Making your own watercolor paints - pt1 (Experiment!)

** I apologize for my creaky chair!! I'll be more careful in the future!
Tools:
Ceramic plate, spatula knife, water, paper towels, empty half-pans or full pans, distilled water, gum arabic, honey, pigments, synthetic brush, scrap paper.
The pigments I used are prussian blue (PB27), Spanish gold ochre (PY42 hydrated) and aluminium metallic pigment.
I got these pigmets at Kama Pigments : kamapigment.com
I got the shiny powders, the green and the ultramarines at Voyageur Soap and Candle : voyageursoapandcandle.com
Both are Canadian shops, I don't know if they ship outside the country.
Music :
"Garden Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

[@TheAndreArtus]

Many pigments such as those that consist of iron oxides (many earth colours) or titanium dioxide are hydrophilic and will thus readily absorb water or disperse into it. Other powders such as the aluminum one you used are hydrophobic and thus require something like a surfactant, wetting agent, or dispersant in order for it to behave as you expect. Your addition of water is actually exasperating the problems you are having with it (11:00).

[@michaelannfitzgerald8742]

This is awesome! I didn't know you could make your own paints, so many possibilities! Thank you for sharing Eve.

[@orkidbox]

I can imagine how much paint you can get from a jar of pigment. That blue was lovely. I have seen in a book a thing called a muller made from glass that you use to grind the powder and liquid mix together. It should give you a smoother paint mixture.

[@EveBolt]

Thanks! :D A muller would indeed be the absolute best tool in this situation. They can be a bit pricy though, so it's not tempting to get one right away (what if I ended up hating the process of making paint..?). I'll try to get one, eventually :) Maybe it's easier to go through the jars with acrylic or oil paint, but with watercolor, it's gonna take me forever indeed.

[@jtbmetaldesigns]

Making paint is a thinking exercise. Hydrophobic pigments requires more wetting agents, dispersants and mechanical force(glass muller). Also less of the pigment is dispersed in the binder. Also pigment extenders can make difficult pigments work for you. Extenders like calcium carbonate, kaolin clay, and talc.

[@cathywhitney8194]

Wow Eve! Never would have thought to mix my own paint. Really enjoyed watching you do it though. Looking forward to part 2☺. Have a great day.

[@EveBolt]

Thank you! :D Mixing paint is a truly cathartic and calming experience, I really enjoy it hehe! Seeing the color happen under my eyes is magic :) I hope you have a great day too!

[@JRTodd]

Chemistry 101. Thank you for sharing this video. That is quite a process.

[@EveBolt]

Thank you! :) I wish I was more of a chemist so I could understand better everything that happens when I mull paints! And upgrading to better tools really helped making the process easier, so I'm thankful for that.

[@melissasue19681]

Very cool! Can't wait to see the next one!

[@EveBolt]

Thank you! :D Hopefully next week!

[@AridescentArt]

So awesome! I watched a video from the frugal crafter and she mentioned you in her description on how to mix paint!!! Gonna try this asap!

[@patm.7322]

This was very interesting! I really like the silver. It reminded me of solder...very cool!

[@EveBolt]

Thank you! You're right, it looks a lot like solder! It was mesmerizing to watch :D

[@kfcphtb21]

A great way to mix your paint is to buy cheap white ceramic bathroom tiles. I used to China paint and you have to mix your own pigments with the oil for painting. We used tiles and a different palette knife....a diamond shape one that has an angle. Much easier than a straight palette knife. Thanks for the awesome no.

[@EveBolt]

Yes! White ceramic tiles are a super nice mixing surface (as long as you don't have to grind anything, as the finished ceramic would be too smooth). I'd have a few if there was a hardware store nearby :)

[@amandalee5329]

can't wait for more in the series!

[@EveBolt]

Thank you! My plan is to post part 2 next week! Stay tuned! ;)

[@loltrash3717]

You could use the flat end of a glass candle holder I've seen someone use that and a glass cover from a picture frame

[@BrazoDelDiablo]

Hello, I greatly enjoy watching you make paint, I have a tip for you... dry gum Arabic needs to be dissolved in hot water, to make a solution for watercolor paint you do 2 parts gum Arabic, 4 parts distilled water and, 1 part honey or glycerin (optional) since both honey and glycerin attract moisture you should only use one of them. A couple of clove oil drops will help with the preservation of the solution. Thank you. :)

[@EveBolt]

Hi! Thank you! :) Wow, thanks for that recipe! I ended up buying liquid gum arabic, it's easier to use. Do you know if the clove oil leaves a scent?

[@BrazoDelDiablo]

Eve Bolt - Bolt's Vault hello, you are welcome! The scent is very light because you are using only a drop or two, hardly noticeable. Unless you don't like clove than you might not want to use it.

