Ancient Art: Making earth pigments

WoodlandsTV went to the 2019 bushcraft show to see some of the amazing woodland craft that goes on around the world. Here Caroline Nicolay guides you through how to make your very own ancient earth pigment, explaining the cultural context behind each colour.
A film for woodlands.co.uk by Emily George and Rose Dunster

[@nunyabiznes33]

The Egyptians eventually discovered how to make Egyptian Blue as they tried to make substitutes for lapis lazuli.

[@adhamhmacconchobhair7565]

Thank you so much for showing the Celtic round houses! I'm from Ireland and really want to live a tribal life like my ancestors!

[@alexandrahenderson4368]

Good luck! I hope you're able to and learn their language

[@sarahsanchez4552]

In Alabama there's lots of clay in the soil and iron in the rocks. I'm excited to see what I can make.

[@hashbites]

me: *sees Alabama* my brain: SwEEt HomE AlAbaMa

[@g0desq]

@@hashbites same

[@broccoligirl9019]

Same with Texas

[@jianna7682]

How's it going?

[@river7896]

A fellow alabamian?👁👁

[@Dumbunny420]

This makes me want to travel lots of places and collect nature to create a colour palette and paint a bunch of pretty paintings

[@gemealvin2127]

I searched this because i was inspired by jonna jinton❤

[@violalalinor9934]

Ye, she is the best! but her pigments aren't that colored, i live in sweden, we don't have that much colors were I live, I'm gonna look for some new tomorrow anyway, but i agree, she is amazing!

[@sebby5839]

OMG SAME

[@dickhead8775]

Me too.

[@Queerbpd]

Me too

[@stellaq3306]

I found Dylan Sara then ended up here.

[@tammcd]

Quite rare purple "ochre? roqua? or rock?" from the Forest of Dean. ?? Interesting video, btw. EDIT: Found it! ""Clearwell Caves are still worked intermittently to produce coloured ochres for use as natural pigments. These are washed and milled for sale in the mine's own shop. A range of ochre colours are available, from golden yellow to English Reds. Clearwell is also known as one of the few locations where the rare purple ochre may be found.""

[@violalalinor9934]

i find ochre all the time, but first now i realize that i could have made paint with it!

[@tammcd]

@@loredanalinden1958 Interesting! However, the last time I looked at a map, not only is Hastings not close to the Forest of Dean., but they have different geological substrata. Still, chemistry operates widely. In Death Valley in the USA, there are erosion-exposed faces of variegated rocks ("Artists Palette Painted Hills") and similar colored strata are found in China ("Rainbow Mountains").

[@Goghahahahahaeej]

Why does this seems like she is talking to us from a pirate ship?

[@robmorris844]

I think its probably down to everything you see in the video.

[@charisma3479]

I felt Same

[@asthouart]

She doesn't sound like that to me. All I heard was a lady - possibly French or Dutch - speaking in English. Guess I missed the "pieces of eight" bit

[@vivilavita5950]

that is super helpful, always wanted to do my own paints but thought it was harder o.o thank you so much , You have changed my life , now i can walk around and colect colors for my palette

[@dlcrowley9084]

This reminds me of when my mother taught me to make mineral makeup. We mostly used micas for colour and shine but it's made very similarly.

[@clueless8516]

Cool !

[@heronoverdose]

I'm glad to of found myself here, thank you for putting together.

[@jarrodcluck]

Amazing. It is such a joy to discover your channel. Thank you for preserving this knowledge.

[@rhondaporro7116]

ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING!!! THANK YOU FOR SUCH INTERESTING CONTENT!

[@eqlzr2]

We do a fair amount of hiking and exploring in our area. Two days ago, we were driving our Jeep 4WD into an area where we had never been, and the neighborhood road led us further and further into the countryside until we got to a 4WD road which we took for a few miles and then got out and hiked down a rather flat dry wash. I began to see first a clump of pastel color here and then another color there, and finally quite a few clumps of significantly different colors. At least 10 different colors. We had stumbled on a concentration of natural pigment rocks. I was struck by the fact that they felt much lighter than any of the other pebbles and rocks in the stream bed, and also by the fact that they easily left a substantial colored chalk-like mark on harder stone. I retrieved quite a few of these pieces and will use them to produce some paints and pastel sticks soon. I have seen the occasional piece of stuff like this before at several other locations, but this new spot was a much heavier concentration.

