In this video, made for the Watercolor LIVE! conference, Linda demonstrates how to make watercolor paints from dry pigment powder, water, gum arabic, and glycerin, and takes her freshly made paints to the beach! Some of the tools and materials are newly available in the Ancient Earth Pigments store. See our recent blog post for details about new products in the store.
Can I please have your recipe on making watercolor binder. And do watercolors need to be mulled?
Hi Mariana,
You need a 1:2 ratio of Distilled or Reverse Osmosis water to 2 parts of dry Gum Arabic (GA). In my demo, for WCLive, I did 5 Tblsp. hot water to 10 Tblsp. dry GA.
Heat the water in microwave or pot to 140 degrees F.; pour into heat proof (canning jar or Pyrex bowl) then pour pre-measured GA in and whisk or stir well. Options: a dab of honey to retard mold, and, 1:5 ratio of glycerin to GA _if you are making WC pans_. Glycerin at ~ 1:5 ratio of the GA mixture, or apx. 1-2 Tblsp. Glycerin to your mixture, above. Let sit overnight and most lumps will be absorbed. Each dry pigment has its own absorbency rate; clays absorb lots!
2) Our pigments are pre-ground to best particle size for paint-making. You don’t have to mull, you are thoroughly _dispersing_ the pigment into binder of choice by using Italian palette knife #3 or a muller on a ground glass plate. Happy painting! Linda
Dear Painters,
Don’t be afraid if you’ve ended up with cracks in your paint filled full or half pans! You can gently break it up in our porcelain mixing bowls (mortar & pestle sets) or_ gently_ mull it with our Italian Mullers on our _Tempered_ grinding plate then _reconstitute_ with more distilled/RO water and drops of Glycerin! Use your Italian palette knife to scoop & pour back into pans. How simple is that?!? Cheers, Linda