The Scroll Colorant Blacklist

In Calontir, the SCA area where I live, you sometimes get into painting awards at an event. They are predesigned and painted like a coloring book. We call them “preprints”. Some kingdom’s call them “charters”.

I’ve seen people take a few home from the scribe’s table to do later and that’s terrific. Each reign creates new ones so they need all they can get.

Sadly, when they’re returned a few are unusable. They may be neat and carefully done but the creator didn’t use an acceptable colorant.

Here’s a list of colorants you want to avoid – blacklist – when you do them at home. And why.

• Acrylic-based paints crack and flake off your paper. Even those labeled “gouache” don’t last well.
• Chalks smear and rub off on things.
• Oil-based paints, like Testors model paint, seep through the paper and come out on the back.
• Colored pencils don’t give the award a “period look”.
• Craft paints are just acrylic paints. They don’t work either.
• Crayons look as if your 8-year-old did it.
• Latex-based paints layer too thickly causing them to crack and flake too.
• Magic markers fade over time. They also don’t give that “period look” thing.
• Pastels, like their cousin chalk, smear and rub off, too.

Take home paint dabs and tube paints.