Making gesso, part 2

8 August 2006 in art materials, oil painting, painting, tempera by David | 7 comments

Note: These two posts on making gesso have been consolidated into an article here.


Making gesso

Measure the volume of the remaining glue and pour it back into the double boiler. You will be adding 1.5 times this volume of chalk or gypsum to make gesso. Do this gradually, gently dropping each spoonful into the liquid to avoid making any bubbles. Distribute the chalk/gypsum around the pan so that it the glue soaks into it. Once all of the chalk/gypsum is in the pot, give it 10 minutes to soak. Now take a brush and gently stir the mixture, again trying to avoid making any bubbles.

Applying gesso

For the first layer, spread it thinly over the surface of the panel, stroking back and forth in one direction. It’s not very opaque when wet. Let it dry’ this takes 10-30 minutes, depending on humidity and temperature (dry days are best for gessoing panels). You’ll know it’s dry when it feels dry to the touch and any grayish areas have disappeared.

If the gesso is getting thick, it means that it’s cooling off. Replace the water in the double boiler with new hot tap water.

You will apply 6-8 layers of gesso. Brush strokes in each layer should be applied at right angles to those of the previous layer. Each layer is best applied shortly after the previous layer has become dry. It’s best to apply all layers in one day, so that they will bond with each other. If you get cracking, that means that you’re applying the gesso before the previous layer has dried. More layers will fix this. If you get little pits in the gesso, then you’re painting with gesso that has bubbles in it. Let the gesso stand for a half hour before applying any more, then rub the next layer in with your hand.

Once you’ve applied all the gesso, let the panel dry for at least three days. You can clean the brush, pan, and anything else that got gesso on it in warm water.

Smoothing the panel

Start by using a metal file to chamfer all of the edges of the gesso, so that they are at a beveled angle inward. This protects against cracking, should the panel strike something (I’ve had this happen, and it’s very irritating).

To get the panel smooth, I like to use a sanding block, starting with 400 grit sandpaper and moving to finer grits at the end. This produces a beautiful, eggshell-smooth finish that is almost too beautiful to paint on.

If I’m going to be painting with oil, I like to apply a final layer of hide glue to the smoothed surface of the panel. Without that, the gesso is a bit too absorbent. For egg tempera or tempera grassa, plain gesso works great.

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  1. Mario Jaramillo’s avatar

    Mario Jaramillo on 13 February 2009 at 6:24 PM

    —————————————-
    David Wrote:

    "Brush the glue over the front, back, and sides of the panel. Give it a half hour to dry.

    I generally add more layers of glue to the back. The reason is that the glue in the gesso on the front will be applying force to the panel. If the panel is large, this will noticeably warp the panel. So I generally add about four layers of glue to the back in order to counteract the warping effect that the gesso will apply to the front. This seems to help a lot."

    ————————————————————-

    Hey David great post!

    I was wondering after letting the Sizing (front n back) dry, do i add four layers of Glue to the back, letting each layer(on the back only) dry before applying the next?

    -That would probably warp it right?

    Or after the Sizing do i add a layer of Glue (to the back) after applying the First layer of Gesso to the front(and letting that dry first)??

    so every layer of gesso on the front i would need to apply glue after to the back, untill ive reached four layers (aside from the layer applyed in SIZING?)

    Then Repeat… TIMES X4?

    Also how much Glue will i need to Gesso a ((10-FEET X 10-INCH)) sugar pine panel?
    about two cups or will one do it? i would probably be putting 8 layers.

    Thanks alot for your help man, i really appreciate it! i tryed this last time & it was really good gesso, but my all my boards warped really bad..
    I've e-mailed other artists but none have got back to me… THANKS again for the help.

    -Mario

    modsquad9999@yahoo.com

    Reply

  2. David Rourke’s avatar

    David Rourke on 16 February 2009 at 12:58 PM

    Mario,

    "Sizing" is another word for "hide glue." I have not found it necessary to alternate layers, but instead just put some layers of glue on the back prior to gessoing the front. Your mileage may vary.

    A 10 foot by 10 inch panel? Not sure. My guess is that one cup would not suffice. With a panel that narrow, you're going to need to do some kind of bracing or cradling to avoid warping.

    Reply

  3. Mario Jaramillo’s avatar

    Mario Jaramillo on 16 February 2009 at 1:34 PM

    Hey David, thanks for getting back to me so quick!

    Ok so put four layers of glue to the backs first? Do I let each layer dry for 30 minutes first ?
    wouldn't the boards bow after putting four layers, or will the gesso fix (counteract) that?

    So about two cups?
    i wont be gessoing the whole 11X11 panel, i will be cutting them up smaller like 6inch X 12inch(some larger)
    but my total amount of wood is 10 feet.

    By narrow do you mean long? cause my board are about an inch thick(normal plank)
    Thanks again for your time & expertise!!

    -Mario

    Reply

    1. David’s avatar

      David on 19 February 2009 at 9:23 PM

      Mario,

      The glue in the gesso and the glue on the back do the same thing, in different directions. Let each layer become dry to the touch before applying the next. Some people just put the same number of layers of gesso on the back as on the front. If you have trouble with warping, you might find that to be a simpler solution, since you don’t have to make guesses about how many glue layers will counteract how many gesso layers.

      Since glue is cheap, I tend to just guess how much I might need and make a bit more than that. I’ve never measured how much glue covers how many panels, so I can’t quite help you there.

      It sounded like you were making one very long narrow panel. Instead, you are cutting that up, which makes more sense.

      Reply

  4. Mario’s avatar

    Mario on 20 February 2009 at 4:09 AM

    Ok David thanks for the help, take care!

    Reply

  5. Mario ’s avatar

    Mario on 9 August 2009 at 9:47 PM

    Hey David whats the best varnish to buy for watercolor on gesso? or is there a recipe?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    1. David Rourke’s avatar

      David Rourke on 22 August 2009 at 3:19 PM

      Mario,

      I'm afraid I have no expertise with watercolor varnishes. I'm sure with some careful internet searching, you can find better answers than I could give you.

      Reply