MUSSINI® - unique throughout the world!
The uniqueness
of these finest professional artists'
colours stems in particular from the
adoption of the old masters' practice of
combining selected artists' oil with
natural resin. Masters back in the days
of the late Middle Ages were already
using indigenous European resins, such
as mastic from the Greek island of Chios
and copal. Natural resins were also used
to enhance colour brilliance and the
impression of depth in Byzantine art
during the first centuries A.D.
Throughout the long history of the
development of oil colouring techniques
a large number of very special binder
formulations have been tested, and this
fund of knowledge has been applied in
evolving the MUSSINI®
range.
On the basis of many years of scientific
experience in the field of artists'
colours, Schmincke continues to use a
broad and diverse scope of artists'
oils, which it combines with the most
suitable natural dammar resin from
Palembang, Indonesia.
The amount of
dammar resin which is added in colloidal
solution depends on the oil requirements
of the pigment concerned. The use of
different variants of linseed oil
purified by means of highly
sophisticated processes also
predominates in the MUSSINI®
artists' resin-oil-colours.
However, other artists' oils, such as
safflower oil, poppy-seed oil and
sunflower oil, also possess properties
beneficial to colouring applications
which - when optimised with the
requisite expertise - further enhance
the formulations. So-called auxiliary
agents and additives are also used,
though in minimal and individually dosed
amounts. These provide for the
consistency and fineness which is
required for colouring applications and
ensure a harmonious drying process for
the oil colours.
Pigment and a linseed oil are simply not sufficient to make a good artists' oil colour. Schmincke's research efforts are always aimed at eliciting the full brilliant potential of the artists' pigments in all their individual variations while at the same time maintaining a harmonious overall range. This offers the artist absolute freedom to combine and mix the artists' colours of his choice. What distinguishes the unique MUSSINI® natural resinoil- colours from the best and finest "pure" (resin-free) artists' colours, such as NORMA® Professional or other comparable fine artists' oil colours?
MUSSINI®
dries more evenly from inside, too, as a result
of the largely self-compensating chemical and
physical drying process: The increase in volume
resulting from the chemical drying process which
begins on the surface via oxygen uptake is
largely compensated by the solvent content in
the dammar solution which evaporates from
inside.
The microscopic evaporation pores enable oxygen
to penetrate more effectively into the inner
layers, thus providing for more even drying of
the surface and inner layers. This, in turn,
reduces the danger of wrinkling and surface
tension during the drying process.
The dammar fractions which are finely
incorporated in the colloidal solutions are
enclosed by the drying artists' oils and enhance
the brilliance of the colour layers.