[@EveBolt]

Oh, good to know! There are not a lot of consistent recipes for making watercolor paints, or there are a lot of variants and no real "reference" if I may say. Can I assume that you make your own paint too? :D

[@owingsart]

Nice job Eve. You made some nice paint here and used a good process. I think you have the right idea, that mistakes happen and we can learn from them. Great job Eve. ~marty

[@EveBolt]

Thank you Marty! :) I really appreciate you taking the time to check out my process, perhaps we can trade secrets as we both adventure further into the paint-making world! ;)

[@jannes1453]

i was looking for good videos on the subject like a few weeks ago and couldnt find anything, and now you and marty have both made some lovely videos on it! this just gets my hands aching to make some paint too :) gotta save up for some gum and pigments tho ;)

[@EveBolt]

Thank you! :) It's a lot of fun and I love how it can be accessible rather fast, in the sense that the small bottle of gum arabic solution and a jar of the inexpensive kind of pigment amounts to about 10$. With a trip to the dollar store, one can already try and see if they enjoy the process :) Either way, it's a nice experience!

[@TheAndreArtus]

Use a cheap [relatively broad] silicone spatula to collect and pick up the finished paint from the mulling surface, then scrape it into your pan with a smallish palette knife. Whatever is too much to fit in the pan can be transferred into a makeshift palette box made out of any of numerous plastic inserts that bulk up packaging (e.g. chocolate tray). The more paint you can pick up and get into a container the fewer napkins you will end up needing to clean up, and the fewer pigments end up in landfill or down the drain.

[@KevinsCaninesAndAquatics]

Could you do a video or give me your thoughts of what the pros and cons of buying vs making watercolors?

[@EveBolt]

Pro of making your own watercolors: -it's fun -makes for a better understanding of how the medium is made and works -can be economical -control of certain characteristics of the paint Cons: -some pigments are awful to mull by hand -messy -a bit of an investment at first -pigments can be very expensive, and or dangerous to risk inhaling

[@Friedchimkin]

Most all your videos that i saw really inspired me to learn and experiment more and more. Can you make a video about how you start selling your watercolor paint product? Like hints where to start, what we need expecially on packaging. I wonder how to warp the pan with the paper. Thank you so much, please to consider it.

[@KDrawDraw]

Love this!

[@EveBolt]

Thanks! :)

[@creativesolutions902]

That is a really good plate, flat with a curved edge perfect. Most people use glass cutting boards and I didn’t like that idea because of paint falling off the edge. They also use something called a glass mulcer To crush the paint pigment particles After initially mixing it with the spatula. Then again with the spatula after the muller. These are very expensive little tools, though. I am looking for a two or 3 inch diameter glass paperweight to use instead. And I have my earth pigments ready to go… Thank you, this video got me back on The project!

[@diana3599]

thank you for sharing your experiment. I have considered doing this also. Do think many artists have a little bit of "Leonardo" in them and want to know how things are made. And if could they make something that would be good enough for their use own use. Part of being creative!

[@EveBolt]

I agree!! I really enjoyed exploring the art of paint-making :)

[@MixedMediaCraftsbyDiane]

Hi, thank you so much for the video. Do you have an exact recipe to mix colors for a full or half pan size?

[@ColoringKaria]

This is an amazing video! Make sure you tag your name in the KZbin creator option because I think this video might be a hit. This is a great idea and it's very well done. Can you use a marble muddler like for making drinks. That might work.

[@EveBolt]

Thank you! It could work, though I think the pestles for grinding paint have a smooth surface... I'll MacGuyver something ;) (And, sorry to ask, but how do I tag my name? Is it just adding my name to the video's tags? )

[@KarijnsWatercolors]

You made peanut butter! :D But really, I do admire you for taking the time and supplies to make your own watercolours and film your experiments so we know, if we try it, what to expect. Thank you.

[@EveBolt]

Hahaha! Or mustard? XD Thank you! There aren't many resources that show how to make this and it used to be that all artists had to make their paint before using it (!!). It's a lot of fun to do and really makes me look at a tube of paint differently :)

[@alicem1111]

Maybe you could try a round glass paper weight to grind the pigment. I was trying to think of something inexpensive that might work! Good luck!

[@EveBolt]

That's a very good idea! I'll keep my eyes open for one (maybe at the dollar store?). And thank you! :D

[@heathercatlady546]

Thank you for this view into your art experimentation. That aluminum was so shiny! The ochre and Prussian blue were pretty, too! Love the baby Pekoe and Scout at the end.. awwww! Do you still have aluminum powder? I’m curious and might have to play around with some pigments as well. Thanks again, and I look forward to seeing more.

[@firecloud6503]

That`s interesting. I also thought about making paint myself, but I didn`t find the motivation for it so far. And for the oxgall, I think there are some companies making synthetic one. I think "Lukas" is one of them. I have watercolour from Kremer Pigmente and some of them also rubb off. Maybe the pigments aren`t fine enough? Schmincke also sells pigments. They might be finer.

