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ASHLEY ENGLISH

by Ashley

SMALL MEASURES: HOMEMADE WATERCOLORS

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I share my home, and my life, with an MFA-toting husband (whose concentration was in painting and color theory ), and an active, inquisitive, art-loving 2 y ear-old. Between the two of them and my own ongoing craft projects and homemade giftmaking endeavors, suffice to say , there is a good deal of paint in our lives. Over the winter, I committed my self to organizing our craft/guest/office room. Going through a box of art supplies, I found a very old set of watercolors-as in, freshmany ear-of-college-in-94 old. I figured it was time to get a new set. Wanting to keep our art supplies as non-toxic possible, it occurred to me that I could make my own watercolors instead of buy ing them. For today s Small Measures, in celebration of the Color theme on Design Sponge this month, Im offering y ou an incredibly easy and affordable recipe for creating watercolors at home. In very little time, y ou and the creatives y ou share y our own home and life with will be dipping paint brushes and creating colorful works to treasure. Have fun coloring y our world, naturally ! -Ashley English

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I really love this watercolor recipe, for so many reasons, but primarily for two. Firstly , its highly likely that all of the equipment and supplies needed to make the watercolors are already in y our pantry and kitchen. This then indicates that the paints, if ingested (and if y ou live in a house with a wee one y ou know this is entirely a possibility ), are completely safe. Secondly , since y oure the one mixing the colors, y oure the one creating the palette. If y oure more of a bright, bold color sort of person, y ou get to whip that up. If y ou tend a bit more towards the earthy , muted side, as I do, y ou get to craft that palette. Youre the captain of this colorful ship, and y ou get to steer it wherever y oud like it to go. Whats not to love about that?

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Homemade Watercolors The Goods: -1/2 cup baking soda -1/4 cup cornstarch -1/4 cup white vinegar -1 teaspoon corn sy rup -Food coloring

The Deal: 1) Combine all of the ingredients in a pourable container (I used a Py rex measuring

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cup). 2) It will immediately begin to foam and froth and bubble. Using a fork, quickly whisk it until every thing is fully combined. If y ou dont do this quickly enough, the mixture will thicken and harden before y oure able to beat all of the ingredients together. Owing to this fact, be sure to have every thing ready to go when y ou begin. 3) Pour the mixture into an ice cube tray , individual containers (such as small y ogurt cups), or a plastic painters palette (available at art and craft supply stores), portioning it out evenly amongst however many containers y ou opt to use. 4) Add drops of food coloring to each individual portion of mixture. The number of drops used and the colors y ou select is entirely at y our discretion here. Just continue adding drops and stirring (use a wooden stirrer, such as craft sticks, toothpicks, or chopsticks) until y ou achieve y our desired colors. When y ouve finished creating all of y our colors, go back one more time and give each individual color a last stir, to fully incorporate the color into the base. 5) The watercolors need around two-three day s to fully dry and set. You can certainly use them as soon as y ouve made them, but be aware that they ll slosh around if y ou attempt to transport them. 6) When ready , dip a wet paintbrush into y our watercolors and paint away !

PINK AT BRIMFIELD 2013

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What about y ou? Have y ou ever made y our own watercolors, or any other ty pe of homemade paint? Id love to hear about them. When y ou can turn to y our pantry or cupboard for paint-making (or even y our refrigerator, if what y oure after is DIY milk paint!), the possibilities for handcrafted, custom paints seem endless. -Images and styling by Jen Altman.
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CATEGORIES ashley english / small measures RELATED No related posts. POSTS

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27 COMMENTS
What is the archival quality of watercolors made with this formula? For example, will the color fade in a couple of y ears?
EMILY

May 24th, 2013

This is awesome! Ive been meaning to get back into watercolors and this is the perfect excuse to get started. Thanks so much for sharing!
BETH

May 24th, 2013

Thank y ou so much for this recipe. We do a lot of art projects at home with the kids and my 8 y ear old daughter loves to use watercolors. Cant wait to make some.
PENELOPE

May 24th, 2013

An excellent activity for my daughter and me for what promises to be a long, wet weekend!
LOUISE

May 24th, 2013

What a wonderful idea!

KIM @ DESIGN + LIFE + KIDS

May 24th, 2013

Such a cool idea I didnt realize this was possible! Also wondering about Emily s question about the archival quality .
NATALIE / HALF ASLEEP STUDIO

May 24th, 2013

Any idea of the paint washability ? Is that a word? Im wondering if we will have pretty colored clothing too.
SARAH

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May 24th, 2013

This great I work for a non prfit and well be opening summer camp and I run the art program all natural is the simpliest and easy way for the kids to have and I can make bulk amounts. Love y our idea. Keep them coming!!
ROBERTA BOWMAN

May 24th, 2013

Loved this! Im in Argentina and watercolors are getting really expensive! Is there any thing I can replace the corn sy rup with? Since they dont sell it here in Buenos Aires. Thanks!! :)
VERONICA

May 24th, 2013

Food coloring is ty pically pretty fugitive and will fade when exposed to sunlight, some more than others. If y ou would like to make y our own watercolors for fine art purposes, I would recommend sourcing some artists pigments and using a more traditional recipe with gum arabic.
CHARISSA

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May 24th, 2013

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Could y ou use egg white instead of corn sy rup?

