From black beans to pigment to watercolor. Learning how to turn plants into watercolor has been so rewarding 🥰
#mastoart #pigments #wildcrafting
@Kaientist thank you! I’ve started with making pigment from rocks, but I also have a few more plant pigments. All my colorful flowers have turned into yellow and green pigments though 🤣
These are just the first three I mulled into watercolor yesterday.
@WusiDusi Ah, nice! I suppose considering the color palette you’re developing and the sources of the pigments, it would be rather fitting to do a painting with a nature subject.
Either way though, would love to see more of your process and other watercolors that you end up mulling!
@Kaientist nature tends to be my preferred subject anyways 😊 I think these three together with some of the greens are great for landscapes.
I’ll definitely share more if my process in the future!
@WusiDusi this is so beautiful :)
@WusiDusi oh wow! how do you do it? I thought that watercolor was nothing more than pigments suspended in water…?
@daniel_bohrer @WusiDusi I'm also curious! It's wonderful! I love it and it looks so good!!!
@alicesutaren thank you! It’s super fun and not that difficult Once you have the materials 😅 I’ll write a bit more in the next days about it!
@WusiDusi You're welcome and thanks in advance if you write about it! Have a nice day 🌻
@daniel_bohrer almost! Watercolors are pigments in a watersoluable binder, most commonly gum arabic (and a few additives usually).
So in this case I made the pigments myself from organic dyes, by laking them. It’s a chemical process involving a mordant and precipitation.
I’ll try to explain it a bit more in a future post when I have time 😊
@WusiDusi coooool
@WusiDusi that's brilliant. Have you got a writeup anywhere?
@sprkwd since a few people asked, I will share a bit more in the next days. In the meantime I can share a link to the book instructions I followed, if you like!
@WusiDusi yes please, that would be incredible.
Was it this one? I have this one. It's excellent.
@sprkwd that book looks amazing! I’ll have to put it on my list. But the book I got was from a person who focuses on lakes and watercolors.
https://www.bouldercolors.com/educational-content.html
Amanda is very active on Instagram an often shared her process and tips there additionally.
@WusiDusi that book looks great too! Thanks for the link. 👍🏼
@WusiDusi How neat! How lightfast are these?
@JLGribble organic pigments are notoriously not very lightfast. How fast they fade depends a bit on the dye and modifiers. I plan to test these during the summer. But definitely best to keep these out of the sun 😅
@WusiDusi i would absolutely love to read more on this subject! this is so awesome.
@nebuchi it’s super fun! I’m currently obsessed and can’t wait for my red cabbage pigment to dry, so I can experiment with that 🤩
I’ll write more in the next days and possibly share more process pictures, but there is also a book about it that I can share a link to.
@WusiDusi yes! thank you! what's the book's name?
@nebuchi Boulder Lakes, it’s a very recent publication and she’s selling it as digits downloads on her own website https://www.bouldercolors.com/educational-content.html
@WusiDusi That is so neat!
@WusiDusi well done!!! I've tried a few lakes...the process seems simple but it's definitely not. I'm impressed.
@WusiDusi I never would have guessed the powder would be that shade of blue!
@WusiDusi This is so cool! Are these the only colors you’ve crafted so far? That blue is so lovely.