Making your own paint

The note on the top of the Guerra website says it all, pigment plus binder equals paint, pigment plus binder and additives makes very thick paint.

The simplest paints to make are water-based paints, egg tempera, watercolor and gouache.  Egg Tempera is egg yolk and pigment.  One fresh egg yolk without the membrane sack a few drops of vinegar and an equal amount of water mixed together and added to the pigment equals egg tempera.  Koo Schadler has a wonderful book on the subject including the techniques for using this pigment.  I deviate from her recipe by using Dr. Martin’s pigments.  Dr Martin’s pigments are already in a water suspension, so one avoids the mulling of the pigment and the resultant hazards. The painting technique is tricky, but the result is a luminescent color that dries instantly and seems impervious to everything.   

Watercolor is almost the same but simpler still.  Water plus Gum Arabic equals paint.  Gum Arabic is the gum of the Acacia tree which grows in Africa (Gum Arabic got it).  You can buy it already process from an art supply store or your can purchase Acacia power from a health food store.  Acacia powder is used for tummy problems.  I purchased tummy powder and mixed it into a suspension as thick as honey.  The results are amazing.  This goop is so strong that when applied to a piece of 140# watercolor paper on a block (Fabriano hot press), it peels the paper off the block.  Truly this is a binder.  There is a question of creating a suspension of the dry pigment and Gum Arabic, this is named a surfactant. A surfactant makes the mixture more liquidy.  The traditional surfactant for watercolor paint is Ox Gall, Windsor Newton makes a good product.  So making a watercolor paint would be dry pigment mixed with surfactant+water+Gum Arabic.

I have a ton of tube colors along with large bottles of Dr Martin’s colors.  I plan to use these up this year and experiment with Gamblin dry pigment and Acacia powder.  If you read the advertising on the tube colors often it will say that honey is added to the pigment.  I believe that this is another way to water down the binder and create a better brush feel.  It does make a good feeling paint directly from the tube, but I paint from a re-wet palette or dry pan.  If I do add a smoother, I’d be tempted to add corn syrup.  It is thick and clear.

Gouache is watercolor with an opaque ingredient, Chalk.  The formula is pigment + acacia + chalk + honey (corn syrup)+surfactant + water.  I have not made any Gouache, I don’t see the point since I have quite a few tubes to use.  

Please remember this safety tip if you use dry pigment and you plan to use a Muller please either pre-mix the dry powder with water or wear a breathing mask, pigments are poison.  The technique is spelled out in the safety section of Guerra’s website.

Have fun, paint more