Earth Pigment Pastels :

A natural chalk/pastel recipe used by many Renaissance artists for drawings. Making your own pastels allows you to create them as soft or as hard as you like.

Ingredients:  earth pigment, water, binder of your choice (limestone powder, wheat paste, honey or white soap (grate and dissolve a small amount in water)).

Prep Time: 5 – 45 minutes, depending on which binder you use.

Process:

1. Mix pure earth pigment with a small amount of water (with a palette knife) to create a thick, paste-like material. Start with a 1:5 proportion (water to pigment) and adjust as needed. Add binder.
2. Roll it on an absorbent surface (newspaper or paper towels). Roll it into stick form, and let it dry. If the dry pastel doesn’t hold together or is too crumbly you should add a tiny bit of binder such as wheat paste, limestone powder, dissolved soap, or a honey/water solution (1:5) – example: 1 Tbsp. pigment: 1 tsp. limestone powder. Experiment because each pigment has different properties and acts differently.

Wheat paste recipe:  wheat, rice, or rye flour work well. Use about 1 part flour to 6 parts water. Mix flour with a small amount of water to make a smooth paste. Then add hot water to make a thin consistency. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens to an oatmeal-type consistency. Use immediately or refrigerate to preserve it for a few days.

 

Watercolor Paint

Watercolor Base:

• Mix 1 cup hot water with ½ cup Gum Arabic Powder
• Add in 1/5 cup honey (a little less than ¼ cup)
• Add two drops of clove or thyme essential oil to help preserve it

(If you want a stronger preservative you can use sodium benzoate – a food grade preservative – 1/2 – 1 tsp.)

-In separate bowl, mix 1 Tbsp. honey with 9 TBSP of above mixture (1:9)

Mixing in Pigment:

Mix 1 part mixture with 1 part pigment (adjust as necessary)

• For example, 9 tsp. mixture and 9 tsp. pigment
• Note: Each pigment has completely different properties and behaves differently so determine what each pigment needs. For example, I found that blue needed a little more pigment than 1:1. And yellow ocher needed quite a bit more pigment.

Store in airtight jars or let dry into cakes (add a few drops of glycerin to prevent cracking if drying into cakes – optional).

 

Earth Pigment Printing Ink

Materials: Rice Paste (Nori), Sourced Earth Pigments, Magnesium Carbonate -optional, Alcohol (Gin is best) – optional (makes ink more archival and durable)

Tools: roller or soft brush, palette, small container, metal paint spatula

Mix 1 tsp alcohol & 1 tsp. water (1:1)

Mix pigment with gin/ water mixture to make creamy ink consistency2 Tbsp natural pigment : 2 tsp. gin/water (adjust as necessary).Mix in small container with a chop stick. Scoop onto palette.

Add 1-2 tsp. Nori Paste (thinned a little with water)

If ink needs to be thicker add Magnesium Carbonate (Mag. Mix) – about ½ tsp. adjust as needed.

Continue to mix until evenly mixed in with metal spatula

Roll out until it’s evenly coating the roller (note: if it’s not sticking to the roller well, add more Nori)

Roll on Print

Print with your desired technique – a press or rubbing with a barren

Notes: This recipe makes enough ink to make 1-2 prints. Mix more to make more prints.

All pigments have different absorption qualities and drying times so adjust recipe as needed.

 

Gouache Paint

 

Earth Pigment Egg Tempra

History:  Tempera painting predates oil painting as a professional painting medium. It has unique characteristics:  it produces a crisp, luminous, almost linear effect that’s quite different from oil. Using egg yolk as the binder, this ancient technique makes a water-soluble paint that dries quickly, allowing for over-painting with more tempera or other mediums.