[@sandgrains3418]

Please, I have soils of different colors, what materials are added to the soil? So you can color pottery, you're doing a very great job 👍, my greetings.

[@RickTOutdoorAdventure1969]

Great short film, thanks for sharing 👍

[@flowersafeheart]

Love this!!!!! Been loving learning about low-toxic and/or zero-VOC paints like milk paint, clay paint, chalk paint, Benjamin Moore, etc., and cool businesses that sell that stuff. Plus learning other aspects of DIY, green, nature-based, and low-toxic living. Earth pigments can be mixed with various things and I saw a company that sells them I think sources from mainly or only Europe? But this takes it a step further to make one's one locally!! (I bet the head scarf and clothes in this video are naturally died too. Looks like it!) Now to learn more about natural dyes (liquid dye is different than powder pigment), natural ink, more on natural food prep, more on natural building (cob is my current favorite plus compost toilets), etc.!

[@violalalinor9934]

i love this idea! Im gonna start right away!

[@lindareese4579]

Thank you young lady for sharing this with me..

[@Surv1ve_Thrive]

Great subject. Excellent video production quality. Thank you very much et merci.

[@c.m.sharma3851]

Thank you very much Mam. I am very glad to know You are going with the Nature

[@margueritevandersloot9094]

Your work! I love this!

[@taratravels6235]

fantastic video! will try this out!

[@joelthorman2379]

Awesome video, been watching how to vids for at least an hour, this is the one that has released me to experiment now I think!! Thank you

[@WOODLANDSTV]

Glad it has inspired you!!

[@GeoffLord]

The same here too :-D

[@Inara.Alferova]

Hello from Malvern! Absolutely love this video, so informative!

[@WOODLANDSTV]

So glad you like it!

[@lukekeene-cosby3850]

Wow this is amazing!!

[@Emeraldant]

Great video, thanks

[@Queerbpd]

Jonna Jinton inspired me 💜💜

[@jspetsandcrafts9862]

Me too

[@dromeda6066]

omg i love her energy

[@hakankursunmusic]

Thank you very much, will try!!!

[@auntiebarnes]

Thank You! ❤

[@saraschandrikapentyala971]

Great work

[@Queen_AV]

Clitoria ternatea or bluepea flower for blue/indigo/purple depending on the ph of your paper/wood/cloth.

[@bluemacaroons]

Thanks! I really want to try this

[@SSYoutube777]

Love it!! :)

[@drletedelete2928]

Thank you very much for sharing

[@WOODLANDSTV]

You bet!

[@vincentmonet6172]

Awesome - thanks!

[@crgaillee]

She is explaining EXACTLY how Da Vinci made his oil paints.

[@shailajagangwar4014]

Beautiful ❤️

[@AFV85]

I use all these for weathering up my milarty armor model's! All modelers do use pigments vallejo and AK interactive to mr Hobby have taken to making all kinds and colours yellow ochre use for dusting sand on desert vehicles the red and burnt umber for streaking and the core rouge for rusty vehicles great using enamel thinner with to get different effects

[@rotay701]

I would love to see a tutorial of the paint making process some day

[@artetribe9277]

for some reason the lady explaining is very similar to Bam's way, lol. great video by the way thanks!

[@tomjohnston884]

This is very cool

[@tejain6687]

I loved the way you are ❤️.

[@trivenika.madhubani]

Amazing

[@jcmnaomi88]

She's awesome

[@TheRunningArtistBruceKatlin]

Thank you for the great video. Can you recommend an appropriate sized mortar?

[@hArtyTruffle]

You might like to know that you can mix blue from purple and green. Thanks for sharing. I’d never have thought to extract the fine particles like that in water and then let dry. So simple. Thankyou 🙏

[@jayBharatiraanga6425]

Watch Ajanta Caves Paintings Lapas Lazulee Was Used In Ancient Times Natural Colours Used All Ancient Buddhist Caves Practice Veepasana Campaign Canvass for Same Promote Distance Learning From Open University 😅💙🇪🇺

[@abittwisted]

Now I want to go walk the river bed and see what I can find and then go find the local clays. See what palette I can make.

[@violalalinor9934]

yes! me too!!!

[@DingoPaws63]

What medium do you mix the pigments with for fabric painting?

[@kelthor4882]

So what is the best way to grind the stones?

