Page 91 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

and copper to make metallic paints. 54 If these powdered sheep or goats made a good fuel because their fire
metals were used in thangkas it was only as imitation burned low and without much smoke. During heating
golds. One or two of our teachers mentioned the use of the flames of the fire should just barely touch the pot.
imitation golds by thangka painters in Tibet, and in After heating the oil for one day it was best to
recent times the use of these has increased among the add a small amount of spos-smug resin and borax (tsha
painters now living in India and Nepal. The main reason la). Finally, when the oil had been heated over a low
for this increase is the exorbitant price of gold. fire for the full three days, it was fJ.ltered through a clean
Nowadays it is impractical to use gold lavishly in a cotton cloth and then stored in some container with a
thangka unless it is specifically requested by the patron, cap or lid. This concludes Bo-dong Pa~-chen's account.
and a few painters are even willing to do paintings that Western artists would call linseed oil refined in the
incorporate no real gold at all. They use powdered brass above way "boiled oil." It is also a "drying oil", which
alone for even the minimal "golden" outlines and means that when it is applied in thin coats and left to
finishing details. evertheless', every painter whom we dry it forms a clear, hard solid through oxidation and
knew seemed to prefer using real gold, and they were polymerization. The addition of certain metallic or
happy if the patron set aside a certain sum just to cover chemical substances to boiled linseed oil greatly shortens
its cost. its drying period, and this was probably the re'ason for
the addition of borax as described by Bo-dong Pa~­
Special Binders for Gold chen.S7 Some Tibetan artisans added the lead mineral
thel-gdan, which would definitely act as a catalyst in
Even though gold in thangka painting was almost drying. 58 In addition to its use as a medium in painting,
invariably applied in a size medium, for painting other refined linseed oil can be applied alone as a waterproof
objects Tibetan artists also used special binders for gold. coating like varnish, and if resin is added in substantial
Peeling and cracking were common problems when gold amounts to boiled linseed oil, a true varnish is the result.
was applied as "cold gilt" (i.e. in a size medium) to the Another special binder used for gold was a
faces of metal statues. Therefore for these and other glutinous solution made from roasted wheat (gro tshig).
metal objects, many painters employed a glutinous This binder was not used in thangka painting, but it was
extract from flax seeds as an initial coating to the metal employed for instance by scribes doing gold lettering
and as a binder for gold. This extract was made by and as a binder for other inks. L. S. Dagyab described
merely soaking the flax seeds in a little hot water - a this binder as having been prepared frorn "fried" (i.e.
simple procedure compared with the extraction of roasted) grains of wheat. Once the grains had been
another special binder, linseed oil, from the same seeds. roasted to a black colour they were "poured into a
Linseed oil (Z(1f khu'i snum rtsi) was a drying oil container of hot water but not boiled any further."S 9
initially produced by pressing oil from flax seeds (zar Some painters applied "cold gilt" to the faces of
ma'i 'bru). 5 5 A traditional method for preparing linseed statues using ordinary size as the binder, but in this
oil was described by Bo-dong Pa~-chen in the 15th case it was essential to prepare the surface in a special
century, and the same method continued to be used way. The painter Wangdrak for instance began by
down to the present century.56 Here we may summarize peeling a small white !adish, which he first used to rub
the traditional preparation of linseed oil by paraphrasing the area of metal that was to receive the gold paint.
Bo-dong Pa~-chen's account. Next he chopped the radish into a pulp, and squeezed
The production of linseed oil, he says, began with out its juice through a rag. To this juice he added small
the cooking of the flax seeds and then kneading them amounts of sugar and hide glue, and then applied one
into a dough-like mass. This was left to dry, and then it coat of this mixture to the metal. The next step was to
was thoroughly pounded. When the husks of the flax apply a coat of "gold-base" - a paint made by mixing
seeds had reached the consistency of 'ba' cha (a fodder yellow ochre (or nowadays white with a little yellow)
commonly made in Tibet from pressed seeds or grains), with size solution in the normal proportions for paint.
the worker put the beaten seeds into a wooden basin Finally the powdered gold itself was applied. But even
and moistened them with water that was as hot as the though here ordinary size was the binder, it was to be
hands could bear. Then he extracted the crude oil used in a very dilute solution containing just enough
(mar khu) by squeezing the warm paste with his hands. size to hold the gold in place. (Wangdrak believed that
The oil was next clarified, and then it had to be the binder in the ochre undercoat helped to hold the
refined by heating over a low fire for three days. First gold.) This technique was considered equal to the use
the partially clarified oil was poured into an iron, copper of flax-seed binder for producing a strong gold paint
or bronze pot. The worker then set this pot on a round over metal.
stove that was made from clay, with holes for the
addition of fuel and the removal of ashes. During heating
the flames could not be allowed to burn so high that
they reached out of either the front or the back
openings of the stove. Also, it was good to keep [the
pot?] encased in mud [to reduce the chances of an
accidental fire?]. Dried and winnowed dung pellets of

BINDERS FOR GOLD 87