All of my yarn and textiles are hand-dyed with the highest quality plant materials, bugs, or resins as textiles have historically been dyed for ages. At the end of each dye batch, I have leftover “dye bath” that still contains this valuable pigment, but it not quite enough for dyeing more textiles. I extract the pigment through a multi-day process, and once it is dry I am left with a powder. This powder is ground finely by hand with a mortar and pestle, and then mulled by hand with a natural, historical watercolor paint binder made with honey, glycerine, gum arabic, water, and tea tree oil (to prevent mold).
The process takes days and a significant amount of arm strength! But the results are gorgeous, stable watercolors. Since they are hand made, they do lay on the paper a little differently than synthetic store-bought watercolors. But like any artist knows, there is pleasure in learning and exploring new materials. I enjoy working with watercolors that are not “perfect” and remind me that they came straight from the earth, and have been worked with human hands, not a cookie-cutter machine process. They lend themselves well to the spontaneous and organic art of watercolor painting.
This palette is handmade with polymer clay. The pans are seashells that I’ve collected over the years from many beaches, definitely including Rehoboth Beach where I live. When your palette runs out, send it back to me for a refill.
All of my yarn and textiles are hand-dyed with the highest quality plant materials, bugs, or resins as textiles have historically been dyed for ages. At the end of each dye batch, I have leftover “dye bath” that still contains this valuable pigment, but it not quite enough for dyeing more textiles. I extract the pigment through a multi-day process, and once it is dry I am left with a powder. This powder is ground finely by hand with a mortar and pestle, and then mulled by hand with a natural, historical watercolor paint binder made with honey, glycerine, gum arabic, water, and tea tree oil (to prevent mold).
The process takes days and a significant amount of arm strength! But the results are gorgeous, stable watercolors. Since they are hand made, they do lay on the paper a little differently than synthetic store-bought watercolors. But like any artist knows, there is pleasure in learning and exploring new materials. I enjoy working with watercolors that are not “perfect” and remind me that they came straight from the earth, and have been worked with human hands, not a cookie-cutter machine process. They lend themselves well to the spontaneous and organic art of watercolor painting.
This palette is handmade with polymer clay. The pans are seashells that I’ve collected over the years from many beaches, definitely including Rehoboth Beach where I live. When your palette runs out, send it back to me for a refill.
