Making the most blue natural pigment out of lapis lazuli into handmade watercolor paint

[@PaintAndDrawTogether]

You made amazing and impressive Lapis Lazuli watercolor. I own Daniel Smith and DaVinci watercolors and also bought 10g dry powder from natural pigments, and can say that all of them were overpriced gray disappointments. Now I know that they did not purify the pigment extracting only the finest blue particles the way you did, and that is the reason their color is dull and gray blue. Your final watercolor is really stunning vibrant blue as lapis lazuli should be. Thank you so much for creating this video and sharing. Have a fantastic day.

[@dirtyblueshop]

Thank you so much for these words! Lapis is quite a difficult pigment when it comes to paint. Fake version or “cut” versions are very common..

[@shaylatwitchell2567]

I was wondering how they seperated the lesser quality pigment and inclusions in the lapis from the good stuff but never imagined making it inti a stick and then washing the finer, more saturater particles out. It's so clever! People from the past havr always been smarter than history remembers to credit them for.

[@Ilumenix]

Bro made enchanted paint-

[@haniel721]

Underated coment

[@davidschonberger8609]

Thanks for this amazing video. I wondered why Della Magna sells their Fra Angelico watercolor for over $100 per full pan. I also found a pigment seller online that has pre-ground (40 micron) Fra Angelico blue pigment made using the Cennini method. They sell it for not less than $14/gram (if you buy a 50 or 100 gram batch). Now it makes sense! That is a painstaking process, and clearly a labor of love. You Dutchies have a deep, rich history of paint making. Ik studeer nu ongeveer een jaar Nederlands en wil graag ooit naar Nederland verhuizen. I look forward to your Etsy store reopening, Laurens!

[@dirtyblueshop]

Thank you so much David! And another enormous thank you from you other message I just received!!! 🙏🙏🙏 can’t express how much I appreciate it! I will have this paint for sale (though it’s on the higher scale of expensive..) next shop opening or the one after. I’m almost out of pigment so I need to make a new batch. Since I started looking into this pigment and the process, I discovered there are a lot of counterfeit version almost (emphasis on almost) indistinguishable.. so I’m solely making my own 😁 any reason for moving here? Apart from a lot of cultural things that it 😅

[@davidschonberger8609]

@@dirtyblueshop If you make some Quin. Gold with the extinct and elusive PO49 I'll certainly buy some of that as well. As for why I'd like to move to NL, it's a combination of things. I'm from the USA and am increasingly disappointed with so much of what I see here. I'd like to live in a more progressive country - a full democracy, as opposed to the significantly flawed one here. The Netherlands has a rich history of arts and culture. And man, do you produce some great speed skaters and cyclists - both road and cyclocross! 😁Orange boven!

[@dirtyblueshop]

@davidschonberger8609 Quinacridone gold PO49, from (dry) pigment to handmade watercolor paint kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIrYdZqaba-npKM 😉 it’s part of my regular line as long as I have the pigment 🧡

[@indugaikwad6475]

@@dirtyblueshop Lapis lazuliPowder Colour is Used in Ajanta Paintings Study Those Paintings Colour Material Used Animal Glue Tree Gum Ochar Etc 🎨🌺

[@The_a4paper]

This just goes to show the effort that ancient people had to go through to get the stunning art pieces we see in the museum today. Paint making is a craftmanship that can take years to learn and master, not something anyone can just do. Lapis for require much more work than just smashing rocks with hammer. It requires hours or even days of grinding and even then, you have to select the finest of finest grains through special method. You can't just put the thing in oil because as you've experienced, you will just get wet blue sand. Then you also need the skill to add correct additives like oil and thickener to get the right tone and consistency. You want a paint not just blue colored water after all.

[@MONKMIKE]

Absolutely gorgeous color n process my friend, appreciate you showin us viewer's the technique's. 👍🏻👍🏻🙂

[@dirtyblueshop]

Thank you so much! 🙏

[@olenachekanova481]

I’m in aww… such a difficult but beautiful! Thank you!!

[@dirtyblueshop]

Thank you!

[@gotitaila4744]

Thank you for showing the process of grinding the gemstone.

