Painted Helms in the 12th Century

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Ulricus von Geusa
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Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Ulricus von Geusa »

I did a search and came up with little in the way of practical advice on how to go about this, so I figured I'd see what people thought. I know painting helms is a period practice, but what period and areas specifically? Secondly, any advice on how/if I should do this to my own helm?

For reference, I'm looking at portraying a 12th Century German crusader, and this is for an SCA combat helm.

Thanks
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Said ibn-Ali »

I cant see why not, it was a form of rust proofing. But I dont have anything to back that up in documentation.
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Ernst »

Simple charges--bends, frets, etc.-- seem to appear with some frequency in Peter of Eboli's Liber ad honorem Augusti from the end of the 12th century and on the bronze Temple Pyx.
http://www.massimo.delmese.net/wp-conte ... 79x300.jpg
http://www.stupormundi.it/images/DaEboli002.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39911172@N08/3745138636/

Basic charges like a boar on Diepold von Schweinspeunt's helmet, or Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou's leopard are also seen.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... speunt.jpg
http://images.npg.org.uk/800_800/4/2/mw02442.jpg

Here we get crosses:
http://manuscriptminiatures.com/codex-calixtinus/2938/

The Copenhagen Psalter (English, 1175-1200) has a simple, red Phrygian helm.
http://www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/manus/2 ... cto/?var=1
While the Netherland KB 76F5 (French 1190-1200) has a red nasaled helm
http://resources42.kb.nl/MIMI/mimi_76f5 ... min_b2.JPG
This 12th century Psalter in the NYPL shows gilt
http://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=3975497&t=w

In the Guillaume d'Orange cycle the Couronnement de Louis of c. 1140 ll.2454-2457 has Gui d'Alemayne (Guy the German) putting on a red jazerant (hauberc jazerant) and lacing on his glowing green helm (vert heaume luisant) with a red stone (carbuncle) on the nasal, so we can surmise that a gloss finish is desired. Aliscans of c.1160-1190, line 11 also mentions glowing helms (heaumes luisans) while Chretien de Troyes Percval prefers clear and glowing helms (hiaumes clers et luisanz), so polished seems preferred whether the helm is colored or not.

Hopefully gives some guidance to you.

That late 12th century dating also ties in with Bertran de Born's reference from Be·m platz lo gais temps de pascor.

Massas e brans, elms de color
Maces and swords, colored helms
ferrum ferro acuitur et homo exacuit faciem amici sui
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Ulricus von Geusa »

That's great, thank you. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should go about doing this with my helm? Should I use spray paint?
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Ernst »

A brushed lacquer would be more appropriate. Surface prep is very important. I think Earnest Caruthers is our resident expert on such matters.
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by earnest carruthers »

Erm, no expert, just interested.

Not my era really, but in later periods the paint on harness seems to be a very thick, most likely varnish based paint, this lends a glossy finish. The Wallace collection 15th sallet shows the brush strokes so thick was the paint applied. I have made oil/varnish paint and it smells, but a modern substitute that works really well is clear polyurethane varnish mixed with dry pigment to a thick consistency, it dries reasonably quickly and has a pretty good finish.

The downside from a modern aesthetic is the shine - people think that glossy looks cheap, so default to matte, but glossy was bling, we then have many reenactors using thin matte paints because it 'looks right' meaning to their modern tastes. The other issue is the colour, bear in mind that the paints used in MSS are not necessarily scalable to life size, ie ultramarine blue may well be on a small picture of painted helmets, but would not be used on an actual helmet because the price would make it unachievable. I would consider the colour palette first then the actual substrate.
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Ulricus von Geusa »

What kind of colour palette would you suggest? And Ernst, you talked about surface prep. What kind of work has to be done prior to the painting?
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by earnest carruthers »

The earth colours are the cheapest and work really well.

Yellow ochre
red ochre

added to these
lamp black
lead white - substitute titanium white as it is dense, avoid zinc white as it is not up to the covering needed.
green earth - although that will look very dull and washed out with oil/varnish.

You could consider red lead for a slightly less cheap colour.


Blues are tricky, azurite and ultramarine would be too expensive for all but the richest work and you use more pigment in oil/varnish than in MSS.

As for surface prep, the ones I have painted over the years did not have any special prep as the mixture is so thick it brushes on easily enough. Painting was cheaper than polishing, so consider the effect and the relationship between cheap paint jobs and the status.
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Ulricus von Geusa »

Excellent, thank you for the information. Would oxide pigments be a viable option as well? Also, in your experience, what kind of ratio of pigment to varnish is necessary to get a good colour?
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by earnest carruthers »

Pleasure, glad to be of assistance.

The ochres are iron oxides, just different forms, so red oxide would be fine, and then a yellow oxide/ochre etc.

The consistency is important, lay a puddle of varnish on a glass or stone slab/tile then slowly add the pigment, I find that when it is almost stringy, near to the consistency of printing ink is about right. If you find the paint too thick, simply add a few drops of varnish until it becomes manageable, it is easier and cheaper to add more varnish to get the right texture than add more pigment.

Bear in mind that some pigments affect the drying time of the varnish, for example lamp black retards drying slightly, so bear that in mind if you have a timing issue.

