Tempera

Perhaps the most ancient and persistent dye known to mankind. Now there are many varieties of distemper very different in properties and consistency, but initially the tempera is a mixture of pigment with egg yolk. This uncomplicated recipe, and there still exists a lot of additives and compounding preparations. Each master had his own secret "creation" of paint, which is passed down from father to son or from master to apprentice. Someone chose to write fresh colors, and every morning the day began with the manufacture of distemper, someone gave preference fermented colors (ie fermented). To do this, ready to spread out on the jars of paint were placed in a dark place at about day after the appearance of the characteristic odor of a pronounced tempera followed abruptly cooled. We should not think that in the old days it was available only in winter. Rural residents of the Russian heartland probably still familiar with the construction of a glacier. This is a fairly deep hole into which the winter laying large pieces of ice shed being constructed on top, which is protected from direct sunlight and helps maintain the cold. This simple device worked very well as a refrigerator all summer until frost.

After cooling, the fermentation process stops and the paint can be used. Such tempera kept in a dark place, covering jars with a damp cloth. Already in the finished paint or during the "creation," added leaven must, vodka, honey.

Rubbing pigment with a binder in a mortar or on a flat stone, as well as home-cooking oil-based paint. Egg tempera is a stable, durable paint is very dense, covering power, silky-matte in appearance. Immediately after drying, the paint can not be diluted to its original condition, and a couple of months, the fat in the yolk, by entering into a chemical reaction with oxygen to harden to form water-resistant film.

In today's world of industrial production of paint and there were other kinds of distemper, cheaper and more convenient to store. Temperature of PVA - poly-vinyl-acetate. Binder - a well-known adhesive. Immediately after drying forms a resistant layer irreversible, the consistency of the paint is much thicker, h eat egg tempera, is available in tubes.

Oil temperature - emulsion paint. Pigment found in oil droplets, a suspension which is placed in an aqueous solution. The paint is diluted with water before it dries, when oil droplets are released, the next step - setting the oil, and only after that oil temperature becomes irreversible.

Now egg tempera is widely used by professional artists. For example, a lacquer miniature, in the fields Kholui, Msery, Palekh. But the most popular and widespread in tempera technique of icon painting. The vast majority of egg tempera icons written, although there are boards made in oil. So far, the best paint is one that is made by hand. And most of these artists made it yourself.