Page 90 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

When the gold powder is very fine [but the gold Gold leaf could be made into gold paint by mixing
ink made from it] is too runny, mix it with some the leaf in a cup with a little honey, and then rubbing
nearly congealed roasted-wheat glue or grain the mixture against the side of the cup with the thumb.
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glue or animal-hide glue. This technique, although easier than grinding specks of
gold, nevertheless required a special touch because the
Pure gold neither tarnishes nor reacts with other natural tendency of the gold leaf was to clump up and
pigments under normal conditions. The gold used by not to dissipate into fine particles. To facilitate the
Tibetan artisans, however, often contained darkening mixing some artists said that it was best to stir the gold
impurities. These could be detected by rubbing some leaf continuously in one direction only.
gold powder between two clean sheets of paper. Dis-
colouration of the paper signified oxidation or Imitation Gold and Other Powdered Metals
adulterants. To obtain the brightest gold sheen the
powder had to be washed before use. The artist first Tibetans used several other powdered metals besides
added a little size solution to the gold powder in a cup, gold for art and related purposes. Powdered silver
and then rubbed the mixture with the thumb or fingers (dngul rdul), for example, was regularly used (as was
until it became thick and nearly congealed. Then he gold) in preparing metallic "ink" for the copying of
added a bit more size solution and repeated the stirring. sacred books on dark, indigo-dyed paper (mthing shag).
After doing this two or three times the artist allowed Silver was of course much cheaper than gold. One of the
the gold dust to settle to the bottom of the cup, and he problems with silver was that it was more prone to
then poured off the dirty liquid. Finally he added clear tarnish and darken than gold. Silver was not widely used
water and stirred the gold again, repeating the rinsing in thangka painting; the only time we saw silver applied
until the run-off water was quite clean. to thangkas was in the paintings of the Khams-pa painter
Similarly, gold paints prepared previously often Dorje Drakpa. He employed silver in the body nimbuses
darkened and needed washing before use. As Mi-pham- of White Tanis. In the .eyes of Tibetan artists and
rgya-mtsho wrote: patrons, silver could never be a real rival to gold.
Other metals were also powdered and used as
If you leave this gold-powder [paint] to sit for a pigments by Tibetan artisans, but only seldom were
day, it will become [darkened] as if covered with they applied to thangkas in Tibet. Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho,
a black film. Consequently, pour some water into for instance, gave directions for the powdering of brass
[its] colour pot and thoroughly mix [the gold
paint and water] with a stirring stick (shing bu),
repeatedly throwing out the water which has
drawn the dark contaminants into solution. Then
add the correct amount of size solution ....53

Once the gold had been ground it could be stored
as a dry powder or in the form of small discs or drops.
Tibetans made "gold drops" (gser gyi thigs po) by
first mixing the cleaned gold powder with some binder.
Then they poured the mixture one drop at a time onto a
smooth surface and allowed it to dry. If quicker drying
was required, the drops could be poured onto a smooth
board of unfinished wood, where they would solidify
quicker since the water would both evaporate into the
air and be absorbed into the wood. Gold paint in drop
form was convenient for artists and was also popular
among pilgrims and Buddhist devotees. In this form a
pious person could conveniently offer a certain amount
of gold to the face of a holy image or to some famous
shrine, in much the same way that gold leaf is still
offered by Buddhists in Southeast Asia.
Another way that Tibetan artists prepared gold
paint (especially in more recent times in India and
Nepal) was directly from gold leaf. It will be remem-
bered that gold leaf was an intermediate stage in the
preparation of gold powder from solid gold. However,
modern commercially prepared gold leaf is actually so
fine that an artist can convert it into paint without
having to grind it with mortar and pestle. White Tara with silver body nimbus.

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