Women of
the
Fur Trade
Natural Pigments
By Patsy Harper
For millenia, humans have beautified their world,
adorned their bodies and clothing, deccorated their
dwellings, and expressed their thoughts by painting.
Pigments are the basis of all paints, and have come
from natural sources from the beginning of time
through today.
The focus of this project is to determine sources of
Natural paigments and binders used prior to 1840,
with methods and recipes for their use on a variety of
surfaces, with an emphahsis on painting on buckskin
and rawhide.
Paint in it's simplest form, consists of ground up
pigment suspended in some sort of liquid, or binder.
When the liquid dries into a film, the ground pigment
is mechanically bound or stuck to the painting surface.
Dyes on the other hand are chemically bound to a
material generally with the use of a mordant (alum,
chromium, copper, tin and iron.) This project will
focus on ground mineral pigments, binders and
application methods.
The first paintings were Cave Paintings. Ancient
peoples would decorate walls of protected Caves with
paint made from dirt or charcoal mixed with spit or
animal fat. In Cave paintings, the pigments (often
carbon black or ochre) stick to the wall partially
because the pigment gets trapped in the pourous wall,
and partially because the binding media (the spit or
fat) dries, adhering the pigment to the wall. Over the
years, countless graves unearthed by archaeologists,
exposed bodies covered in red pigment or chunks of
pigment buried alongside the bodies. Red, associated
with blood, the most life sustaining of body fluids, was
the appropriate color to symbolize life's meaning and
end. The word Hematite (the source of many iron oxide
pigments) is derived from the Greek word "hema"
meaning blood.
The predominant colors used in rock art and cave art
are black(from charcoal, soot, or manganese oxide),
yellow ochre (limonite), red ochre (hematite or baked
limonite), and white (kaolin clay, burnt shells, powdered
gypsum, or powdered calcium carbonate). All of theses
pigmeents may be used on leather or rawhide as well.
Early cave art in Seminole Canyon was monochromatic,
in red, and as culture grew more sophisticated, the color
palette expanded.
Many colors of pigments were obtained from both
organic and inorganic sources in ancient times, and
used to paint various surfaces such as braintan leather
clothing and accoutrements, rawhide, the human body,
etc. Blue color was obtained from powdered azurite
and lapis, duck manure, and certain clays. A fine
Blue-green clay was obtained from deposits near
Mankato, Michigan. Organic sources of blue include
Turkey's Tail, a greenish blue polypore that grows on
dead decaying wood (not tannish ones). Native
Americans could get Indigo from either Guatemala or
Ecuador, which was traded well up onto Kansas, long
before the Spanish ever set foot here. American Indigo
has purple tones to it, but Indian-Japanese indigo has
green tones. Berries and crushed flowers were also used
to obtain blue color, by rubbing the plant material
directly on the leather. Violets and Broadbeard
Beardtongue (Penstemon angustifolius Nutt.ex Pursh)
were examples of the flowers petals used for blue.
During the reservation period in 1880's-1890's,
laundry bluing was used as a replacement for
organic blue pigments used by the Native Americans.
It's main ingredient in the begining was powdered
synthetic ultramarine. It was obtained in trade, came
as a liquid or as a powder compressed into stick, and
was used on many buckskin items, particularly by
the Kiowa. Here are some examples of Kiowa
artifacts from the National Museum of American
History.
Kiowa women's moccasin stained with laundry bluing
Photograph by Paul Calcaterra
Kiowa men's moccasins stained with laudry bluing
Kiowa's men shirt front,
fringe stained with laundry bluing
Sample Swatch of bluing on commercial braintain,
left is undiluted,right is diluted with water,
by Jack Smith
An organic source of red was Cochineal. It was native
west of the Mississippi, and is produced from the
bodies of small insects that grow on the prickly pear
cactus.
Lady's Bedstraw gives a good vermillion red color.
Harvest the roots, dry them out, clean the mud etc.
off of them and then grind the roots really fine, then
soak them to extract the red coloring. The key here is
drying the root first. Blood was also used as red
pigment. Pucoon roots also yield a red pigment.
Powdered catlinite stone dust can be used as a pigment
on buckskin as well. Just moisten the leather with spit
first, then rub in the powdered stone pigment and let it
dry. It produces a dark dusty pinkish red, as in the
horse quirt below, made recently by Jack Smith of
South Dakota.
Catlinite dust was also used on the exposed rawhide on this
Crow-style knife sheath, also made by Jack Smith.
