DIY homemade watercolor paint made from crushed PASTELS ✶ Full process and tips

In this video I will show you how I turned my Sennelier soft pastels into watercolor paint. The process is messy and takes some experimentation, but once you figure out your way it's a lot of fun and very rewarding! I have made quite a few colors since this video and they perform the same as my store bought tubes of paint.
I did this live on my Twitch channel. If you want to watch the full process video, check it out here:
➤ / 418058148
Mentioned in this video is this recipe:
➤ handprint.com/HP/WCL/pigmt1.html
My Binder:
9 parts gum arabic solution
1 part glycerin
1 part honey
1 part distilled water
2 drops ox gall
2 drops oil of clove.
I also added a couple drops of iridescent medium and granulating medium by Winsor and Newton.
I discovered that using this ratio and tweaking it to your preference you can make some nice paint!
00:00 Intro
01:11 Recipe & process
02:16 Making teal
04:00 Making purple
06:53 Real time swatches
09:03 Arches cold pressed paper
10:15 Strathmore watercolor postcards
11:10 Fluid cold pressed paper
12:08 Saunders Waterford rough paper
13:18 Fabriano Artistico hot pressed paper
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[@WeblightDreams]

I love this idea. I have so many soft pastels just lying around not being used. You made two beautiful colors.

[@jilliancrawford7577]

I have found that misting it with water while mulling the pigment helps to mix better and resist the urge to add too much binder. I used to add way too much gum arabic to lubricate the pigment while mulling and of course that weakened the intensity of the final product and adding water first has made a drastic improvement. It's still a work in progress and seems to vary from pigment to pigment, but it helps enough to at least put me on the right track and I recommend it to anyone doing this.

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Great tip! I haven't made any more, but I do hope to make some pigments from natural materials next spring. I'll keep this in mind.

[@sidneybales9062]

How do you tell if there is too much binder / pigment? Should the paint look like heavy cream? thinner?

[@jilliancrawford7577]

@@sidneybales9062 Great question! It's hard to say because it's pretty subjective and depends on what you'd want. In my experience, as long as you prepare the pigment with only water first, you can get it down to only needing a few drops of binder. When I mix mine, I use only water at first until it's probably a creamy or buttery consistency and then add a few drops of the binder to make sure pigment particles and molecules separate and open themselves up to attach to the binder.

[@sidneybales9062]

@@jilliancrawford7577 Whoa. I've never seen anyone do the pigment with water first. only binder. I'm going to have to rewatch the video.

[@jilliancrawford7577]

@@sidneybales9062 Yep, the water eventually evaporates, so it does its job in making it easier to mix instead of relying on the binder to do it, leading to not using as much binder and higher amounts of pigmentation!

[@danieljamesbinderystu2968]

To those of you wanting to this, it is a great idea and can work very well.... but I did not see her filter out the pure pigment from all the junk and fillers they put in pastels. The soft pastels I buy are Ludwig soft pastels, and they only use Trac. Gum And pigment... thats it, that's why they are extremely exspensive and soft. Most cheap or budget pastels will use ALOT of chalk and fillers to make them more opaque with way less pigment. Now I make my own watercolors from rare earth Minerals and when I grind them down to powder, I add water to it in a jar. Let it sit for a few hours and all the heavy dirt, sand, impurities and junk sinks to the very bottom and all the pure pigment sits on top. There are a few different ways to extract the pure pigment layer off the top and its way to lengthy to type here, but it's not hard at all. Look up " how to make pigment from rocks " on KZbin and they teach how to extract pure pigment from things. Now if she would have done that with these pastels, they would be absolutely pure without all that chalk and fillers still in them, which absolutely kills color and will dry mute, gritty and chalky ( if there is alot of chalk in that color ) Just a tip for those of you wanting to this, it's an absolutely great idea and works 100%, but you need to filter out all that junk they use in cheaper soft pastels. Sennelier soft pastels are also great to make watercolor because the only use pigments and Trac. Gum. Hope this helps someone and have a great day 😀

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Good tips! She (me) was just in it for the experiment and it worked great to make some fun postcards. Most of my pastels were Sennelier and they turned into very lovely paint.

