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Make paint from your kitchen cupboard

Enjoy our simple step by step Create guides devised by professional artists and foragers for Friends Around the Table. Absolutely no experience is necessary, these activities are accessible for most people and can be undertaken in your own time.

Each guide welcomes you to explore food and nature in new and exciting ways to bring some relaxing and creative activity to your day. Once you have had a go, why not share the skills you have learned with a neighbor, friend or family member!

You can make paint from many things, but here Kasia Posen shares her favourite recipe made from Turmeric and Beetroot powder. The colours are so vibrant, and the process to create them is lots of fun too.

Activity

Turmeric and Beetroot Paint

Step 1

Place equal parts pigment (beetroot powder or turmeric powder) and acrylic binder medium on your Perspex sheet.

Step 2

Use your glass muller or alternative to move the mixture in a circular motion, your aim in to mix all the powder into the binder so that you have an even consistency and all the powder particles are covered with the binder. You
should end up with a toothpaste like consistency.

Add more binder if you would like a thinner consistency, add more powder if you would like it thicker.

To create a more fluid paint add more water. You can test on a scrap piece of paper.

For thick, impasto painting, don’t add water.

Step 3

Use your palette knife to load your paint into the aluminium paint tube. You can tap the closed end of the tube on the table to get rid of air pockets in the paint.

Step 4

Once you have filled about a fingers width from the open end, use your pliers to pinch the end closed and with the pliers, fold the end over at least 3 times. Some paint may squirt out, just use your palette knife to wipe away the excess and clean the tube up with tissue paper afterwards.

You now have your very own homemade acrylic paint!

Think about other powder pigments you might like to try……..charcoal, chalk, brick dust, just make sure your pigment is ground down to a fine powder before mixing it with your binder and away you go.

You will need

  • Acrylic binding medium, either transparent or white opaque. (Can be found in art shops or online)
  • An A4 or larger Perspex sheet for mixing
  • Glass Muller (or something heavy with a flat base, I used pickling weights) or large spoon
  • Empty Paint Tube (available at art shops/online, I use aluminium tubes)
  • Turmeric Powder or Beetroot powder to make yellow or red (or choose your own pigment)
  • Palette knife, pliers, paintbrush, and a jar of water
  • Paper (Thick enough to hold acrylic paint)
  • Tissue paper or a rag for cleaning up

Download activity guide

Download the PDF version of this activity.

If you’ve enjoyed this DIY activity and would like to make a donation to Suffolk Artlink please visit our CAF Donate page here https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/9780#!/DonationDetails. Every penny will help.

Download pdf (1.16 MB)

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