Grasses will produce green pigment, gathered fresh,
wadded up and crushed, and rubbed directly onto the
leather. Color varies with type of grass and water
content. Other crushed leaves will produce green
pigment as well, from the chlorophyll content in the
leaf. Powdered malachite can be used as green pigment
as well. Lambsquarter and pond algae can be used for
greens. Yellows can be obtained from curly dock root
and sumac root. Winged dock is a nice yellow orange.
Walnut hulls, boiled or soaked in water, produce a
dark brown stain that can be used to dye buckskin.
Pecan hulls, processed the same way, produce a
lighter golden brown stain. In Norman Feder's
article on bottom tab leggings of the Sioux, he states
that the brown paint used for stripes was made
from powdered lignite. Lignite is a low-grade coal
that can be found in many places in Eastern
Montana, for example, in rocky outcroppings on
erouded hillsides. It is a dark brown-black as it
comes from the ground.
Native Americans used yellow and red ochre
extensively as stains on buckskins garments. Here
is an example of Mescalero Apache woman's skirt
stained with both, from American Museum of
Natural History:
A Kiowa dress with Cowrie shells and yellow ochre stain on
the bodice,from Sotheby's 1998 auction catalog (Note green
pigment stain at the bottom hem)
Here is an outstanding Kiowa dress with green pigment stain,
yellow ochre, and red ochre at the bottom.
Some of the first European and American artists to
travel west used Natural pigments to paint a record
of Native American tribes and their lives. Until paint
was produced commercially during the Industrial
Revolution (circa 1800), painters had to make their
own paints by grinding pigment into oil. The paint
would harden and would have to be made fresh each
day. Due to the difficulty of transporting slow- drying
wet oil paintings, many worked in watercolors or
charcoal sketches in the field, and came home to make
the oil paintings later from their field sketches. Often,
they made their own pigments from available materials,
mixing pigments with water and honey. The honey acts
a humectant to keep the paint softer and more easily
mixed, and to bind it to the paper.
Binders in paint make pigment stick to the surface;
similar to the way mordants make dyes stick to fabric
surfaces. Various sealers may also be used after the
pigment is applied. Sometimes a substance such as
hide glue is used as a sizing, applied to the clean white
braintanned hide before the paint is applied, or
before it is smoked to leave a white area on the hide.
Paint it on the areas or lines that you want to
remain white, and let it dry. Then smoke the hide
and the other blank areas will turn darker but the
hide-glue-painted portions will not. This technique
was used on painted Buffalo Robes.
Some common binders that were used historically by
Native Americans include human spit, hide glue, bone
marrow fat, other animal fats such as bear grease,
prickly pear cactus juice (may leave a green residue
or tint), and soapy juice from yucca roots or leaves.
California Indians also used a local plat called
soaproot (Chlorogalum pomeridianum). Egg whites
were used (bird eggs), milkweed (Asclepias sp.) sap
and other plant saps, also urine.
If the pigment is clay based, then the only thing that
would need to be done is to add water to the processed
pigment to make it stick together. If the pigment is
pure mineral, then a small amount of glue should
be added to the water to help it hold its desired shape.
A thin mixture of hide glue works well. Hide glue,
which is also known as rabbit skin glue or horse
hoof glue, was traditionally made from cooking down
all of the left over parts after an animal was butchered.
Skin, bones, tendons etc. were cooked until they were
reduced to basically solids, fats and gelatin. It is the
gelatin that makes the glue.
When choosing a binder, the questions you have
to ask yourself are:
What is the material that you are applying
the pigment onto?
How long do you want it to last?
Will it need to be waterproof or at least water-resistant?
Answers to all these questions determine the binder
that will be used. The basic rule of thumb for applying
pigments onto any surface is: the binder should be as
similar a material you can find as the material to which
you are applying it. Plant based oils, juices and saps
should be used on woods and plant fibers; animal
based oils, fats, egg yolks, eye and hide glues on
hides, skins and bones. Experience using hide glue
and milkweed sap as a binder has shown them to be
water resistant on a variety of surfaces. Binders are
as varied as the cultures that used them. Local
materials would have been known and used.
