The Process of Making Botanical Lake Pigments

[@FroggingAround420]

The sound of you plucking the flowers into the pot was very satisfying to hear lol. This is an amazing video!🙌

[@yvonne9198]

Awww thank you so much!

[@sebastiaantheartartist]

Why backing soda and Alum? Can't you have used chalk instead? Just a curious question. Im learning. You made a beautiful color. Would've loved seeing it mixed with oil.

[@yvonne9198]

Hi! Yes, chalk could have been used too. I am still researching and have come to this conclusion. A lake pigment is formed when alum (a mordant and acidic) is added to a dye and precipitates in a chemical reaction with an alkali. The chemical reaction causes the alkali to bind to and neutralise acids. There are many alkali carriers (or substrates) and baking soda and chalk are just two of them. The first creates a more transparent pigment and the latter an opaque pigment.

[@theanthropiceyedolatry]

Thanks guys, this has been a very informative conversation

[@sebastiaantheartartist]

@@yvonne9198 is that Alum Stearate? Where do I get Alum? 😊

[@BumbletheBea]

@@sebastiaantheartartistyou can get it in most grocery store spice aisles

[@Silly7852]

Would crushed egg shells work??

[@nandingpanelo]

Thanks for sharing

[@gabrielvarca]

Hello, can i ask for some studies you look onto for the process of pigment extraction in this video?. I'll try and use it onto our school's research paper

[@50hh05]

Great video 👏

[@syedahsanali2943]

Nice video

[@beverlyaten1775]

What would happen if you dried the petals, ground them up with Cilicia or mica and added to oil?

[@rileysherman3497]

How long did you leave it to sit after mixing the alum and baking soda? Would washing soda work?

[@yvonne9198]

Hi Riley, it takes just a couple of minutes really. As the alkaline soda neutralizes the acidic dye solution, it releases carbon dioxide as a gas causing the solution to foam. Continue stirring and knocking back the foam. Add soda until the reaction ceases or the soda solution is exhausted. Baking or washing soda do have some differences, it may effect pigments differently as it will have a slightly different pH but the main difference I have noticed is that baking soda will cause more frothing and foaming than sodium carbonate.

[@Bartyron]

4:06 blue angel.

[@czeuxis]

Sodium carbonate can be changed by calcium carbonate!

[@gnomeyg959]

Did you add the pigment to a medium after to make paint? What did you do with it?

[@yvonne9198]

Thank you for your comment, I made some water colours with them to test their lightfastness. It is still a process.

[@kpr4225]

Oh... I had no foam, barely a fizz after adding the soda... Wish me luck, ill try to work with it regardless!

[@yvonne9198]

Ah... mmmh...did you add alum?

[@gabrielvarca]

Hello, did you put the coffee filter with the pigment on the oven to dry it?

[@yvonne9198]

Hi! No I let it airdry. Higher temperatures may effect the final colour outcome.

[@cread9671]

Awesome video! By any chance do you know if the lake pigment can later be used in the making of pastels?

[@yvonne9198]

Yes, lake pigments can indeed be used to make pastels :)

[@paulberry1234]

How much plant material did you use if yoi dont mind me asking?

[@yvonne9198]

I don't mind. 🙂 about 30 grams of flowers yielded 2 grams of pigment.

[@janadamarawy9308]

I tried it and all the mixture passed through the filter paper, nothing remained! Do you know why?

[@yvonne9198]

Yes, it is possible the pigments do not bond. I reckon it has to do with the substances in the plant and how it reacts with the substrate. It's worth exploring different substrates. Try using calcium hydroxide, it is a base, alum is not needed and works like a suspension. Let me know if this helps.

[@beverlyaten1775]

How could you retain that gorgeous beep blue?

[@GaelMT-r7i]

im from mexico. can you help me? what other name more universal had the "alum" i dont know what is it :( aluminium??? ahhhhggg

[@GaelMT-r7i]

"Potassium alum or potassium aluminum sulfate (also called Neapolitan alum or Alum)" is this?

[@yvonne9198]

Hi there, I googled and found that it translates to 'sulfato de aluminio', the images do very much look like it's the same thing!

[@VirginiaSantapepa]

​@@yvonne9198 "alumbre"

[@christia1974]

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alumbre

[@PearlLanaban]

hello can i ask, how long do u boil the flowers?

[@yvonne9198]

I take it off the stove when most of the colour of the petals have seeped into the water.

[@ApocalypticDreams666]

Are botanical lake pigments lightfast?

[@jeonbakson2576]

Plant pigments are not light-fast, but they become very light-fast after precipitating.

[@ApocalypticDreams666]

@@jeonbakson2576 is that when the color binds to something like alum?

[@jeonbakson2576]

@@ApocalypticDreams666 In fact, after adding alum, you need to add chalk or sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate to precipitate the pigments in the plants. Generally speaking, chalk is added to obtain opaque pigments, and sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate is added. To obtain transparent pigments. The pH value of the solution and the amount of alum added will have a great impact on the color of the solution. If you are not very satisfied with the color of the solution after adding alum, you can add acetic acid to change the pH of the solution and thereby change the color of the solution. I don't know if I made it clear. If there is anything you still don't understand, please tell me. Try it a few times and you'll be sure to get the pigment you want.

[@markdanielalcantara2114]

Can i try it with vegetable like carrots?

[@BabaBaba-vm7ln]

Is it food colour?

[@user-qx6qh4qf1s]

Do not use this in food, it is not edible.

[@marisajohnson9679]

😮

[@TheBlondiesNr1]

do you add the same amounts of soda and alun? or more of one than the other?

[@yvonne9198]

I don't measure out the equations of alum/bicarbonate rather add it on intuition. In this video I did 10 gr Alum and 5 gr of Bicarbonate but you could also use Calcium hydroxide too which is a substrate in itself and does not require alum.

[@rositavarghese2673]

Can dye clothes with this?

[@yvonne9198]

No, lake pigments are insoluble and are generally not suitable for dyeing clothes.

[@nimishabainara98]

This powder alum is different from solid alum? Because when ever I have used Solid alum, the color changes.., for example i boiled onion peels and thn added alum to it.., the result was green color. But I see no change in color over here. Any specific reason for that?

[@yvonne9198]

Hi Nimisha, alum is a chemical compound and I don't think your solid or my powdered form are any different. The color of this Delphinium slightly changes. The liquid was a dark blue purple and changed into an icy blue however I do not expect or guarantee the same results as many aspects are contingent on environmental phenomena and on which of the pigment groups a plant contains but also Ph of the solution.

[@pepphearter]

I was having the same problem just 2 days ago making my first lake pigments! Boiled red onion peels, added calcium to neutralise it, after adding alum it turned green! And I was like oh no! 😂