Page 25 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Tshedor finishing a canvas; first checking for pinholes after the application of gesso,
then moistening the canvas in preparation for damp polishing.
been rolled and unrolled many times. A mixture of the Both sides of the cloth required damping and
right 'grip' was obtained through experience. polishing in this manner. However, before the artist
could proceed to burnish the back, he had to wait until
Polishing the Ground the cloth had completely dried, but he did not need to
stop work if he was preparing a batch of several canvases
The final step in the preparation of the ground was simultaneously. By the time he had finished burnishing
to make the surface perfectly smooth and even by his third or fourth canvas on one side, the first canvas
polishing it. Some Tibetan painters actually used two would be dry and ready to be done on the reverse side.
types of polishing: one called "damp polishing" (rZon The artists we worked with usually polished each
dbur), which was polishing over a dampened surface, side of the cloth twice by this damp-burnishing method.
and the other called "dry polishing" (skarn dbur), If the surface had been polished along the vertical axis
burnishing over a dried coat of gesso. the first time, the artist would burnish it along the
Damp Polishing horizontal axis the second time. Others only polished
the canvas once on each side. Burnishing the dampened
Once the earlier coats of gesso had dried and the artist canvas made it smooth and even, so that the texture of
was convinced that they gave enough coverage to con-
the underlying cloth stood out less. A smooth board
stitute a good ground, the next step was to moisten
beneath the cloth during polishing facilitated this
slightly a portion of one side of the cloth in preparation
process by allowing the artist .to bear down a little
for polishing. No more than a third or a fourth of a
without gouging the canvas.
standard-size canvas needed to be moistened at a time,
Dry Polishing
otherwise parts of it would begin to dry before the
polishing was finished. Next, the artist had to lay the Having burnished the cloth on both sides, some painters
stretcher over a smooth board or some other smooth next carefully examined each side for its merits and
surface. Then, taking a polishing stone (dbur rdo, usually defects. Then they turned the best side down and
a smooth alluvial stone) or some similar hard object polished the back of the canvas one last time. This time
with a smooth, rounded bottom, such as a conch-shell, they applied no water to the dry gesso; they simply
he rubbed the moistened part of the gesso, working back rubbed it with the polishing stone. This was the so-
and forth along one axis of the cloth. Having completed called dry polishing, which left the back of the cloth
that area, he then moistened and polished another part with a very smooth - and sometimes even a glossy -
of the cloth, and continued until the whole of one side finish. The better side of the cloth was not dry
had been gone over once. burnished. It was the side to be painted, and the final

POLISHING THE GROUND 21