There are several differnt application methods that
may be used, with or without a binder. Brushing the
powdered dry pigment directly into the leather with
the fingers is one way. Moss or fur can be used to
daub and blend. A pointed stick or bone also works
quite well for drawing lines. Using different kinds of
primitive brushes to apply it is another way. Brushes
were made of cut animal bones, hollow bones with
animal hair inserted in the end, yucca fibers bound
with cordage, feathers (trimmed or untrimmed), and
dried yucca
Below are pictures of some types of primitive
brushes
Many of the beautiful rock images found in the
European caves as well as the myriad of hand stencils
from around the world were made by spraying the
pigment out of the artists' mouth, sometimes through
a tube. Any hollow tube of approximately .25 inch
(6cm) diameter will work; bird or animal bones,
bamboo, reeds etc. You can also blow the pigment
out of your mouth without using a tube. Although
this technique may not be as controllable, the
Australian Aboriginal people still use this method
today.
(Caution! When spaying any pigment out of your
mouth, make sure binder does not contain any
harmful materials, i.e.: poisonous or toxic plant
saps, juice, etc.).
________________________________________________
An Experiment in Rock Art
Painting
At the SHUMLA School in Comstock, Texas,
archaeologist who were studying the 4000-year-old
rock art in Seminole Canyon State Park did some
experiments to try and replicate the paints used in
the rock art. They found sources for the colors used
in mineral deposits near the park, and obtained the
pigments there. The pigments were ground to a
fine powder using stone tools such as a mano and
metate (flat grinding stones), or a molcajete
(mortar and pestie).
The next important ingredient in producing paint is
the "binder". A binnder is the liquid in paints that
holds particles of pigment together and fastens them
to the support (in this case the support is the shelter
wall).
Chemistry professor, Dr. Marvin Rowe, and his
students at Texas A&M, determined that the binder
used in the paint was of an organic nature, however;
they still did not know what kind of organic binder
was used. In an attempt to answer this question,
artist and archeologist Dr. Carolyn Boyd began the
process of trying to rediscover the binder used 4000
years ago through experimental archeology.
Native Americans are reported to have used a variety
of substances as binders in making paint, including
blood, egg whites, sap from plants, animal fat and
even urine.
As an artist well experienced in mural painting both
indoors and outdoors, Boyd knew that the binder
required to produce fluid continuous lines in an
arid environment needed to be a slow drying
substance. This eliminated such possible binders as
blood, urine and egg whites. The binder also should
be close to colorless when used to make such colors
as yellows and whites, which again rules out blood.
Quanity was also a consideration. The amount of
binder required to produce some of the pictographs
would be sizeable. Given these considerations, she
determined that animal fat seemed the most likely
source. In considering the fauna available 4000 years
ago, Deer would have been an excellent source of fat.
Dr. Boyd communicated with Dr. Jerry Cook, a
wildlife ecologist at Texas A&M, and was informed
that the highest source of fat on a deer is contained
within the bone marrow, especially in the long bones
of the tibia and radius, too red in the humerous
and femur. She noted that the quanity and color of the
marrow varied according to age, season, and health
of the deer. The finely ground mineral pigments and
the deer bone marrow blended easily, however, the
consistency was too thick to be used for painting.
A "thinner" was required to acheive the necessary
fluidity.
Water could not serve as the thinner due to its
immiscibility or inability to mix with fat. Boyd needed
a third ingredient that would act as an emulsifying
agent to allow the water and the fat to be dispersed
one into the other. She asked Dr. Phil Dering, a
botonist and archeologist at Texas A&M, if there was
a plant that could provide the needed emulsifier.
He informed her that yucca, also known as soap
plant, contains an ingredient known as saponin.
Saponins are molecules that act like a detergent and
are composed of a steroid attached to a sugar
molecule. In aqueous solutions, sapponins have an
ability to foam, thereby acting as an emulsifier. In
reviewing the ethnographic literature, she found that
yucca was not only used by various Native American
groups as a detergent, but as a binder in paint as well.
The roots of the yucca contain the most saponin.
After removing the woody bark, Boyd pounded the
roots enough to break them open and allowed them
to soak in a small amount of water over night. The
next day the roots were pounded into a pulpy mass
and squeezed to render a soapy liquid.
The yucca juice, combined with the water added in
the processing of the yucca, served as an excellent
emulsifier-thinner. The liquid mixed well with the fat
and pigment, creating a silky, fluid paint. The
consistency of the paint could be adjusted with
varying quantities of yucca juice. The proportions
needed of each ingredient varied depending on
which mineral pigment was used, the quality of fat,
and the concentration of yucca juice.
The final product produced intense earth colors.
