Too busy for my testosterone shot, might as well use the consequences.

Would there be anything I’d need to chemically treat it with? Ways to avoid smell? Or I’m I good just shoving a brush up there and going to town?

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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    17 hours ago

    Most people that work with blood collect it and use it quickly. That’s more difficult to do with menstruum. But, if you’re willing to work at a slow enough pace, it’s doable. I’m too lazy to go searching for it, but you wouldn’t be the first person to do it

    The issue with menstruum is that it isn’t just blood. So you may need to use a mesh strainer if there’s solids involved. You can’t really paint or use it as ink with solids.

    Once you’ve got enough to fill a brush, if you’ll be painting, you just go to it. Blood as paint is very thin. Don’t expect much coverage. Think really thin water color, and you’ll approach the useful techniques. The pigment in blood that shows on paper is the red blood cells mostly, with plasma being what allows it to stick to the paper (and canvas is not great unless you have massive volumes to work with). If this was a long term project instead of making use of a limited supply, I’d say to dry it out, then grind it into a pigment to mix up as tempera tbh.

    Anything you would mix in to the fresh supply is going to thin it out more; to the point that it won’t show well at all. Luckily, it isn’t going to smell once dry. You can then use your favorite spray fixative and call it done. It’ll last as well as any other reactive pigment.