painting bows

[dmann]

I am trying to create primitive paints to paint a western indian bow. Does anyone have a recipe for a certian color

[Pat B]

You can buy natural pigments from crazycrow. Mix them with hide glue or egg whites(I think  ) I have also mixed these pigments with watered down white carpenters glue.
If you aren't trying to be authentic, craft paint from Wally World works fine. You can mix colors to get the right color for your project. Cleans up with water.

[billy]

dmann,

What colors are you trying to produce?  Need to know the colors, then I can help you.  I've made several west coast northern California style painted bows, and my most recent was done with all earth paints.  I've got some experience with it, but you'll have to gimme some specifics so I can help ya!

[Hillbilly]

I've made paint from different colors of clay mixed with various binders, just experiment with different colors and also with heating it-that often changes the color. Billy had a really good article in PA a few issues ago about it, he uses basically the same process that I have in the past-I was surprised how well it turned out the few times I've tried it.

[JackCrafty]

How "western" are we talking about?  Indians on the west coast, living next to the ocean, had more pigments available than those in the midwest, for example.

An ancient recipe for black paint can be made with ash (from burned grass) mixed with blood.  Of course, blood can be used as-is for red/brown paint.  Egg yolk can be applied straight as yellow paint.

Fresh leaves can be crushed and smeared onto the wood for a light green stain (but it will fade if left in the sun).  Certain roots or berries can be crushed and applied, as a stain, in a similar way.

I use shellac as a binder for all my natural paints but there other options.  If you're patient and a glutton for punishment, you can use pine rosin as a binder...just heat it up and mix in your favorite dry pigment.  You'll have to keep the work piece warm while you're painting but the paint will be waterproof when it cools.

Hide glue has been used as a binder for water color paints for as long as pottery has allowed people to boil water..... and was used often by Native Americans.

For pigments, I order mine on-line from art supply stores.

Hope that helps.

[smokeu]

ACRYLIC PAINT looks nice too, you can water them down to get an authentic look. They dry and wont wash off.

[dmann]

thanks guys for all your help. Names david by the way and being 16 ive only been in the primitive world for about two years. Red, black, and green are the colors for this specific project.

[Hillbilly]

The red can be made from red clay, and the black from charcoal. For a permenant green, I don't know.

[Ahnlaashock]

Vinegar with cast iron dissolved in it will stain wood anywhere from a beautiful red brown to turning it gray black.  On oak, it produces a flat black with gray shadows and streaks.  On good maple, it depends on the piece.  I have a test panel here that is nice enough to make you want a quart, and another piece that is pure shimmering golds.  Unfortunately, every piece of wood comes out different. 
Vinegar with cast dissolved in it and then mixed half and half with water and then poured over walnut hulls and allowed to steep for a couple of weeks changes the equation even more.  I purchased black silk for the front of the Red Oak Bow I am working on and it will be finished with the vinegar/iron/walnut stain.   

[mullet]

 You can get the green from copper nitrate fertilizer, and red from iron nitrate fertilizer. I also use it to dye rock.