The paint was highly fluid and easy to work with as
commercial oil paints. The deer bone marrow served
as an excellent binder when used in combination
with yucca juice as the emulsifier-thinner. Although
we do not know for certain that this combination
of ingredients was the formula used by the ancient
artists, we do not know that the formula works and
the resources to create the paint would have been
readily available to the atrists 4000 years ago in the
lower Pecos River region of Texas.
_______________________________________________
Using Natural Animal
Hide Glue
(http://www.nativewayonline.com/glueinst.htm)
Use a premium quality hide glue formulated to be
water soluable and usable at different thicknesses.
To Mix:
Prepare a pan that is clean and can take some heat.
Mix approximately 50% by volume glue and water.
Allow the glue to absorb the water completely.
Apply heat to thoroughly mix and liquefy. Add more
water as needed to bring the glue to the proper
consistency. Most people try to use glue that is too
thick. If you add too much water, either add more
glue or cook the extra water out of the mix.
Do not scorch or boil the glue mix, as this can hurt
the properties of the glue and cause objectionable
odors.
To Use:
Keep the workplace clean and free of excess glue by
careful application and quickly wiping spills with a
wet cloth.
Hide glue is liquid when hot or very warm and will
gel or thicken if allowed to become cold. Do not
hesitate to add more water or change the
temperature of the glue to make it more usable.
After the final application layer, use a warm, wet
finger to smooth the surface of the glue and even
out lumps or thin spots.
Set piece aside and allow 10 to 24 hours for glue to dry
completely before using.
Natural hide glue will become sticky if exposed to
excessive moisture, but must be soaked for hours before
it will soften enough to lose it grip.
Hide glue can be sanded smooth after drying, but pains
should be taken to do the best job possible during the
wet stages.
Natural hide glue is compatible with natural sinews, gut
hafting material, rawhide and leather. It will adhere to
these materials and make a very strong, fiber reinforced
bond. It is not compatible with waxed artificial sinew,
nylon or other water resistant materials.
__________________________________________________
Native Americans used many different "canvases"
as places to apply pigment. Cave walls and rocks
have already been discussed. Here are some more
places where pigment was and is applied.
Natural pigments paints are a traditional source of
color among Native Americans for face and body
paint on humans and horses as well as paintings on
rawhide and finished hides. These guidelines describe
some techniques for application.
Face and Body:
For the face and body, the paint can be mixed with
bear grease into a thick, rich color. Mix with pigment
for desired color. Apply with fingertips. Solid areas
of color can be etched to create a pattern.
Animals:
Horses were often decorated with paints to signify
ownership and battle honors. Paint can be mixed
very thickly with water and painted with the hands
and fingers since larger designs are desired. Paint can
also be mixed with grease for this purpose, although
will be harder to remove from the hair.
Rawhide:
Rawhide articles such as parfleche were painted
while still damp in order for the pigment to penetrate
and mix with the natural glues in the hide. We have
created instructions for painting rawhide dry using
our hide glue to produce a similar result. "Brushes"
of varying widths were generally made from porous
bone or willow sticks which soaked the paint into
them. The paint could then be worked into the fibers.
After drying, a protective coating (called sizing) was
applied to the surface to protect it. Native Americans
often used the juice of Cactus for this purpose.
Hides or Cloth:
Pigment paints can be used for intricate designs, and
for coloring larger areas on hides and cloth. To stain
a large area, use the pigments dry and apply by
dipping a piece of buckskin or similar material into
the powder and rubbing it onto the surface until the
desired effect is acheived. When rubbing paint in dry
form, shake off any excess outdoors, then use a clean
applicator to continue to rub off or "transfer". To
make an authentic, colorfast liquid paint for hides,
pigments can be mixed with water and hide glue.
For authnetic use and style of application of natural
pigments to clothing and accessories, you need to
study plenty of artifacts to get a feel for design and
color. Here is a treasure trove online of Native
American artifacts from the Natural Museum
Collection:
http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/databases/northpublic/northpublic.htm
It allows you to search by tribe, region or object name
to view photographs of items of evreyday living from
clothing to utensils, etc. There you will find several
examples of earth paint on parfleche, other rawhide
and hide items, shirts, moccasins and clothing to
inspire and teach you.
