EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PAINT MATERIALS 
AND THE PAINTERS CRAFT AS PRACTICED IN LOUISBOURG

TRAINING MANUAL

BY

A. Storm

May 1982

(Fortress of Louisbourg
Report H G 05)

Appendix II

Eighteenth Century Painters Tools, 
(see Notes to Appendix II).

Barrels to hold pigment

Packages/paquet/to hold pigment

Small bags to hold pigment

Small bottles to hold pigment

Small barrels and larger barriques to hold linseed oil

Barrels/quarts/to hold turpentine

Tin can to keep turpentine

Bottles to keep turpentine

Barrels/quarts/to hold pitch

Barrels/quarts/to hold tar

Stone slab/from 18" to 24" square/made out of smooth, non-porous hard marble, or granite, approx. 3" to 4" thick

Muller (3 in L'bourg)/Egg-shaped stone, broken in half and polished flat at the break. 2" to 5" in diameter with a slightly rounded edge to allow the paint to get under it. Approximately 6-1/2" in length.

Amassette/scraper made out of horn, for piling and collecting paint on the grinding slab

Small assortment of mortars & pestles

Iron ladle, or crucible/used to de-grease lampblack

Pane of glass

Wooden mallet/to make putty

Earthenware or Stoneware pots to hold ground colors

Earthenware or Stoneware vessels for "washing" pigments

Stoneware butter pot/for dyeing woods.

Brass or Copper kettle/for preparation of oil for painting inside work

Buckets/for whitewashing & distemper paint

Stirring stick

Sieve/or linen cloth-to strain glue for distemper paint and pigment

Cotton cloth/to filter varnish

Pipkin/for melting white rosin, etc., for making varnish

Palette knifes, large & small

Paint brushes/round, different sizes

Small pencil brushes/from 3/4", to 1/16"

Palette

Whitewashing brushes /Pailles? /big

Scrub-brush

Dogfish skin/as a sandpaper/or pumice stones (fine grain) for sanding down coats of paint

Small sticks of white pine/to smoothe mouldings & ornaments

Soft cloth

Soap/to wash brushes clean after use

String/used for measuring their work as they were paid by the yard

Scaffolding