It’s a good day to make paint!

As I write this the temperature is dropping from an almost comfortable 50-something with sunshine, to overcast and already less than 40 by around noon. Yesterday it was a very comfortable 70 or so, and sunny. This afternoon, we’re actually expecting SNOW. What happened to springtime weather?! So, today, except for going out to feed the horses and cover the garden, I’m staying inside and will just make paint.

If you found this page in a search, maybe you’re searching for how to make your own paint. I have two articles on that topic. Here’s the links: How to Make Handmade Watercolor Paint and How to Make Smooth Paint from Rocks.

I’d rather be making paint…

First, I made a nice reddish-rusty color from the heavies of 2021-01. It was the first pigment I used the Phenomenal Rock Crusher on, and got a whole quart jar full of powder in a few minutes. By hand with the mortar and pestle that would have taken me a LOT longer. This way I can skip the labor of crushing and get right onto the washing step, which is where I separate the ground up rocks into ‘heavies’ and ‘lites’. Except that I had a lot of other things on my list of things, other paints that needed making, other things to do and am only just now getting around to making the paint from the first pigment I crushed (mechanically).

Then I decorated some more tins for the next Soul of the Ozarks collections. I decided to make some more of the distressed orchid decorated paint-tin covers, since it seemed everyone over at Instagram liked that one. The single one I’d made the other day sold as soon as it was listed. So that’s always a good thing!

That kept me busy for a little while, and once I was done with two coats of white paint, I dumped out the excess and washed my brushes and bowl. That’s when I noticed I’d painted them all upside down. So it was the bottoms I’d painted and not the tops at all. Sigh. Well, THESE tins will be painted top AND bottom, then, it seems. Usually I only paint the tops.

Taking Inventory

While I waited for the tins to dry, so I could go onto adding the orchid, I took stock of what paints I had made enough of to list some singles. And so I listed some of the paints already made that aren’t set aside for the collections. Two shades of yellow today, and green from the other day.