Raw materials used for Tribal Face Painting

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Tribal Societies, who still follow the ancient custom of face painting, choose the colors according to the available raw materials. In ancient times, only primary and locally available colors like red, blue, yellow or white were used. Sometimes by sprinkling dust or soft bird feathers, special effects were achieved. Nowadays most tribesmen choose to use branded face paints. Painting a face is an art, perhaps the very first art, going back to the origins of human culture. Artists paint bold, mask-like designs inspired by imagery from Nature, imagination, and traditional masks. Unlike dance and music where the most charming modes and sweetest strains disappear before they are understood, painting captures the emotions and expressions and retains the impact for a long period. Painting is essentially a combination of lines, forms, colors, tones, texture and space. It attempts to convey the spoken and unspoken expressions with the strokes of a brush.

Face painting is considered to be an important tradition among Native Americans. It is much more than just a beautifying practice. It’s a sacred social act of distinction and a cultural heritage. On special occasions faces of the tribe members are painted to augment one’s appearance and power. Each tribe of the Indians has its own and unique way of face painting. For Native Americans Indians, roots, berries and tree barks are most commonly used to make the dyes for face painting. These natural raw materials are ground and made to a paste to make the dye. Clay of different hues is also used in Native Indian face painting. These wonderful colors along with the ideal face painting designs do create a desired effect. The process envolved a strict ritualistic order, that is maintained during the application of these colors. The colors are first applied around the nose and only the index finger and middle finger is used for the application. The rest of the face i.e. the forehead, chin and eye areas are then carefully covered with paint. For some face paintings they would cover their face and then plaster it down with mud leaving the holes for the eyes and mouth. Generally the warriors would paint their faces with colored clay. They would then do the design of their tribe. Each tribe has its own designs for war and ceremonies. After warriors came home from a hunt, they would have a big feast, cutting up the animal they hunted and killed. They would play a lot of games, containing parts of the animal they killed. The Indians would use every part of the animal they killed.

 

The Plains Indians used paints to adorn themselves, their clothing, their homes and their horses. Though their culture lacked a written languages, the pictures and symbols they drew were rich in meaning and told the stories of the people. Many different colors of paint were used, originally made with the materials at hand — plants, clays, even duck dung. Reds were by far the most popular color, but early natives used brown, red, yellow, black, blue, green and white as well. With the availability of pigments from white traders, 19th century Indians used other colors as well. A yellow paint was made from earth from the Yellowstone River, as well as from bull berries and pine tree moss. Blue was obtained from duck droppings found on the shores of lakes, or from blue-colored mud. White earth and clay were used to make white paint. Green was made from plants, copper ore or mud. The pigments were placed over a fire to dry, then ground into a fine powder on mortars of stone or wood. They were then mixed with tallow. The colors, kept separate in small buckskin bags, were mixed with hot water when the artist was ready for them.


Indian artists painted with straight willow branches (which acted as rulers to draw straight lines) along with short, flat sticks that he or she used to trace a pattern onto a hide. Brushes were made from chewed cottonwood or willow sticks, or from buffalo bone. Each color had its own brush.