Ecology of Color

Watercolor Paints made from Madder Madder root is host to several different pigments. Through a series of rinses, we can remove some of the darker, earthy colored pigments and extract a bright pink color. Featured here is watercolor paint made from madder lake pigments (calcium carbonate extraction, soda ash extraction, and rinsed madder + soda ash extraction). To learn more about making a lake pigment, check out this tutorial ( How to Make a Lake Pigment ). Rinsing Madder fo

Once you have made a lake pigment ( How to Make a Lake Pigment ), you can use the resulting pigment to create a watercolor paint. Working with Dry Pigment Once your pigment has dried, you will want to grind it in either a mortar and pestle or a small coffee grinder dedicated to pigment use. This step will reduce the amount of work required to mix your paint. Working with Wet Pigment You do not have to wait for your lake pigment to dry completely. The only caveat to this metho

Picking Walnuts For this tutorial, I am using Eastern Black Walnut ( Juglans nigra ), an endemic and prolific tree in eastern North America. This tree is naturalized in many other parts of North America. The English Walnut, also known as the Persian Walnut ( Juglans regia ), can be used in this recipe as well. This is a common landscaping tree and one I often find in parks in the Pacific Northwest. You can use walnuts gathered from the ground or picked from the tree, if they

Light has long been the enemy of natural color. Too much time in the sun will cause many natural pigments to fade. Testing for Lightfastness The best way to determine the lightfastness of a pigment is to put it in the sun. Cover a portion of your sample with thick black paper or cardboard to retain a reference of the original, unfaded color. Lightfastness Ranking Below is my generalized ranking of pigment lightfastness. Referencing the test results below will give the best in