Madder tincture
Preparation- Steep Madder, Pernambuco and Tea {tannic acid serves as mordant} in warm alcohol for two days, in separate jars.
- Concentrate the Madder tincture to one half by letting some of the alcohol evaporate.
- Solve some ruby shellac in alcohol. Can be any alcohol soluble resin, such as shellac, mastic, sandarac, Venice turps. etc.
Putting it together
| Madder tincture thickened to 1/2 | 30 gr |
| Pernambucco tincture | 10 gr |
| Tea tincture | 5 gr |
| Shellac ruby | 10 gr |
| Ammonia / reddening | 10 drops |
The resulting tincture should have such viscosity which will allow you to brush the coat on without streaks but on the other hand not so thin that you would have to put on many coats.
The ground you use needs to be either neutral or slightly acidic and the varnish you use over the tincture should also be either neutral or acidic or an isolating layer of varnish can be applied.