Shungite

I'm currently trying out a selection of different black pigments, looking for one with just the right properties for my work. Shungite is a unique form of graphite mined in Russia. It shares many qualities with other carbon-blacks and is very intense.

The shungite proved to be surprisingly hard to grind. I suspected that it would not be that difficult, while handling the sample, black easily came off on my fingers. I would recommend purchasing the material in pigment form. Natural Pigments is the only western supplier that I know of that carries shungite.

The image above consists of shungite on my palette, after having been ground and mixed with linseed oil. I have tinted the black with some lead white, to get an idea of its undertones. Shungite appears to have a sightly cool cast.

Magnetite

A couple weeks ago, a friend and I got permission to go collecting at a local beach. We were looking for a mineral called magnetite. Magnetite is a type of iron oxide, one of the most important iron ores found on the planet. It can also be used to make black paint.

Concentrated by the waves, deposits of magnetite make up the bands of black sand commonly found along the beach.

As the name suggests, magnetite is very strongly attracted by magnets. So all my friend and I had to do to collect it was find a spot along the beach with a large deposit, and drag a strong magnet along the surface. We filled a small bag.















A small amount of beach sand did get picked up in the process, that I would want to remove. In order to filter the sand out, I added the magnetite to a bowl of water, and dragged a magnet through it.















The magnetite went straight for the magnet, leaving behind mostly sand on the bottom. This was dumped out. I repeated the process several more times until I was confident I had removed most of the sand.

The magnetite was relatively hard to grind into a fine powder.















It had a glittery sparkle, that got finer as I ground the pigment, but never totally went away.















Magnetite mixed with oil, on the underside of the glass muller.