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Re: Gesso


Poster: David KUIJT <kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu>



On Tue, 28 Jul 1998, Garrett, William wrote:

> 	Hi all!
> 
> 	I'm getting ready to start making helm crests for period style
> tourneys, and one of the ingredients I need is gesso.  What is it, how do I
> work with it, How do i find it/make it?

Gesso is plaster, essentially.  It is used when mixed fairly thinly as a
white paint, and also as a thicker plaster to build up decorative designs. 

You can buy pre-mixed acrylic gesso in bins (Liquitex makes some).  The
acrylic stuff doesn't work well to build up designs, I've found.  You can
also buy real gesso (dry powder) that you mix yourself with water or other
media.

Some carved stone moulds were filled with gesso after being appropriately
lubricated; when the gesso dried the finished plaster fleur-de-lis or
leopard or other device was popped out.  In this way multiple raised
decorative elements could be applied to a shield, wall, or whatever by
simply gluing on the raised element with some fresh gesso. 

Dafydd

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