Gesso Panel, Hardboard (5 X 7 in.)

Product Details:

3/pak

Features
Overall Dimensions:	5 x 7 x 0.25 in. (12.5 x 18 x 0.63 cm)
Material:	Hardboard (solid, single piece)
Finish:	Traditional Gesso

Natural Pigments Gesso Panels are ideal for waterbased media, such as egg and casein tempera, distemper and watercolor. They are suitable for encaustic, oil and alkyd paints. They may also be used to draw upon with silverpoint and other drawing tools.

Natural Pigments Gesso Panels consist of 1/4 inch thick #2 Standard Hardboard that has been coated on both sides with traditional gesso. Although only one side of the panel is suitable for painting, the light coat of gesso on the back side serves to minimize warping and deformation. All corners and edges are chamfered, so there are no hard edges or corners that may become damaged during storage and transport.

What is Hardboard?
Hardboard is a panel made of fibers from sawdust, chips and wood waste that are consolidated using heat and pressure in a hot-press to a density of 31 pounds per cubic foot or greater. The process renders the fiber into panels without losing the lignin that binds together the cellulosic structure of natural wood, forming a 'glue' that re-binds the randomly matted cellulose fibers together in a new, much denser form. This reactivation of the lignin, itself a cellulose-like material, is why hardboard is nearly 100% wood; no additional glues are necessary, although most modern manufacturers add them for added strength.

Depending on the manufacturer, tempered hardboards may be more reliable to work on than in the past but it is still a hardboard that has been coated liberally with linseed or tung oil. The cellulose fibers of hardboard can then be expected to suffer the same degradation as cellulosic linen, cotton or paper fibers coming in contact with an acidic drying oil. The tempering process may well yield a better construction product, but can only degrade the board from an artist's point of view. For this reason, we use only untempered or Standard Hardboard made of aspen and other hardwoods to make Natural Pigments Gesso Panels.

The Real Thing--Traditional Gesso
Several coats of gesso are applied to the face of the panel and sanded to a smooth satin finish. The traditional gesso is made using only the highest quality calcite (calcium carbonate) and collagen glue (rabbit skin grade)--this is not acrylic dispersion primer, but a chalk ground based on traditional and centuries-old formulas.

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