Madder Red & Rose Paint

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 for Rose Color

*Skip the rinsing step to make Madder Red

Although messy, ground madder increases surface area and allows us to rinse away the brown pigments quickly.

• Add 1/4 cup ground madder to a fine strainer bag and secure the top

• Submerge in room temperature water, swirling around for 5-10 seconds (*it may seem like all of your madder is coming out of the bag, but this is ok)

• Remove the strainer bag and toss out the water (or save for a future dye bath)

• Repeat with fresh water for a total of 5 rinses

• Your madder is now rinsed and ready to extract

  
  

Extracting Color

• Keep your rinsed madder in the strainer bag and add to a pot with 4 cups of fresh water

• Heat the water until it is steamy but not boiling

• Add 1 tbsp of alum to the pot, stirring periodically until dissolved

• Maintain the temperature for 30 minutes

  
  

Lake Pigment

• Strain the liquid through a coffee filter

• At this point, you should have a clear, orange/pink solution

• Stir 1/2 tsp of soda ash into the hot solution

• Follow the protocol in 'How to Make a Lake Pigment' for instructions on filtering, rinsing, and drying the pigment.

  
  

Making Paint

Once your lake pigment is made, it can be used to make watercolor paints (Making Watercolor Paints from Lake Pigments).

Pictured below are the dried and ground lake pigments and resulting paints from (top) madder extracted with soda ash, (middle) madder extracted with calcium carbonate, and (bottom) madder rinsed and extracted with soda ash.