[@abbyfox8939]

Can you use plant dyes for hair

[@sarcasticmoon1042]

Amazing srsly this so inspiring

[@ArshanArts]

How can you tell if it can be pigment or not

[@juansebastianromerotorres6517]

What do you do with the pigment after so that you can use it to paint on canvas for example?

[@patrickpaipai2118]

Is possible to make green color from emerald rough stones? I guess that green color is very vivid

[@claraalebrook5335]

Which stone and clay thats not toxic?

[@MisterCasket]

Do you (or anyone here) have tips for natural oils to protect wood? I want to make my own viking boardgame (Hnefatafl) using materials that they used. But I would also like to future proof the wooden board.

[@vaunmalone3064]

And its free! All natural, no chemicals!

[@kaitourobin840]

I don't mean to discouraged you from doing this, but as Civil engineer, who study environmental engineering, I want point a few things to be careful about. First, the moment you start alternate it to make it into paint, you are making a chemical. The process of grinding, mixing into water, letting the water evaporate, than grinding it again is a chemical process. No difference than a lab. Actually it can be more dangerous than a lab because you don't know the chemicals composition of the clay you are using. Remember naturally doesn't mean it is not dangerous. Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, Rust, and etc. can all be found mix into natural rocks. Especially Lead. It can be hidden in clay and rocks. I always suggest looking up your soil survey of your area before messing around with unknown substances. A good example of being careless is A lot of historical sculptures were painted red, where the main pigment was made by Cinnabar. Which release toxic mercury fumes over time.

[@jadedmist]

I love her already

[@Jakkgusa]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you

[@binodkumar-yc2xr]

Kindly make a syanthatic colour like blue

[@Raaa1111..]

I found my colors and made powder from them but my art masterpiece keeps getting blown away by the wind.. how did u make them stick to ur board

[@ishitasarkar2611]

If you have then try adding some acrylic pouring medium into your natural pigments. They will help to bind the pigment particles together and to the surface you use them on.

[@idrilcelebrindal4866]

Honey or a bit of egg yolk is used as a natural binder. I personally prefer the honey, but to each his own! Edit: Those binders are for watercolour; oils you need nothing but oil and dry pigment!

[@estherhannes2483]

On what surface do you paint? Wood? Canvas? Paper? On paper you can use it as a watercolor. Pigment with water and gum arabic, on wood and canvas you can use egg tempera ( add egg yolk to the pigment) or make oil paint with linseed oil. Also, some surfaces need a preparation with gesso

[@kaotickara8196]

I got here because we were tasked to make one painting out of natural pigments as our second examination? Anyone here also have the same reason? haha

[@Orensason390]

How do I turn the powder in to paint? Do I mix it with water

[@msDanielp369]

eg

[@sandgrains3418]

Are you exchanging information? And I will explain to you how to color pottery with it,

[@Orensason390]

@@sandgrains3418 what do you mean and I have all the information I need so…

[@matildejaldomorrillas6016]

E n castellano por favor... Me interesa mucho...

[@rosariodecastro1842]

Are these earth pigments you are talking about water-base?

[@florhortua3682]

Muy lindo su tutorial pero no se entiende su idioma

[@alaskankare]

what if you have no clay in the area? we live against mountains on an alluvial fan of crushed slate and quartz? don't think I have ever seen clay here.

[@moist_onions]

alaskankare some slates are extremely old clay deposits and make for amazing brown based blacks

[@deniserafaeli]

Malachite and Lapis are used for coloring pigments of green and blue too. Enjoy!

[@sandgrains3418]

Please, what materials are added to the soil to become fixed colors and suitable for coloring pottery? my greetings 🌹

[@user-vi4lb2xc7i]

art of colours - ai now knows there are many many earth colours . true true and what about different different plants pigmentations? wow shell we find a pig for an excercise? what kind of excercise? a super wow pigmentation art excercise!

[@hairyballbastic8943]

I got a whole lotta snow lol

[@DougShoeBushcraft]

cool

[@xbeanx3000]

I want to avoid a paint pigment, charcoal, coming away on my feet and hands. I've seen videos where it does, so is charcoal not a good pigment in reality?

[@Psalms20A21]

🧠

[@Nargis0507]

Lapis lazuli comes from Afghanistan

[@estebanod]

French accent?

[@msDanielp369]

yes I’m quirky,- I find her gorgeous mmm my type of girl unusual looking indeed mmm