[@danieljamesbinderystu2968]

@@SarahBurnsStudio hello lol, iam sorry... I didn't mean any disrespect, or to be condescending by saying " she ". I saw that the video was a bit older and alot of people don't respond on their older vids. So I left the comment for the people that came across your vid. You absolutely did a fantastic job, better than any other person I've seen trying this process. So I just wanted to give this this tip of separating and extracting the pure pigments from it, regardless if it really is exspensive or budget. More so budget tho lol but I know there is so stuff that even needs to be removed from exspensive pastels as well. Anyway, thank you for the compliment and I hope you have a great day 🙂

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

@@danieljamesbinderystu2968 haha no worries! I know what you mean 😄 honestly i love when knowledgeable people offer advice, and I hope it helps someone who tries this

[@Drica.minguez]

Thank you so much for this comment! It's exactly what I was looking for. So if I turn the pastels into chalk and mix it with water I'll be able to extract the pure pigment from the pastels? Thank you so much, I hope you see this comment 💗

[@RisingPhoenixCreations]

Omg I had no idea you could do this with soft pastels!!!!! I'm so happy 🤩🤩

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Have fun!

[@LunaBianca1805]

Wow, those two colours look gorgeous 🥰

[@chungbunchong]

I accumulated a lot of pastels for years plus I have asthma and stopped using them because of the dusting. This is such a great idea and I am going to try this thank you so much for sharing. 😊

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Have fun!!

[@aswie06]

Those 2 colors look so much like an Alexandrite gemstone!!! Beautiful! & Ty so much 4 making this video, I've always wondered if this would work & I like the same kind of specifications of my w.c. paint as u. Ty ty ty!! 😁

[@joelleledoux6351]

J’adore l’idée de jouer au chimiste ! Tu as vraiment plein d’idées ! Continue ces magnifiques vidéos qui nous apprennent tant. Le plaisir est la clé ! Bravo encore ! Congratulations 🎨🇫🇷👏

[@ninner196]

I had done this in the past with the best quality pastels because they would be almost completely pure pigment and like you I wanted the flow so I did add ox gall and of course gum arabic and it all works out great. Enjoy your painting!😊

[@Nicawe]

Brilliant idea and video, I've been wanting to try this for a while and can't wait to get using my old pastels very soon. Thank you!!!

[@radioactiveferrets]

I have cheap soft pastels laying around not being used and I got the idea to use them to make watercolors from this video! Thank you!

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

I would love to know how it goes for you!

[@ramshariaz8740]

Definitely going to try this. So satisfying!

[@leenb.7936]

Beautiful colors! 😊

[@deborahsweeny3101]

They're definitely some beautiful colors. Tfs

[@PauMoss]

Wooow so interesting and useful to make my own water color paint, thank you so much ❤

[@tenaciouszebra5691]

My first watercolor I made with ground up charcoal that you’d buy for your grill. I used honey water lol. Once I got all the ingredients for the binder I made a MUCH better version, but they were both fun to make and both layered well

[@dianawiltse6679]

Wow that’s pretty awesome

[@NiamhCreates]

This looks so fun!

[@nauci]

This is something I had no idea I NEEDED to know until it became the top of my youtube feed P.S. You have THE COOLEST tattoos

[@kanamichelle7404]

That looks so fun and I have always wanted to try making my own. When I fill my watercolor pans now I always overfill them so that when they dry and shrink up I still have a nice full pan. Some shrink more than others though.

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Good idea!

[@AC5VB]

This is outstanding use of pastels. Resourceful! Waste not want not! My question is does the quality of pigment that is crushed make a difference? Well there are different grades of pastels.

[@Bhodisatvas]

Fascinating!!

[@tracybrightlitecraftyartis1178]

I have pastels to use but I'm not sure I'd be able to be this patient. Great job though! And beautiful colors!!!

[@valenmejia2135]

I have some cheap pastels just laying around for around 16 years now, this seems like a good idea! or at least just crushing them and keeping them in containers

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Pretty jars of pretty powder 😊

[@floralheart]

This genius ! I have a box of Prismacolor pastels but I'm kind allergic to powder mediums. I was researching a way to transform them and here I'm. You created beautiful colors, I loved the lavender and purple hues. Please tell me which's the most important ingredient to make granulated paints. I'm not at Twitch but I'll be watching more of your videos. Thanks for sharing !

