trial and error. The better the original advice, the fewer trials and errors will be necessary. As with anything, one should be prepared to get it wrong a few times before getting it right all the time! My aim with these videos is to help fellow painters get it right with as little frustration as possible!

great! thank you very much sir

You're welcome! I would advise watching my follow-up video about how to apply the gesso to a panel. It's all too easy to make a hash of it, if you aren't aware of a couple of simple tricks.

yes I did thank you! I'm trying it now on a few panels. Thank you very much!

Cool! All ears if you have any problems.

Commercial gesso is made out of acrylic resins.

One is often in a hurry to get started when using a new technique. I know that from personal experience! I'm glad you watched the second video. I should make it clearer how important this is. The thin brushstrokes you applied to that first panel should stay in place (with maybe a little smudging) if you go ahead and complete the process, carefully applying the turps/damar mixture over the top.

Thanks so much. As you say, why don't they teach these things any more??! I have a Damar glaze medium but I'm assuming thats the wrong thing? Do you make your own Damar varnish or is it relatively economical to buy? Sorry.. lots of questions! Also, is the quality of the turps essential? I'm afraid I just use a household turps from B and Q when painting....

If I'm using Damar I'll buy it ready made. Not cheap, but worth the price. Actually I usually use mastic varnish, which I do make up from granules, mixing it with 'pure gem' turpentine in a ratio of 1:1 by weight. Household turps is OK, I suppose, but I suspect it isn't really pure turps. For finishing off a gesso panel I'll further dilute the varnish with the pure gem turps so that it's more like 2:1, turps to varnish. To make the mastic varnish I just put the granules in the turps and leave it sealed. It is ready to use after about a week. It can also be carefully warmed up to make things quicker, but this is dangerous and unnecessary. It's always a good idea to allow time to work its magic!

Just seal it with some diluted rabbit skin glue about half strength of what you used for the Gesso, adjust for preference. Great surface to paint on