polychromy

Polychromy is the art of applying colours to sculpture. The rocking horse has been painted using old techniques; firstly with numerous layers of hot glue and chalk ground, then finished with home made oil paints. The puppet's head has a similar ground, covered with hare glue paint and details in tempera grassa. For the bellies of the viols Gesina uses modern gesso and paint in order to reduce the weight of the layers of chalk and maintain the sound quality.