Making paint on stage...

[propguy]

I am doing props for Red on a very limited budget (i.e. buying canvas for each production eats a good chunk of the $$$) and am looking into how to make the paint so crucial to the action of the play. I have done a ton of research on real recipes for paint and what Rothko would have used. I am now at task to have the making of the paint look realistic on stage but also easily cleaned up from the floor and costumes. I would also like to try something that can possibly be stored overnight and reused more than once. We have 3 and 4 day runs each week for three weeks. Below are the recipies I found I want to emulate but not really do on stage if at al possible. If you could give me ideas on recipies for "fake" paint in place of the recipies below that would help. Also, we are using a hot plate type burner and the double boiler as used in the true paint recipies.

Hide glue Recipes​

http://www.earthpigments.com/art/artists-glue-paints.cfm
Introduction
Glues used for paints can be divided into three categories, plant based, animal based or polymer based. Here we provide a recipe for making Hide Glue Paint, as well as a simple glue based craft paint.

Hide Glue Paint
Ingredients
1 part Hide Glue or Rabbit Skin Glue Granules
10 parts water
Clove Oil (optional)
Pigment
This produces a very tough, quick drying paint as well as a glue solution for gesso grounds. Soak the glue granules in water at least ½ hour. Warm in a double boiler until the glue dissolves. The temperature should be 140ºF but should not exceed 180ºF. Hide glue can be reheated, but will lose strength with subsequent reheatings. Keep the solution warm while using it, and lengthen with warm water. For use as a paint to mix with pigments, add pigments directly to the glue solution until desired color is achieved. A drop of Clove Oil in prepared paints helps to preserve and impart a pleasant smell. Refer to our Buckskin and Leather section for using hide glue for Native American Arts.
　
http://www.iconofile.com/detail.asp?product_id=510:12GLU002
Glue Size Recipe

Ingredients
50 grams rabbit skin glue (dry)
1 liter water
5 grams alum
Prepare rabbit skin glue by soaking 50 grams of rabbit skin glue in 800 ml of water for approximately 2 hours. You can also leave it overnight.
Add 5 grams of alum to 200 ml of water and let it dissolve. Add the alum solution to the warm glue before applying it on the panel or canvas. The alum will make the sizing water resistant and form a jelly-like consistency once the glue has had time to cool down.
Apply the glue as a jelly, in a single, thin layer by using a spatula.
Let the size dry for approximately 24 hours.
Distemper Paint Recipe
Hide glue and gelatine both provide a low cost, easily formulated paint which is called distemper. Diluted with water, it is good for color sketching, as well as for painting. Distemper paintings have lasted for centuries without change.

Ingredients
1 part hide glue (dry)
10 parts water
Leave the glue in water overnight or for a full day.
Let the glue absorb as much water as it can, then pour off the excess water.
Warm this swollen glue buy surrounding the container with hot tap water. This will cause it to melt. All hide glues should never be heated over 140° F.
How to Use
Work the dry pigments with water into a heavy paste with a pallete knife. Then grind the pigment into the warm solution of glue. Keep the paints warm enough to remain in solution while painting with them, and use warm water to dilute them. Use a bristle brush for painting, applying the paint in thin layers to glue-sized paper, cardboard, panel, or canvas. This method is excellent for alla prima painting and for thin underpainting. To harden and preserve the paint film, spray the dried painting with a 10% solution of water and alum.

 

[josh88]

I assume the paint needs to be red or do you need multiple colors? you could think about fake blood, depending on the recipe it should wash out of the costumes and clean up pretty easily, you just might not get the opacity you want. Are you using the hotplate on stage?

 

[Theresa]

I'd test this first to see how washable it really is.
Crayola Washable Paint - BLICK art materials

 

[propguy]

The paint will be on the hot plate on stage. Also, we will see the actor making the paint and heating/ stirring it before pouring it into an empty bucket to paint with. There are three scenes with paint and two of them have premade buckets of paint and the one I am most concerned about is made on stage using pigments and other materials. If there is a way to make it seem like the actor is really doing this but not having to use the real things that would be a plus. And yes, josh88, the paint is red but in the paint-making scene it is to be a plum red. In another scene it does represent blood.

 

[MPowers]

I think you are right on track going with the Crayola Washable for your actual "Paint". As a scenic artist who learned with dry pigment and hide glue, and I still think that is the absolute best method (if time, hassle of the glue mix and cooking, the problems with storage, the necessary high skill level of the painter as a craftsman etc. etc.) for high quality painting.

A couple of hints that your actor or director might (or might not) find interesting or helpful.
Hide glue is never the same from batch to batch or even within a single batch of granules. There is no precise measurement of water to granules by either weight or volume. The exact quality is determined by the health and diet etc of each individual animal at the time of slaughter. I was taught to dip a thumb and fore finger into the warm glue water mix and press them together for a 2 second count and open them up. The sound and feel of the "snap" as your fingers opened up indicated the strength of the glue. Thinking that was far too imprecise, a grad school prof of mine, in an effort to precisely quantify the glue to water proportions, actually visited a a rendering glue factory to see how they determined the strength of the glue to ship. They led him back to the master glue maker who showed him how to dip his fingers and listen to the "pop" when pulled apart. This test method might lend some verisimilitude to the actors actions while mixing the "paint"

Many artists worked in what is know as dry pigment technique. You don't actually mix the paint as a liquid. You lay in the base colors, then put several colors of powder around the edge of a mixing palette (3' or 4' square of Formica with a slightly raised edge). there are two buckets of water, one the glue/size mix and one clear water. The artist would dip his brush in the glue water and then in the desired color of powder(s). A quick dip and rinse in the water, the glue and a second color and then mix them together on the palette for each series of brush strokes as a precise and subtle color mix.

Anyway good luck on your hunt for paint. be aware, most reds will stain even if they wash out, YMMV.

 

[millamber]

We are currently doing this show at my theatre (closing Sunday) and my wife is the paint charge for the production. The way we have ours staged, the actors only put paint on canvas once, during the "priming" scene. The paint mixing was done with dummy materials, colored sand for pigment, a real egg, and clear gelatin for the glue, that was swapped for premade buckets of paint for the scene. The size itself is actually starch mixed with acryllic paint to get the proper "blood red" color, that is made on a weekly basis and used throughout the run. Early on we tried using the washable tempura paint, but the color was not coming out correctly. Being kids paint, the color is too cheery and nice for what we were after - the canvases kept turning out pink... Once we switched to the starch/paint mixture, it went very smoothly.

 

[propguy]

I had actually thought about having a premade paint bucket. Do you know how it was worked into the blocking of your production? Currently the director wants Ken to go to the burner and walk to in front of the wall with the canvas and pour the paint into both buckets. Knowing your theatre's solution may help when I talk to the director. Thank you!!!

 

[millamber]

We blocked it so that Ken pours the paint into the buckets behind the counter, then hides them under the counter and grabs the premade ones.

 

[MarshallPope]

I'm not familiar with the show, but could you possibly have a bucket with a dividing wall down the middle and pour the "made" paint into one half and then use the "real" paint from the other half?