Burning Earths For Colour

Talk, Demonstration and Q&A With Lucy Mayes

Two hour class recording

Delve deeper into making calcined earths in this session, building on the insights shared in Lucy's talk, Fundamentals: Binders and Pigments. Explore an array of recipes for crafting a diverse spectrum of iron oxide pigments, drawn from various raw source materials, and uncover their vibrant possibilities. She will discuss the chemistry behind the calcining process and explore how heat influences the properties of pigments. By understanding these effects, makers can refine their pigment production to suit specific applications and achieve tailored results.

Lucy will also provide a live demonstration of the calcining process, bringing the transformation of earth pigments to life.

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About Lucy Mayes

Lucy Mayes is an artist and pigment maker & researcher working in London and Hampshire. Her work as ‘London Pigment’ uses urban waste stream materials to make recycled pigment. Her practice is centred on the use of unusual, surprising or esoteric raw materials to make colour as a way of documenting events or ‘happenings’. Verdigris made from copper wire stripped from burnt-out mopeds, soot and ash from park fires and construction rubble have all been used in her work to make new pigments. Her colour-making practice centres on creating sustainable pigments from anthropocene waste streams. She works in the capacity of pigment/colour consultant and has worked with Neptune Interiors Ltd, Jaguar Land Rover, Royal Cornwall Museum, V&A, Kew Gardens on pigment projects. She previously worked as product developer and pigment specialist at renowned colourman L.Cornelissen & Son where she developed their historical pigment archive. She teaches pigment making at institutions nationally and hopes to re-orientate our connections to colour; through the creation of intimate relationships with matter formed through embodied making.orld.

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