Bob Ross Gesso, in black and grey, is about half the cost of the Golden Gessos. Liquitex “basics” is even cheaper, but only available in white.
Since i didn’t buy a golden liquid black in my last order, it seems that a liquid black and a tub of white gesso might also provide a satisfactory black gesso.
Liquitex white 16 oz $7.80 Liquitex "basics" white 16 oz $4.90 Item # 1004850 Bob Ross black 16 oz $8.79 Item # 1402258 * Golden liquid carbon 4 oz $6.91 Item # 9252010 Golden liquid bone 1 oz $3.28 Item # 9251794
I think bone black is blacker, but that carbon black would “go farther”
Bone black: not as opaque (2 on scale of 8), chroma 0.5, gloss 32, tint strength 89, is pantone black.
http://webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/overview/boneblack.html
Carbon black: more opaque (1 on scale of 8), chroma 0.3, gloss 79, tint strength 57.
http://webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/overview/charcoal.html
Chroma – Attribute of color used in the Munsell color system to indicate the degree of departure from a gray of the same value. Correlates with the dimension of saturation.