[@sabinelloyd8532]

I may do this with my pastels. Bought an expensive set and they really aggravate my asthma.

[@yellow2615]

I’m trying. I crushed my sticks. Used water to make the powder melt. Put them in a mortar and pestle. Combined with binding medium by sennelier. Filled full pans worked well. Put out in heat to dry.

[@margaretgibson7063]

Great video. IMHO if your goal is to customize your own small batches is a great idea. You will get your own colors that are not sold anywhere. Your art will be unique. If you found someone that did custom work and it reasonable with commercial paint that would be a time saver. You should balance with works for you. I once was a commercial painter and mixed custom paint all the time. Customers are very picky when it comes to color in their homes. Inside and outside.

[@karenmccabe2167]

Beautiful colors ! You mix the binder ingredients as you go, right ? Have you tried to make a batch of binder in a larger quantitiy ? Also, did you crush a full size pastel to get the quantity of pans you have ? Thanks

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Since I was just making small test batches, I didn't bother making a big quantity of anything. But I would definitely recommend that since it's very time consuming. Most of these were full size pastels, I had them for so long but only used them once or twice. I'm sure a pastel artist is yelling at me somewhere! lol

[@birjeeshussain6106]

Hi Sarah this is very interesting and I'd like to have a go. I just have one question if I may. The paints won't be transparent will they? I think they might be opaque?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

No, they are transparent, they look exactly like watercolor. You could add something to the binder if you want it more opaque

[@JenniferCharleeArt]

This is such a cool idea. I also don't love chalk pastels but am apprehensive about getting rid of them. I may have to try this too! Sorry if I missed if you said it but would you say this recipe is similar to other brands? I saw you added honey so I wonder if these activate like M Graham or Sennelier at all. I'm also curious about the lightfast quality of these. I'm assuming it mostly depends on the pigments in the pastels and the brand chosen. Really loved seeing and hearing about your process :)

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Hello! The recipe link is in the description, and there's a ton of info to read. It's good to read all of it because you'll do better if you understand the reasoning behind each ingredient. And yes, honey helps it reactive. Mine reactive instantly just like my Sennelier or Schminke brands and it's incredibly vibrant. I didn't add any fillers. I believe the lightfastness depends on the pigment.

[@flyfisherman3649]

Just curious as to why you would add additional binder when pastels already have binder. Wouldn't a wetting agent do the job making your process much easier?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

The crushed pastels wont clump/dry together and be able to use like watercolor without added binder

[@nerdywatercolorist6551]

I personally haven't used chalk pastels as much. But as far as i know, pastels are opaque. Are the Watercolors opaque as well? Or they are transparent as the traditional Watercolors are?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Very transparent.

[@elifgenc1077]

Hello. My paints are not drying. Drying of first layer took time 2 days. And second layer didn't dry although 1 week . Do you know any reason ?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Probably too much binder (gum arabic)

[@THEMAYQUEEN1]

wow who would have through to use pastels as pigments!! they turned out so lovely. Your purple is like Daniel Smiths Moonglow.

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Well if you think about it, pastels are almost the purest form of pigment you can draw with... so with that in mind I was sure it would create some nice paint (and I was right!)

[@THEMAYQUEEN1]

@@SarahBurnsStudio i may give this a go!! I have pastels i dont use and buying pigments can be expensive. Thanks for the inspiration. 👍😁

[@jetteroheller6395]

Pastels usually have some type of filler like clay....did this keep your colors from remaining bright?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

No it didn't

[@IAMKAL1]

Hey Sarah! I have a couple questions...and please no judgment (commenters) as I am very new to watercolor and still learning the very basics! 🙂 1. When you talk about texture, are you referring to the little granular pieces in the paint or on the paper? I bought a set of watercolors (my first ones really) and ALL the paints left that granular stuff on the bottom of my water jars, and on my watercolor paper. It didn’t blend well at all and I assumed that was a bad thing...but in your they look cool, so I’m wondering if I made a mistake on the set I had. (I returned them 🤷🏼‍♀️) 2. (Not related to this video) How often does a premium spot open up on your Patreon? I’ve been checking it out weekly and it always says its full so I was just wondering! I think that’s all, but thank you for the video! I love watching them and hearing how passionate you are about what you do. It’s inspiring to me and I appreciate it! 🙂