Ingredients: egg yolk, water, earth pigments

Prep Time: 5 minutes per color

Process:

1. Separate the yolk from the white:  Break open an egg, cleanly separating the yolk from the white. Keeping the yolk whole, dry it by passing it back and forth in the palms of your hands, drying the palm with each pass (or roll it on a paper towel).
2. Remove yolk from the sack:  Hold the yolk over a dish or jar with your thumb and forefinger, and pierce the sack to allow the contents to flow out. Discard the empty sac.
3. Mix with pigments:  Mix yolk with earth pigments (start with 1:1 and then add more yolk as needed), and use water to thin the paint. A drop or two of Clove Oil can be added to slow spoilage. Tempera paint does not store well once mixed, so paint away!

Wall Mural Earth Paint

Ingredients: earth pigment, flour paste (or white glue), and water

Process:

1. Mix 1 – 2 parts water with 1 part glue or flour paste (recipe below).
2. Add pigments until desired color is achieved, not exceeding a ratio of 20% by volume.
3. Note – wet paint is much darker than when it’s dry on the wall.

Wheat paste recipe:  wheat, rice, or rye flour work well. Use about 1 part flour to 6 parts water. Mix flour with a small amount of water to make a smooth paste. Then add hot water to make a thin consistency. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens to an oatmeal-type consistency. Use immediately or refrigerate to preserve it for a few days.

 

Casein Earth Pigment Paint

History: Derived from milk, Casein Paint dates back to Asian cave paintings, and it was widely used up until the Renaissance. It is durable, fast-drying, and water-soluble, but it smells a little strange (the smell dissipates as it dries). Do not use if you are allergic to dairy products. 

Ingredients: 2 Tbsp. casein powder; 1 Tbsp. borax, 1 oz. earth pigment

Prep time: 5 min. prep; then let sit overnight. 5 more min., and let sit an hour.

Process:

1. Mix 2 Tbsp. casein powder with 5 oz. warm water, and let sit overnight.
2. Discard the water that accumulates on the surface.
3. Mix 1 Tbsp. borax with 4 oz. hot water, and add to casein/water mixture. Let sit for one hour.
4. Mix a spoonful of the casein mix with pigment in a glass bowl or on your palette.
5. Paint on wood, paper, or canvas. Add water if you want a watercolor effect. Mixtures last a week if refrigerated.

 

Cold Wax Medium Recipes

1: Basic Wax
1 part: Beeswax
3 parts: Turpentine
In a double-boiler, melt the beeswax (break into chunks). Remove from heat. Stir in turpentine until a soft paste forms.

2: Wax, damar resin, oil
4 parts: Beeswax
1 part: Damar crystals
1 part: Sun thickened linseed oil
12 parts: Turpentine
Melt wax, linseed oil carefully in a double boiler. Remove from heat and add damar crystals and turpentine.

3: Wax and Oil medium
1 part bleached beeswax
2 parts linseed, sun-thickened, or stand oil
1-2 drops Cobalt or CoZiCa drier(optional)
Heat the oil in a double boiler. Slowly add the beeswax in small pieces, stirring until all the wax has been melted into the oil. Cobalt or CoZiCa drier can be added to speed drying. The consistency should be that of lard. Store in a sealed glass container.

4: Wax and Oil
White Beeswax;
Oily or resinous ingredients; linseed oil or 3 parts damar plus 1 part Venice turpentine.
Heat wax with caution, remove from heat and stir in oily or resinous ingredient. Added ingredients should not exceed 25% of wax consider wax to be 4 parts, oily/resinous 1 part.

5: Wax and Resin
10 parts beeswax
2 parts Damar
Melt the beeswax. Melt the resin and filter through muslin. Combine beeswax and resin, don’t overheat. Cool before potting.

6: Wax; oil; dammar; Venice turps
1 part dammar
1 part oil
2 parts beeswax
1 part VT
Melt dammar and strain. Melt beeswax, oil, dammer in pan over water. Remove from heat add VT Allow to cool before putting in tins.

7: Wax; oil; damar
7 parts beeswax
1 part sun-thickened linseed oil
1 part damar
1 part paraffin wax
Melt all together. Thin with turpentine