[@EveBolt]

Good to know that Lukas makes synthetic oxgall! I haven't seen them much around here, but I'll keep my eyes open :) The paints from Kremer seem to be a weird bunch; I've seen a lot of people get their sets and the dry pan paint has separated (!!). Do you have easy access to that brand? What do you think of them?

[@EveBolt]

Oh, I'll check it out! Thanks! :) A lot of the more natural pigments are very opaque. I never really quite know what to make of these.

[@sueallen952]

Every video I've seen doing this have used a big glass bulbous thing, I think it's called hulling where you keep grinding the paint till it's smooth, it takes a while

[@joyfulldj]

I use liquid gum arabic, and have no issues there with pigment rolling of, and add a few drops of glycerine and no water because my glycerine and gum arabic are fluid on it's own, I store two dropler pipets I baught at the pharmacy using it only on these two... takes a bit more gum arabic but when you work with the pipet there is little chance in overdoing it... so far no mold yet btw,jay. Oh you can buy micca powders from makup that are lose in the jars... these make a really pretty silver

[@EveBolt]

Loose makeup powder makes for really pretty paints indeed :D Adding in water is super useful when using a muller, it makes the mix easier to work :)

[@katrinakelly3743]

What if you were to use a porcelain \marble mortar and pestle. I've seen some on Amazon for 10bucks, that's way cheaper than a glass Miller and might eliminate the granule problem

[@NilRochaArt]

Nice!!!!!!!!!!

[@EveBolt]

Thanks! :)

[@golddi1]

Do you have a quinakridone gold with po49? How does this po42 compair? Can you show a picture of two togather?

[@InLiquidColor]

Eeee, I've been wanting to do this for so long! Only a minute in but needed to comment :D

[@InLiquidColor]

From what I've seen before, most handmade pigments are mulled with a glass pestal for around an hour per color. Perhaps that would help with the texture issues and lifting? Edit: oops! you said that at the end :)

[@InLiquidColor]

And that ochre is to die for!

[@EveBolt]

Thank you! :D I don't know if an hour of mixing is mandatory, might be hard on the wrist, but the blue definitely needs to be ground down even more. I really want to make it work, it's such a pretty color when done right! And I agree, that ochre is just amazing! It's the color of honey! I had never seen an ochre in that shade before!

[@Dan.B.Artist]

Ive used cornelisson pigment and it was really fine and didnt require much grinding, did most of it with a palette knife.

[@EveBolt]

Oh, that's really neat! Which color was it? :)

[@sonicmanichedgehog8265]

one question, i can use pigment but diluted?

[@rubenmsk]

It's easier using liquid gum arabic. The problem with the powder one is that you need to rewet it before mixing with the pigment otherwise the paint will crack in the pan if you don't rewet it properly

[@TrenaBrannon]

Thank you Eve! I found this video very informative. I did see some glass sets for under $20 on Amazon. Not sure the right type, but I’m going to try with Colour Arte primary pigments and see what happens. I agree with you on learning from mistakes - we live, we learn. 🙃 take care and STAY POSITIVE!

[@EveBolt]

Thank you so much! :) I hope you'll have a great time making your own paints, and stay positive as well!! :D

[@MixedMediaCraftsbyDiane]

I forgot to ask if you consider using food-grade glycerin in your recipe?

[@bzegrl]

Lindsay #thefrugalcrafter sent me here! Great tutorial.

[@Bloodlustvengencetib]

Did you put no honey into the silver?

[@nadinesawtell3267]

A few drops of glycerine may help. I understand that you can prevent paints from cracking when they dry. It may be necessary with some pigments

[@EP_135]

Can you mix the powder to make different colour ?

[@EveBolt]

Yes! You can generally mull two pigments together to create a mixed color, but you can also create the paints separately and mix them when you paint :)

[@peterplantec7911]

With metallics and phase shift/interference pigments and increasing their intensity. The commercial ones developed for automotive painting, cost often more than $40.00/ gram! So far I, having interesting results.

[@sylviacostello2755]

can you toward end add more water and pour in to spay bottle to stop waste,also using so much kitchen paper, you got spay paint.

[@EveBolt]

It might be possible to turn the leftovers into a spray, though it might clog up your spray nozzle.

[@judiththompson3120]

Hi, did you try adding a drop of more honey?

[@EveBolt]

Hi! Yes I did! I always add a bit of it when I mull paints, it helps keep the dry paint in the pan easy to rewet. It also helps with preservation (aka the paint doesn't get moldy!).

[@Ebtsamhful]

Do you think, it's going be fine if I used shadow instead of pigment?

[@EveBolt]

You mean eye shadow?

[@Ebtsamhful]

Eve Bolt - Bolt's Vault yes

[@EveBolt]

You can try, but it might not be ideal due to the additives they add to makeup to make it into makeup.