You should be able to lay the paint down in single brush strokes, if you find it is dripping it means it is too runny, conversely if it does not spread evenly it is too stiff, it doesn't take long to get the hang of it.

One thing to watch out for is uneven drying, what can happen is that you get the odd matte patch, this is often down to too little medium and an absorbent surface, that wont apply to the metal but does happen on gessoed wooden panels etc, in which case touch up the area.

A note for the red lead, I only use modern substitutes for toxic pigments because I don't have the controls at home to use the lead based pigment safely, so in the case of red lead I use a synthetic vermillion, which is warmer than the red lead but wont do you any harm.

As always with dusty pigments, use a mask when initially mixing.

You can store the paint in an airtight jar, I suggest a sheet of cellophane over the paint to prevent it forming a skin, saving you a job for the next time you use it, same for the varnish if you are going the linseed oil and colophony route- which I have and it is worth it if only for the experience of cooking up medieval varnish, but clear polyurethane is pretty good.
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Ernst »

Thanks earnest!
Most chansons seem to mention green and red heaumes most frequently. You've addressed the red well enough, but I wonder what other options for green might have been available? Verdigris or some other pigment we might not want to handle?
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Ulricus von Geusa »

How durable of a coating is this? If I fight fairly regularly, how often do you think I will have to reapply?
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by earnest carruthers »

OOps, yes greens, the green earths for dull green, but you are right, the salt green/spanish green/verdigris I completely forgot about those.


You are right about handling, the are copper acetates and can be toxic, however they are soluble in water and oil, but you can make a passable 'safer' verdigris with viridian and some white, the verdigris has a blue cast, so make sure you use a blueish green and test out the measure of white for the desired verdigris hue.

As for durability, it is a varnish, that means once it is fully cured it will give a plastic coating, however, it is still subject to chipping as any paint would be on metal. Best is to try out the medium with and without an undercoat. Depending on the type of damage you might only have to touch up rather than re-apply. A lot of that is due to the toughness of the varnish, the rosin/linseed oil varnish is very tough, try them out that aspect is quite rewarding.
Last edited by earnest carruthers on Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Painted Helms in the 12th Century

Post by Konstantin the Red »

Ernst wrote:That late 12th century dating also ties in with Bertran de Born's reference from Be·m platz lo gais temps de pascor.

Massas e brans, elms de color
Maces and swords, colored helms
To swipe a phrase from Ezra Pound, "En Bertrans de Born."
Konstantin the Red wrote:Here's my rendering of the first two verses, perhaps a bit more poetic:

The joy of Eastertide doth please me well,
Which brings the leaves and the flowers.
And it pleaseth me to hear the birds' joy
As they make resound their song in the
woodlands.
And it pleaseth me when I see
The tents and the pavilions ranked upon the
meadows.
And great is my joy when I see
The knights and barded horses ranged about
the countryside.

It pleaseth me when the coursers make men
Flee with their goods, and when I see,
behind them,
A great mass of armed men arriving all
together.
And it pleaseth me to my heart when I see
The mighty castles beseiged, ramparts
destroyed and fallen
And when I see the host on the bank
That is all around the trenches,
Palisaded with sturdy, upright, serried stakes.

****************

The next three verses:

And it pleaseth me also when a lord
Is first in the assault, a-horse, armed,
Fearless so that he maketh his men bold with courageous gallantry.
And before the mêlée is joined, let each man be ready to follow with enthusiasm,
For no man will have merit, did he not
Receive and give many strokes of the sword.

Maces and brands, painted helms we see at battle's opening.
Shields pierced, dismantled -- many vassals stricken all together,
From among whom come in disorder the horses
Of the dead and of the wounded.
And when he enters in the mêlée each warrior of high degree
Thinks but of cleaving heads and arms,
For he counts them better dead, than vanquished and yet living.

And I say that for me eating hath no savor, nor drink, nor sleep,
When I hear the cry, "At them!"
From both sides and from everywhere,
The whinny of horses abandoned in the shade
And when I hear the cries, "Help! Help!"
And when I see them fall because of the trenches, great and small, in the grass
And when I see the dead, broken lances and the silk of banners
Alike planted in their ribs.

***************
Having saluted both war and death, our noble poet leaps to love:

Love demands the lover be a noble cavalier,
Gifted at arms and great in Love's service,
Of agreeable conversation and generous in giving,
Such that he well knoweth how to act and to speak
Both within and without his station,
Following Power's rules as given unto him.
And that he be personable company,
Courteous and agreeable --
The lady who beds with such a lover
Shall be cleansed of all her sins.

A noble countess, whom we hold
The grandest we've ever seen,
Whom we admire as the most gracious lady in the world --
As I've heard tell.
O Beatrice of high lineage, noble lady in word and deed,
Source whence all goodness springs,
Beauty unrivaled, your high and noble merit
Places you before all others.

A damsel of high lineage, in whom all beauty is,
I love her strongly and I'm loved by her.
She gives me such courage
That I think never to be vanquished,
Not even by one among the very boldest!

Barons, rather pawn your châteaux, your towns, your cities,
Than cease to war!

Papiol, go with a will and swiftly
To the land of Languedoc
And tell him there he's rested at peace too long.
"The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone..."
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