How to make watercolour paints – Easy

Your children will love this very easy paint recipe

Let’s imagine a violet sky, amber clouds, trees with azure leaves, red grass, and an ocean with golden waves… a whole new wonderful universe to gaze upon and appreciate. But how can you make it a reality? All you need is a homemade paint recipe to Colour Your World to match your dreams!

In testing out different formulas for these DIY paints, we transformed our office into an art studio. We unleashed our budding creative spirits to compare textures and colours and select the very best formula. In the end, number eight won unanimously (we tried out quite a few)!

This paint recipe’s vivid colours and fluid, easy-to-work-with texture made it our winner. And it’s so simple that you can even whip some up with your kids! Who would have thought that making watercolour paints could be so easy AND so much fun?!

Get ready to Colour Your World with your very own beautiful hues!

How to make your own watercolour paints

Ingredients

2.8 g (6.5%) mineral colourants of your choosing
24.8 g (56.5%) water
8 g (18%) gum arabic
8 g (18%) vegetable glycerin
0.4 g (1%) grapefruit seed extract

Tools

2 small stainless steel bowls

A few ramekins

1 scale, accurate to 0.1 g

1 mini-mixer with frothing attachment (the small wheel)

1 hexagonal glass jar, 45 ml

Good to know!

The gum arabic thickens the paint. You can increase the quantity of gum arabic (reduce the amount of water by the same percentage), but it should not exceed 30% of the total recipe.
The vegetable glycerin is mainly used to help incorporate the gum into the water. It will also brighten the colours.
This recipe provides quantities for one pot of paint. Repeat it with different pigments for each colour you want to create.

Steps to follow

Prepare and disinfect your equipment and workspace.
Weigh the water and the grapefruit seed extract in a bowl. Mix well.
Weigh the gum and glycerin in a bowl. Disperse the gum in the glycerin.
Add the gum and glycerin mixture to the water. Mix well.
Weigh the pigments in a ramekin. Add the pigments and mix well.
Pour into the pot. Your homemade watercolour paint is now ready!

Use and conservation

With these DIY paints, you can create gorgeous artworks. They’re easy to use: just dip your paintbrush in the paint and let your creativity run wild.

For a watercolour effect, dip your brush in water before loading it with paint. This will further dilute the colour and add beautiful effects to your works.

When made in optimal sanitary conditions, these homemade paints for kids will keep for at least three months.