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

The texture I refer to is always "visual" texture - which can come from a variety of things. The paint itself can be granulating, and even on super smooth paper it will have a lot of variety as it dries (instead of just a perfectly even coat of paint). Textured paper (cold pressed or rough) can also increase the visual texture because the paint will settle into the little "valleys" of the paper. Some brands contain less pigment and more fillers and will not give a pleasing result. But you also don't need a lot of colors to start out. Just the primaries plus a few extras would do just fine to begin. As for my patreon, do you mean the Postcard tier ($20)? These days it's rare for a spot to open up but the $25 is currently open and you get the Postcard too (I know it's more but it also has the bonus of a annual commission).

[@sandraallen6209]

Can you use oil pastels also?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

No that would be a totally different thing

[@gunesucer]

Hi. I want to ask something. How much of the binder you have made should we use for what amount of pigment?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

check out the description for the recipe

[@gunesucer]

@@SarahBurnsStudio First of all, thank you for your kind reply. I want to ask one more important thing. Since these measurement units are not used in our country, I got a little confused and wanted to be sure. 1T=1Tabble spoon=1tbsp mentioned in the recipe and Is 1 t=1tea used to mean spoon=1tsp? Can you help me with this please.

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

​@@gunesucer Yes, T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon

[@gunesucer]

@@SarahBurnsStudio Thanks a lot 💕

[@chewy5836]

What else do you need to make watercolors with pastels? Is it just water or a other item?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Please read the description/ watch the video, it explains it

[@chewy5836]

Sarah Burns Studio ok thank you very much!

[@catherineraper]

Hi! There is an artist that I watch on here has a bunch of these videos. Her name is pearfluer. It might have some information for you. :)

[@amberstarriray5204]

hows the lightfastness and chalkiness ?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

No chalkiness, they literally act as my tube watercolors do. Lightfast would require testing, I assume its similar to the original lightfastness of the pigment in the pastels (these were mostly Senellier), so it depends.

[@amberstarriray5204]

Sarah Burns Studio thanl you so much ❤

[@kayagms]

Hi, can you make watercolor paint out of eyeshadow pigment?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

I have no idea

[@Erdhenne]

Yes and no. You can make it. But the butter in them makes the color streaky and proning to mold really quick. 😔 But you can use loose eyeshadow in powdered form. 😏

[@andresked5287]

Is it chalky?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

The paint is not chalky at all. It feels/looks exactly like my tubes of watercolor. I can imagine you would have more chalky problems if you use really cheap pastels though. My pastels were high end.

[@GGlovescj]

What gives it more granulation ?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Some pigments are naturally granulating. If you want to add more, there is granulation medium you can add.

[@BB-nz5sk]

@@SarahBurnsStudio Hi there - I loved this video and your honesty (about time, efficiency and just your overall "realness"). I am ALL about granulation. I can't get enough of it. I have read reviews of the Winsor and Newton granulation medium and it's so far the reviews have been pretty 50/50. Do you feel the granulation medium truly helped with the granulation effects? Thank you again for sharing your time, creativity, and tips. Also - I loved your kitten video. I hope they are doing well!

[@ewh2234]

What is the name of the tool your using to crush the pastels?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

pestle and mortar

[@verapires2105]

Muller

[@MrOsiric]

Great idea mam, any negatives in using crushed pastels rather than pure pigment? Can you get good transparent water color out of this technique?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

I haven't really done this enough to figure out all the pros/cons - it was mostly an experiment. Of course I have plans to do a lot more, but life gets in the way lol! Yes you can get transparent color, feels exactly like any of the tubes I've bought before.

[@mishti06]

Hi Sarah!! I have 2 questions. Can you use any kind of pastels or do they have to be artist grade? Also..can you recommend some vegan friendly supplies to substitute as I'd love to try it but don't want to use ox gall.

[@pennypop408]

Seems an awful amount of trouble to go to. I will stick to mixing my paints but the process was interesting to see. If you had any pastels you don't think you will ever use it may be a good way to recycle them.