CONTENT IN A COTTAGE

May 24th, 2013

Emily & Natalie-Charissas reply is spot on. I cant personally speak to the longterm durability of these watercolors, as Ive only begun using them relatively recently . That said, their use in simple craft projects (note cards, childrens artwork, hand-decorated gift wrap, gift tags, etc.) is a more appropriate means of employ ing them than for fine art purposes. As Charissa mentioned, food coloring fades over time, so if y our intention is to create heirloom quality works of art, y our better to go with artists pigments. Sarah-Food coloring definitely stains, but washes out in several washings. Veronica-Golden sy rup might be a good option, if y ou can find it. Content In A Cottage-Thats a great question! Perhaps, but since Ive not used it in this recipe, I couldnt definitely say y es or no. Might be a good experiment!
ASHLEY ENGLISH

May 24th, 2013

love this idea! my preschool daughter loves to paint and her brother loves to mix/experiment. going to try it this summer.
JULIA-LIFEONCHURCHILL

May 24th, 2013

Had no idea I could make water colors. Thanks for the enlightenment.
ISABELLE

May 24th, 2013

I am going to pass this on to my niece for use with her 1y ear old. In answer to y our question about making my own paints., not paint but stains. When i am looking for a way to add a colorful stain to wood projects I look to the vegetable bin. Beets cooked ina small amount of water ake a nice red hue to apply to wood. Onions skins can be used to make a gold/y ellow and y ou can ask y our grocer for the scraps. Any dark green veggie will produce a green water. I am sure that y ou could eggplant skin for a purple but I have never tried. Boil the veggie or their skins in water strain and apply to wood. the longer y ou leave on the wood before wiping off the darker the result. I suppose y ou could boil the veggie tomush and run through striner for darker colors. I bet y ou could use any plant to create color.
LAUREL

ART IN THE EVERYDAY: CRAYOLA CRAYONS

May 24th, 2013

Wow! I had no idea y ou could make y our own paintfabulous! And with easily accessible ingredients. If my sister, i.e., had told me this, I would never have believed her. Thanks for teaching me something new today ! :-)
PKAE

May 25th, 2013

I love this! Perfect for my 2 and 4 y ear old resident artists!

JULIANNE

May 25th, 2013

I would be careful with this mixture around animal fibers like wool because food coloring and vinegar (as an acid) are often combined to make a dy e for wool. However, to get that effect y ou have generally with heat. Im not sure what the other ingredients do to the acidity of the mixture, but I would recommend being careful, and if y ou have to wash it out of something that is made of wool, use cold water. Food coloring, even with acid AND heat, does not have much effect on plant-based and sy nthetic fibers. (If the dy e residue is sitting on the fabric it will obviously look like its tinted in that color. But it wont bond with the fiber like it will with wool.) From lots and lots of experience I can also tell y ou that food coloring will stain y our skin a bitbut it comes off eventually . It is only a slight risk on counter-tops and other non-animal-fiber surfaces so long as y ou do not leave it sitting there in large concentrations. If y ou have leftover egg dy e from Easter, y ou could dissolve it in the vinegar and use it for this project.
SARAH

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May 25th, 2013

Regarding the toxicity of y our 1994 watercolor pans, Im 99.99% sure they are non-toxic, or AP. Art materials are a regulated product, and painting pigments and mediums are required to have safety labeling. Its likely that the pigments/dy es used in food coloring are about as safe as pigments used in a ty pical watercolor set. But, if y ou arent sure, look for the label reading conforms to ASTM D 4236. One
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will read AP, which indicates all over safe, and the other CL indicates Caution Label, meaning use caution. Most scholastic watercolor pans are labels AP. Labels also often read a pigments lightfast rating as well. If y ou dont want to use what y ou have, and y ou want to have fun with a new project, have at it, and have fun! But please donate y our unwanted art supplies to a school or re-use thrift store so someone else can enjoy them, rather than discard into the waste sy stem, which is the most toxic of all. And, if y ou are concerned about toxicity in art supplies, the big overlooked area is chalk and chalk pastels, that when ground into a drawing create a fine dust which is then inhaled. If y our kid likes chalk pastels, y ou might want to read the safety label and then put a dust mask on first!
MFA

May 25th, 2013

fun but I dont see a possible need. You can purchase a tube set of real archival and non-toxic watercolor for a small cost. the little 12 ml tubes realistically lasting y ou decades. This recipe isnt real paint, it uses dy es, not pigments.
JACK

May 26th, 2013

@veronica glucose sy rup from The pharmacy will replace the corn sy rup.
MARIA

May 26th, 2013

this just blew my mind. starting to amp up my watercoloring and so thankful I found this! thank y ou ashley !
CHARLOTTE | THE VINTAGE VOGUE

May 27th, 2013

As a former childcare professional, I can appreciate this recipe for what it is, an inexpensive childs paint, clearly not intended to be an artist medium. I use to make paint out of liquid starch and tissue paper. The kids love to do their own mixing, so wed rip up the paper and put it into baby food jars with a little liquid starch. Then they d shake them up until they had the colors they wanted. This paint dries shiny too. A little ivory liquid soap in it makes it easier to clean and keeps the dried paint from cracking.
LYNNE FAVREAU

May 28th, 2013

This is awesome for my little ones!! Ive made & used puffy paint (1 cup water, 1 cup flour, 2-3 drops food coloring) in the past but I dont really like it too much. As a stay at home mom on a tight budget, this is great since I already have the stuff in my kitchen. Thanks!
NIKKI

May 28th, 2013

awesome for the kiddos!

KAT

May 29th, 2013

I agree with MFA and hope y ou didnt throw out y our old watercolours just because they were old! Watercolour paints last basically for ever. This does sound like a fun idea to try especially for little kids to paint with :-)
COBY

May 29th, 2013

This is awesome and very creative! Thanks Mrs Einstein :) Ive just subscribed to y our e-mails :)))
KSENIA

May 30th, 2013

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