[@dirtyblueshop]

My pleasure!!

[@annsidbrant7616]

Beautiful! Fantastic!

[@dirtyblueshop]

Thank you 😊🙏

[@KRCanetti]

How come I missed this video?! Oh Oh.... I can testify: this Fra Angelico is as angelic as it looks. I baught a dot pan that was filled to the brim and color was blue as the robe of the Virgin Mary ( for which the color often was used in the paintings). It's not a paint I use on daily base but it's.... yummy beautiful. Great to see this proces lined up in one video, Laurens.

[@dirtyblueshop]

😊🙏

[@barbararichards7202]

What a wonderful watercolour! Thank you for making this video.My homemade lapis was not as bright as yours, and now I understand why

[@catio2471]

The blue is amazing

[@Soapartisan875]

It’s truly a stunning blue 😊

[@dirtyblueshop]

It really is!!

[@AlexMadinger]

Thank you for sharing your craft!

[@dirtyblueshop]

It’s my absolute pleasure!

[@matroxman11]

Such a cool process and beautiful end result. Thanks for uploading

[@dirtyblueshop]

🙏

[@gaydreadknight3941]

thank you so much for this! I've been looking everywhere to find for base instructions on how to do this myself!

[@dirtyblueshop]

My pleasure!

[@LisabettaMedaglia]

I have the book that this recipe is from, and over the years, I've been collecting a small batch of lapis lazuli, whenever I'm able to get some. I still wanted to get a bit more, and then get whatever other materials I need (the wax/resin to make them into sticks), and then I'm going to give it a try. I study and re-create medieval illuminations, and I've made lamp black and egg shell white before from scratch, and I have some pre-made powdered pigments that I've made into paint as well, but making Ultramarine, even if it's not the best quality for the first time making it, is kind of my big project that I want to do, once I get everything I need for it.

[@dirtyblueshop]

It’s really worth it to do it yourself! 💪

[@LisabettaMedaglia]

@@dirtyblueshopI plan to! I even got a cast iron mortar and pestle to crush it up :)

[@Goldi-Luc]

wow what a lot of work! worth it for that gorgeous color!

[@s.maskell7134]

An extraordinarily beautiful blue.

[@dirtyblueshop]

It really is!

[@shadowguard3578]

Wow this was labor intensive. Very interesting, thanks!

[@dirtyblueshop]

Thank you! 🙏

[@shadowguard3578]

@@dirtyblueshop you’re welcome!

[@geefull]

What a glorious blue :)

[@calvinc7196]

Beautiful color and granulation

[@awatercolourist]

He’s back! 😄

[@shadowguard3578]

We’re watching the same videos. 🥳👍

[@awatercolourist]

@@shadowguard3578 I always like it when I bump into people here in the comments 😄

[@shadowguard3578]

Me too. See you around! 🤩

[@awatercolourist]

@@shadowguard3578 See you! Always a pleasure 😃.

[@shadowguard3578]

@@awatercolourist 👋☺️

[@GPCTM]

4:44 "binder" is too vague. what is that? I was expecting yolk and white wine :-)

[@dirtyblueshop]

Well I make handmade watercolor paint exclusively so in my case it’s a gum Arabic solution with honey

[@juwairiyahummabdullah]

Thats amazing, im looking into the possibility of using lapis lazuli as a natural pigment in building, using it in a lime plaster… im not sure if thats how they did it in the olden days, would love your thoughts

[@dirtyblueshop]

That sounds like a very beautiful project! Not sure how they did things like that, but since it’s quite precious, you could always try mixing a bit to see what ratio gives the result you’re after! Have fun!

[@PauloEAbreu]

Just WOW!

[@dirtyblueshop]

🙏

[@kosssko]

Great video 💯

[@dirtyblueshop]

🙏

[@awatercolourist]

Why do you add potash to the water when extracting the pigment from the wax? Is it safe on the hands?

[@dirtyblueshop]

Because it’s in the recipe 😅😉 well.. I’m using a tiny amount, it should be safe. Though I’ll be using gloves next video 😉

[@awatercolourist]

@@dirtyblueshop Thanks!

