Most are from lake pigments, with a few earth pigments in the mix.

From the top left, reading right:

Top row: Red roses, iron oxide, greens from florist waste, cranberries

Middle row: Red roses (again,) red cabbage, kyanite, lemons

Botton row: Spinach and corriander, just spinach, beets, agate grindings (from my rock tumbler)

These are just the ones I managed to get potted and dried, I have a whole box of mixed paints waiting on another order of watercolour pots.

They all look a bit different in consistency in part because I’ve tried a few different formulas of watercolour mix, and because they’re made from different things. Cranberries and red cabbage always end up a bit “sticky.”

My latest formula for watercolours is:

  • 300g Gum Arabic Solution (gum arabic powder and water)
  • 280g Glycerine
  • 20g Clear honey
  • 20 Drops clove oil (antibacterial - paints will mold)

I mix into pigment at a 1:1 ratio by weight.

  • ctenidium@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Very cool! I am very curious: could you share a photo with the colours painted on a sheet of paper?

    • Wren@lemmy.todayOPM
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      1 day ago

      Sure thing. These aren’t the exact same ones. They look way richer when they’re still wet, and get better the more water I work into them. It’s just a matter of figuring out a better formula now.

        • Wren@lemmy.todayOPM
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          29 minutes ago

          Red roses, weirdly. The dye bath turned pinky brown, dyed silk a light salmon colour, made red-brown as an alcohol ink, and turned blue during the lake pigment process - but the filters all stained purple. Roses, man.

          Yellow ones made brown pigment.