- glass muller (I like the smaller diameter surface area, mine is about 2.5")
- 1/4" thick glass plate, 12" square (cut and smoothed edges by the glass shop) frosted by me using F400 silicon carbide powder
- palette knives (one with a flat end for scraping paint)
- spray bottle filled with distilled water
-plastic squeeze bottle with dropper tip for watercolor medium
- small containers and pans for finished paint
- N95 respirator mask, gloves
Watercolor Medium Recipe
Watercolor paint is a mixture of fine pigment particles, and a liquid medium or vehicle that holds it all together. This recipe is specifically for paint pans that dry out - it allows you to re-wet the dry paint with a brush, apply it to your paper, binding the pigments to your paper so that they don't rub off. I modified a watercolor medium recipe that I found on an old watercolor blog called handprint.com (an excellent source of information about anything to do with watercolor painting/supplies).
- 3 Tablespoons Gum Arabic solution (if you are using the powder, mix 2T + 2t distilled water with 1T + 1t Gum Arabic powder, mix it in your container, then add the rest of the ingredients)
- 1Tablespoon Honey
- 1 Tablespoon Glycerin (available at the drugstore)
- 6 drops Ox Gall (helps the pigment particles disperse more evenly on the paper)
- 2 drops clove oil (anti-fungal/bacterial)
Mix this all up in a plastic squeeze bottle with a dropper tip and keep it in the refrigerator. Each pigment you use (either purchased or foraged) will require a slightly different amount of medium to make a good paint. I start with a baseline recipe of 1/2 teaspoon of pigment to 30 drops of my medium and adjust from there. Not enough medium, and your paint will shrink and crack and won't be easy to re-wet. Too much medium and it will stay sticky in the pan and won't dry. Certain pigments can also need a slightly different ratio of the individual ingredients. I have found that some of my pigments with larger particles (like the paint made from old bricks) need a few extra drops of Gum Arabic solution to stay stuck to the paper (your goal is to be able to rub the dry paint from one of your painted swatches and not have the pigment come off on your finger). It is a good idea to start small (1/2 teaspoon of pigment makes about 1/2 pan of paint) measure accurately, and keep detailed notes! Here's a short video on mulling paint: