This is a pigment collection featuring three large rocks suitable for making paints. Whole rock pigments look a lot different once they’re dry. All rocks look a lot more similar to each other when they’re all dry. Pigment scrapes also look different once they dry. Making a wet rub on another rock will give you an idea of what kind of pigment to expect – rich or weak. The colors usually dry to a lighter matte shade. Here’s how the set in this offer (101620-01) looked once the test scrapes dried.
What Gives the Color
The color in our rocks comes from various combinations of iron oxides. Most of the ones I use, and the ones included in most of my whole rock pigment collections, are sandstones. Sometimes I’ll add shale to the mix for a nice smooth gray. While I can get a good white from limestone and nice yellow tones from other shales, these are usually hard to grind and I haven’t included them in any of the collections yet.
Making Paint with Whole Rock Pigments
If you’re new to paint-making, I have a tutorial on how to make the paint (starting with clay in this one, but the technique applies to whole rock pigments too) and the watercolor media right here on this website. You’ll find the pages linked below. There are more advanced techniques to make better paint, but the tutorials will give you a good introduction on the basic steps involved.
If you’re using the gray shale, it needs to be washed after grinding, before making the paint. This will rinse away the sulfur compounds that cause the paint to stink if you don’t wash.
Art Made with Ozark Pigments
If you have never seen watercolor paintings made with wild-crafted rock pigments, you can look at my gallery. I’ve been painting since 2018 and have the galleries arranged by year at PaleoPaints.com. Stop in for a visit!
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