Transferring, Inking in & Imprimatura (2.3)
A process suitable for traditional Doerner/Fuchs mischtechnik, to transfer a design from paper to a panel or canvas, inking in the design indelibly in preparation for the imprimatura (first stain, 'base coat')
Transfering a design from an original drawing, photograph or printout to our canvas or panel is an important step in creating our paintings. There are numerous ways of doing this. We are not going to cover the use of a projector, although its a valid technique, it really requires little tutorial. Instead we are going to look at more traditional methods.
Spolvero
The ‘join the dots’ drawing game familiar to many of us from our childhoods actually has a precedence in the ‘spolvero‘ (Italian – from the word polvere ‘powder’ or ‘dust’) technique- also called a stencil transfer. This method was used extensively in the Renaissance. In spolvero you first draw the full size drawing on card and with a needle or pinwheel you piece the card with numerous points. Next, the perforated card is padded with a porous fabric bag of filled with charcoal, graphite or sanguine (red iron oxide). The surface underneath shows the dots that the artist may then join between with water mixed with some gum arabic or egg tempera binder.
This technique has the advantage of allowing the drawing stencil to be re-used, because except for a bit of powder-staining, the stencil is undamaged. This was an advantage for guilds that frequently rendered the same iconography over and over.
Charcoal Transfer
There are other alternatives which we will learn, including charcoal transfer and later we will learn oil transfer.
You will need
- a copy of your drawing at the size you want to transfer it – printed for instance on ordinary stationary paper or traced onto tracing paper
- a sharp hb pencil
- masking tape
- a chunky stick of vine charcoal
The process is covered in the process suitable for traditional Doerner/Fuchs mischtechnik, to transfer a design from paper to a panel or canvas, inking in the design indelibly in preparation for the imprimatura (first stain, ‘base coat’)