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In the village of Øsby, there is a building that has housed the cooperative dairy, which over the years has played an important role for the village and the surrounding area. The dairy has been particularly awarded for their cheese production.
Today, everything is different. Now it is us, Linolie & Pigment, who houses the old dairy buildings, which we surely enjoy. The ceiling is high, the incidence of natural light is amazing, and the soul of our predecessors is still here. Especially the latter is something that nourishes me when I’m working.
The first impression you get when you step inside at our place would possibly be that we are a living museum. In some ways, this is very correct, but we are far more than that. We cherish the old craft processes and the virtues of a bygone era.
We make Linseed Paint without all sorts of additives and then we are good at hanging in. Because saying no to all kinds of chemistry in our paint, is also saying yes to a great deal of hard work in a company like ours.
"We cherish the old craft
processes and the virtues
from a bygone era"
But it is worth it all. Being able to work upstream with something that is so straightforward to me is a gift. I can let the products speak for themselves and let the message spread with a pleased and happy response. All the great responses we get just testifies that we are getting more and more tired of being cheated in an industry where the use of chemicals is massive. We want far more of the right materials and good craftsmanship. It is simply the driving force in everything we do at our place.
The youngest machines in production are from the early 70s, so they are all older than me. This is very valuable, because they all are from a time when machines like these are built to last and function for many years, therefore they can also be maintained and repaired.
"A thorough grinding of the colours is,
what it's all about, where the three
roller mill is of paramount importance."
A thorough grinding of the colours is what it's all about, where the wooden three roll mill is of great importance. Grinding a colour on a three roll mill is not something you can read about in a book. You must draw your own experience, and have the craft passed on from one craftsman to another. It can look simple at first glance but working with a three roll mill requires a great deal of knowledge and experience.
Despite intensive water cooling on the three roll mills, the machine still gets hot. The metal, which the three roll mills are made of, expands when the heat increases. The three roll mill suddenly works slower or may not bring any colour with it at all. Then it is necessary to lighten the three roll mill pressure just a little and add a little Linseed Oil to make the colour act correct again. Maybe it works ... maybe the machine will throw the colours out in the room instead ... or perhaps something completely different is needed to make the grinding process go smooth again.
Grinding colours on a three roll mill must be like conducting a large symphony orchestra. Everything is in constant motion, and any change must be checked immediately, otherwise the harmony and the good product will diminish.
That was just a single little story about working with a three roll mill, and I know many more because each colour has its very own life.
Before the pigments can be grinded into a paste, they must first be mixed with Linseed Oil. We do not want to discolour the mixture unnecessarily, therefore we use a bleached Linseed Oil for this purpose.
When Linseed Oil and Pigment are stirred well and thoroughly together, it can be grinded on the three roll mill. Depending on the character of the different pigments, soil colours are coarse and the oxides are fine, the mass is grated 2-5 times until the paste is glossy, homogeneous and all pigments are saturated with oil, all the way into the core. It is a slow and very time-consuming process. On the small three roll mill we can produce approx. 40-60 liters of grinded paste a day, which turns into 80-120 liters of Linseed Oil Paint.
The pigments we use all have different properties and characteristics. Umbra, for example, comes from Cyprus, as the pigment pits for industrial use are today depleted in Umbria in Italy.
Sodsort, on the other hand, which is by the way our lightest paste, is a colour that, as the name suggests, has been created by suffocation of a gas flame (an incomplete combustion). During the manufacture of a grinded paste, Sodsort absorbs five times as much oil as the white pigment, titanium dioxide. Soot black is a so-called organic pigment, and it is the pigment that has the slowest hardening properties.
In addition to the mentioned characteristics, in order to completely omit the production technique, the pigments also have the following properties:
Transparent or opaque, coarse or fine, nibbling or dries hard, good light fastness or poor light fastness, thin consistency or strong consistency and finally zinc helps to give a nice hard cure, good consistency and the zinc helps to keep surface mold away.
After making some good pastes, it happens quite often that they need to be mixed with each other to certain colour. In this process it is our task to have all the properties of the pigments in mind when we mix them with each other. This is the only way the paint will be of the very best quality. That is also the reason why you will find us very questioning when you order a custom-made paint from us. Precisely because the grinded pasta must be designed to fit your needs.
We can mix custom colours as desired just from a small scrape of old paint, an object or a colour code. Once the colour is mixed, we store a small "soldier" in our archive of colour paste. Which makes it possible for us to mix the same colour again at any time. It is numbered and the same number is applied to the can and the invoice. When it really goes well, and of course if we remember it, we also archive which oil-based pastes the colour is mixed from on the back of the "soldier".
We have made it a habit not to write down recipes on the various mixtures, because we would die of paperwork. Instead, we keep the "art of mixing a colour" on command alive. There is a great deal of freedom and a great satisfaction based on always being able to serve a unique colour that is never quite the same as the previous one. A skill of a craftsman that we are very proud of and who gives life and variety wherever the colours are used.
You can have your paint just the way you want it. It is my basic attitude to offer everything like a grinded Paste. You can even stir the pasta up with siccative and linseed oil yourself, as it offers the greatest customization options for you. But I have learned over the years that more people find it a little too troublesome. On that note, we offer both today; "Stir it yourself" or the "Finished Linseed Oil Paint".
If you order a finished linseed paint from us, it is always made to order. Therefore, you also have the option to deselect the siccative, or whether the paint should be for inside or outside. If you want to work very environmentally friendly, siccative can be omitted. The requirements for you as a painter will only be a little bit higher, because it is even more important that you are extremely good at stretching out the paint thinly. The curing time of the paint will thereby be delayed by approximately six to ten hours.
The grinded paste consisting of linseed oil and pigment is, as previously mentioned, what it's all about. In addition to our linseed oil paint, the grinded pasta also forms the basis for both our range of Aqualinum® and Satin Wood Oil.
We are a company that consciously goes against the stream and lives modern in an ancient universe. We produce linseed paint from old recipes and a proud craftsman tradition. With our products, you do not skip the easy way. You hurry slowly and enjoy watching the work progress. Our products have ties back to the time when things were allowed to take time, because it is the time that creates the best results.
If you feel tempted to hear more, you are always welcome to stop by our showroom at the factory. Here, you can calmly immerse yourself in the various products, colours and materials that we work with daily.
BLIRUP - WHERE IT ALL STARTED
MUSEUM OVARTACI
THE OLD TOWN IN AARHUS