[@marleneaugusta5396]

Here where I live I don't have access to fancy pigments... D:

[@taquitos]

Oh my god I did a prussia too and its awful lmao, what a werid pigment to work with! thanks for the video

[@EveBolt]

It's a weird one indeed, but it can yield a gorgeous paint if we work it through XD

[@Shesvii]

To me the weirdest was phtalo blue :( it frustrated me a lot ahaha.

[@rubenruizfinearts6200]

If you use a small silicon spatula you won’t waste any paint

[@EveBolt]

It would indeed work better here since my plate is small and not flat :)

[@peterpeter2479]

can someone say what is the gum arabic powder brand

[@EveBolt]

It's by Jacquard :)

[@peterpeter2479]

@@EveBolt thanks

[@ianjackson5834]

instead of mixing the paint just with water try adding a wetting agent such as oxgall, nice informative video.

[@EveBolt]

Thanks! :) Do you know if glycerine is a good alternative to oxgall? I'd rather avoid it if I can...

[@ianjackson5834]

am not sure but I think glycerine is a binder or to brighten the pigment with a shine glaze and not a wetting agent, will look into that

[@BrazoDelDiablo]

Eve Bolt - Bolt's Vault I would not add ox gall, that additive makes the water color Bloom once on paper, it's nothing like glycerin. Oxgall is a medium that you can use on the side with your water depending on the effects you are looking for.

[@EveBolt]

Is oxgall more of a dispersion agent then? I've seen some tutorial mention using alcohol as a wetting agent for some harder to wet pigments.

[@ianjackson5834]

yes, there are 3 main parts to a watercolour paint pigment, binder and wetting agent. oxgall can be added after like you say but it can also be in the paint before to help with rewetting that paint ( other wetting agents can be used)

[@emiliemendoza5673]

Have you ever tried with liquid dispersions?

[@EveBolt]

I just recently got a few from Kama, but I don't think they are great to put in pans to let dry, more something to paint right away with the mix...?

[@emiliemendoza5673]

It is advertised as a concetrate to use with arabic gum. I like working with tubes and wonder if I can get the same texture that lasts while making my own paint. Tubes are costly... and I don't like pans :-(

[@EveBolt]

You can store the extra paint in airtight jars, I do that when I have extra mulled paint that I want to save to level up the pans. With the binder mixture I use, honey and distilled water, I've never had a paint go bad on me (so far).

[@NicholeFraserSicNic]

Why did you not mull this at all? So confused.

[@weirdress2457]

Where did you get the stickers on your tin?? Lmao, sorry, the video was very interesting and informative, but thE STICKERS ARE JUST SO CUTE 😂

[@EveBolt]

+Weirdress24 Hehe 😀 The Punimelt one came with an order from their online store and the cat one is by artist maruti_bitamin/koyamori.

[@rainy758]

can i use epoxy pigment powder?

[@EveBolt]

I have no idea, sorry! :(

[@rainy758]

@@EveBolt oh i see...☹️ Thank you anyway 🙂

[@cadyweber4118]

are they quality paints??

[@EveBolt]

The handmade ones? I'd say they are! (100% pigment no extenders, gum arabic, honey, that's about as clean a recipe as one can get for watercolors! :) )

[@MatheusFerreira-mu6lu]

I THINK it happened because you used powdered Gum Arabic (i've never seen anyone do this before) AND you didn't work the paint for enough time...

[@joycemishoulam4549]

China painters use a grinding glass. Check out China Painting Supplies. The glass is not priced high.

[@kokeru]

smells like fresh french canadian

[@EveBolt]

+Poison Alice Probably because it is ;)

[@melissasue19681]

New kittens??

[@EveBolt]

Same kittens, but back when they were tiny sausages XD

[@melissasue19681]

Eve Bolt - Bolt's Vault 😄

[@Дюбель]

Надо, чтобы гуммиарабик растворился, потом смешивать и проверять. Вы не дали время вашей смоле стать клеем, поэтому не сработало.

[@MelissaShattuckTheQuirkyOwl]

eve, i actually have 3 small glass pestles....i would gladly trade one with you for some of the professional pigments.

[@EveBolt]

Hi Melissa! :) Wow, thanks for the offer! Sadly, I don't think a pestle would really work with my current setup; I really need a muller (with a larger flat bottom) to work the paint on a glass slab. I'm sorry! Thank you so much for the kind offer, though!

[@MelissaShattuckTheQuirkyOwl]

Eve Bolt - Bolt's Vault ...I understand not having much room. I have an art room and it is more than jam packed lol. I use one of the pestles in a very old small milk glass bowl so that i can work the pigment on the bottom and sides of the bowl. The offer still stands if you should ever change your mind. Thsnks for sharing your videos, i very much enjoy them.