[@aratichokshi]

Can you please share the proportions of your rewetting binder ingredient list? Would love to try. Thank you

[@dirtyblueshop]

I have two videos on binder! I’m not sharing my exact recipe but you can get a really close own version!

[@jessicavalor7437]

I got a question, why not have the binder be gum and oil ? I would very much like to do this but my use would be for quill ink

[@dirtyblueshop]

Well, gum Arabic is a water-soluble substance. I never tried is with oil, but since I make watercolors and oil rejects water, it wouldn’t make sense for me. You could have a look at shellac?

[@jessicavalor7437]

@@dirtyblueshop that makes sense, iv just been trying to figure the best way to make ink for my quill and if it's water base it won't hole long enough to write anything without dipping every 15 seconds.

[@dirtyblueshop]

@@jessicavalor7437 there are retarders available, also for watercolors! I might experiment with them in a future video

[@heedthecat]

What happens to the depleted dough sticks nowadays? What did they do with them historically, do you happen to know?

[@dirtyblueshop]

I just looked it up in the original method “just throw it away since it is no longer of use” .. this is when no color, so after lapis ash, will come out of it.

[@PauloEAbreu]

Can you give a "guess-estimate" on how long the whole process takes ? It seems to take a lot of time and man-hours...

[@dirtyblueshop]

Just the making of the pigment, for a small amount of “end product”, I think close to 4 hours when you add everything up. Excluding the time in between steps/waiting

[@GPCTM]

excellent.

[@dirtyblueshop]

🙏

[@TIGERZY2K]

Was lapis lazuli color mixed in Pepsi blue soda?

[@dirtyblueshop]

Haha I hope not!

[@sonm4946]

Is it possible to make gouache?

[@dirtyblueshop]

Absolutely, the reason I haven’t done it yet is because you lose a part of the pigment properties in the process. But I’ll sure give it a go!

[@tutu5084]

Best explanation ever

[@dirtyblueshop]

Thank you so much! 🙏

[@crack09able]

I loved the video. But I have a question, is it suitable for painting on plaster?

[@dirtyblueshop]

Theoretically.. it would be. It it wouldn’t do the paint any justice. You can compare it by pairing on unsized paper when working with watercolor paint.

[@crack09able]

@@dirtyblueshop thank you very much!!!

[@QQQQQman]

The finer you mull it the less blue it will be - is this your own experience or does CC advise this? It makes little sense to me. With lead flake white it is advised by CC that the longer it is ground or mulled, the better. Why this should be any different with lapis I wonder

[@dirtyblueshop]

My own experience and it’s found in every other source. Same goes for a lot of other minerals. When you would compare it to glass for instance, the finer you’d make that the white it looks. It get lighter, not “blue-er”

[@QQQQQman]

@@dirtyblueshop Yes, CC confirms this too. I made the dough stage this evening. It is resting now. Christ it was a bi*** to grind in the mortar and pestle!! Recently made stack process lead white. That is fun too. The trad way with vinegar and horse manure. The mulling is the key, the more work, the better. The white has a unique quality, it has a pearlescent quality, absolutely beautiful. Has to be seen with the naked eye, a photo will not capture it..

[@woodsy2232]

check out bubblehash bags they go from 25micron to 220 micron i think you would enjoy them for fine powders for your pigments

[@dirtyblueshop]

Okay wow! Thanks!!! 🤙😁

[@ghoulchan7525]

Oh now i get why this one is so expensive. Still out of budget though 😅

[@nullifye7816]

Looking at it from a modern perspective of course, but it looks like a very cheap "child's toy blue". Also noticeably green-leaning.

[@dirtyblueshop]

I know what you mean, it’s anything but though 😅

[@awatercolourist]

First!

[@etienne7774]

I think schminke can replicate this color, and you won't know the difference.

[@dirtyblueshop]

I believe that’s one of the companies that actually wouldn’t do such a thing. What would be the point? And why wouldn’t one notice?

[@DerSkavenmann]

Synthetic ultramarine is chemically identical to lapis lazuli and dirt cheap. So no need to imitate or replicate with something else.