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

It was just an experiment :)

[@sunflower-bp6np]

I cant find oxgall what do i do?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Search online

[@kincsobalint5932]

You don’t need to use it, it just helps the watercolors spread on the wet paper, or you can use qor’ s aquazol, it’s basically is a synthetic oxgall

[@yumi.na0]

I have a question does oil pastels work here? Cause I really need white paint rn I ran out and panicked cause I can't go out cause of the pandemic hdhdns I'm not a pastel artist as well I don't know how to use it.

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Oil pastels have an oil binder so you cannot turn them into watercolor/gouache

[@yumi.na0]

@@SarahBurnsStudio Oh ok :)

[@katrinakelly3743]

I would really like to know the exact measurements for your binder solution

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Because the volumes change based on how big your powder batches are, it's not necessary to make exact measurements each time. That's why I use this method for my small piles of pigment: Binder: 9 parts gum arabic solution 1 part glycerin 1 part honey 1 part distilled water 2 drops ox gall 2 drops oil of clove. I also added a couple drops of iridescent medium and granulating medium by Winsor and Newton.

[@katrinakelly3743]

@@SarahBurnsStudio thank you that was very helpful, I just started making my own watercolors a few days ago but for some reason when I tried to swatch to see if it was ready it was sticky. Maybe I put too much honey

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

@@katrinakelly3743 Mine were too! It took about 3 days for it to "dry" but it was still wasn't completely hard. However it's fine with me, I didn't need it to dry fast and I've been able to reactive it very easily and it works great.

[@katrinakelly3743]

@@SarahBurnsStudio well I'm still waiting for mine to dry so I can refill it. Did you sand your glass surface before mulling? I tried to sand mine but it stayed smoothe. Sorry if I'm bothering, I just don't have anyone I can talk to about this

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

@@katrinakelly3743 no I didn't sand it down. It's easier to scrape imo

[@geckonia]

What a great idea.... I’ve been collecting stones from the creek - that works great for making granulating earth tones. 🥰 Do the pastels have pigment info?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

Most of my pastels are Holbein, but almost all of the labels had fallen off so I have no idea what most of my colors are! Another reason I decided to do something else useful with them.

[@estrada4894]

Where can I get a glass muller

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

search online

[@pimps4simps562]

I’d recommend searching on Etsy for the glass muller since they’re usually more affordable on there. NaturalEarthPaints has a set that cost around 80 bucks.

[@erica-1214]

You can use anything glass with a flat bottom, as long as its comfy in your hand. I used a discarded candle vessel from the thrift store, it was $2. I used some wet/dry sandpaper and flap-lapped the bottom of my 'muller' to give it a frosted finish, That fine frosted finish will help grind the pigments and the suspension base/binder together. The pigments don't dissolve, they just get smushed up into the binder, so you need to mull it in order to encapsulate every particle in bider

[@Lauria2875]

An easier way to grind your pastels is to use a nail drill with a find sanding band. Look up making custom acrylics useing chalk. Just be aware that one direction will throw the dust up and out, the other will throw it down into whatever you're using to catch it in. I don't remember which is which!

[@nurb4295]

Can I make gouache with pastels?

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

If you use the correct binder I'm sure it would work. Again I'm not an expert.

[@MaryDeanDotCom]

Yes you just add calcium carbonate to make it opaque

[@andreamarshall3356]

iNTERESTING MY HUSBAND IS IN THE TINTING,PAINT INDUSTRY LUCKY ME HE JUST MADE UP SOME WATERCOLOUR,GOUACHE MIXTURE HE USED ARABIC GUM AND ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE GUM i'M SURE ABOUT THE NAMING OF THE COLOURS

[@lexuinosirg5491]

Goache

[@artistmcbrown98902]

Thanks for making that horrible song "let's get physical" go through my head lol

[@starlenestilltouringyoutub2116]

Ack I wanna do that to my oil pastel -_-

[@SarahBurnsStudio]

You'd have to use oil binder I guess?

[@starlenestilltouringyoutub2116]

@@SarahBurnsStudio yeeeep, most likely.

[@MaryDeanDotCom]

Oil paints use linseed oil as a binder, I believe. But look up a recipe.

[@slateportraichu5416]

What a lovely idea. I want to try making my own paints=) Thank you for the tips and inspiration=)