DRAGON'S BLOOD

                     DRAGONS BLOOD
             By Lady Symonne de la Croix
                                8.2.20
  

I recently bought Dragons Blood on line which turned out to be fake. 
When crushed it became very pale, think crushed coloured glass. 
Which was disappointing.
I did more research into it and sourced some from another dealer which, happily, is the real thing. 



This lot of Dragon's Blood came with an import certificate which was promising. It looks significantly different then the other one.



Firstly I broke it up with a hammer a little then used mortar and pestle.  Crushed up easily enough but still gritty. 
I put some through an electric coffee grinder which helped until I decided to give it a huge go and the heat of the machine, or something, caused it to start to harden.



It took a lot more water to hydrate it to a paste and had a very different 'feel' to it. 
Perhaps because it is a resin? 
I normally use a bit under 1:1 ratio of gum arabic to pigment but the Dragons blood needed more, maybe a 1.25:1 ratio




Went on a little grainy and has a different "feel" to it. I will grind it more next time and perhaps try tempering it with a different medium. 



Above is a comparison of the real Dragons Blood made into a pigment compared to the fake one.


Thoughts
It definitely handles differently than other pigments I have been experimenting with.
Needing quite a bit more demineralised water to make it into a paste that I do before adding a medium. I used gum arabic in this case.
The consistency and grittiness reminds me of verdigris which makes me wonder if it should be tempered (mixed) with something else like vinegar or spirits of wine?
I am curious to try it with egg tempera. 

More testing to be done.

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