_________________________________________
Dr. Solveig A. Turpin is a recognized authority on
the rock of the lower Pecos Region, with a P.H.D. in
anthropology from the University of Texas. She has
unique insights into the hunter-gather lifeways of
the lower Pecos people and the probable shamanic
origins of these rock art paintings. From the rock
art foundation website, she comments on the
probable spiritual significance of color in those
ancient times: "The dominant color used in the
paintings, no matter their age or subject material,
is red. This is true in all the styles, from the earliest
Pecos River shamans to the latest historic
autobiography. The names given to two of the
styles-Red Linear and Red Monochrome-attest to
this overwhelming popularity. Some of the selectivity
can be attributed to obvious factors-such as
availablity and durability; other factors are more
esoteric and aesthetic...the first response that leaps
to mind when asked about the color red is blood,
the essential fluid that courses through the veins of
all humans and animals. Of course, early people
were aware that loss of blood meant loss of life,
but they also knew that new life arrives in blood
as well...Psychologist and linguists studying people
who still live at a very elemental technological and
social level have found that the first colors to be
distinguished (i.e., named) are black, white, and
red. These we could call 'all color', 'no color', and
red. The strongest impulse on the chromatic wave
length is red so we are in a sense hard-wired to react
to red before any other color...To me, it is not merely
a coincidence that the most sophisticated art-and
the most clearly rooted in a ritual context-uses more
than one color...we can envision the Pecos River
and Bold Line Geometric styles as developing
within a trance-oriented religion, where multi-colored
visions are expectable".
Color is the most basic form of human artistic
expression, and pigments are the simplest forms of
color-in essence, they are all reflections of light.
Since these ancient artists are long gone from this
world, we may never know the true spiritual
significance of the colors in their rock art. But we
can see how deeply color affects our own mood,
our self-esteem, and our sense of beauty; and how
it touches our soul. And we can take care to learn
these ancient methods and traditions and preserve
them for generations to come, after we are long gone
as well.
Patsy Harper
_______________________________________
Reference
1) Pigments through the ages-how artists have colored our lives-
http://webexhibits.org/pigments/
2) Rock Art Foundation, Seminole Canyon rock art-color significance
http://www.rockart.org/faq/2000 02.htm
3) Paint-Making in Prehistory
http://www.shumla.org/discover/paintmaking.htm
4) Tom Haukaas, museum curator from Europe, e-mail to Plains
Indian Seminar Yahoo group.
5) Use of Oak galls for black dye and polypores for blue dye,
other pigments: Kimberly Packwood on pigments and dyeing,
e-mail conversation, April,2005-Native Ameerican Skills
Technology Yahoo group.
6) Peter Bowles, e-mail conversation on the Plains Indian Seminar
Yahoo group list, Sept.,2005
7) Kiowa artifacts from the National Museum of American History,
photographed by Paul Calcaterra, posted by e-mail to the Plains
Indian Seminar Yahoo group list, Sept.,2005
8) Jack Smith, e-mail conversation and photos posted to the Plains
Indian Seminar Yahoo group, Sept.,2005
9) Patsy Harper, independant research
10) Allen Chronister, artifact collector and author, e-mail
conversation 12/15/04 on the Plains Indian Seminar Yahoo
group.
11) Kathy and Bill Brewer, nationally recognized creators of
reproductions of Native Ammerican artifacts for collectors,
movies, and museums, e-mail conversation on the Plains
Indian Seminar yahoo group-Sept.,2005
12) Using Natural Animal Hide Glue for primitive weaponry projects:
http://www.nativewayonline.com/glues.htm
13) Primitive Ways article: "How to Paint a Mammoth", by Chuck
Krizon, published in The Bulletin of Primitive Technology.
(Fall 2002, #24)
http://www.primitiveways.com/paint a mammoth.html
14) Rick Hamilton, ethnobotanist, primitive skills instructor,
e-mail conversation on the Native American Skills
Technology yahoo group.
15) Using Painted Cliffs Earth and Mineral Pigments:
http://www.nativeamericanvisions.com/catalog/index.cfm?subCat id=36
http://www.nativeamericanvisions.com/content.cfm?id=22
16) Symbolism to this artist Lorena Moore ("Ironwing"), of earth
pigments, and sources for them
http://mineralarts.com/artwwork/paintedEarth.html
17) Tara Prindle, e-mail to the Native American Skills
Technology Yahoo group
18) Gary Winder, e-mail to the Lodge Owners Yahoo group
19) "Art and writing on the Frontier", by Cathy Johnson in
Muzzleloader Magazine's "The Book Of Buckskinning
VII".
