GumArabic

These are from Lettersparrow, me thinks...

I have fallen completely in love with the concept of these tiny fuckers: it hadn't occurred to me until I saw this on Etsy, by chance, really, (it was probably even advertised to me) - that you can create your own watercolors. In fact, it's exceedingly easy: all you need is the pigment and the medium. Both readily available at Schmincke. Had I seen them a month ago, and if I managed to order from China the tubs and half-tubs and the cutesy miniature tin boxes, I'd be selling these now on the fair. The 'travel' packages of paint. Completely useless as anything but gifts, of course, but just soooo damn inspiring. I've tested some of my existing watercolors for mixing (you certainly end up with a whole lot of browns), but even just with the primary colors and black - yellow, red and blue - and of course gold, you can make a massive pallatte and A LOT of it, as making it for just one tub would be kind of a waste. It's the same with handmade paper - when you're at it, you make a lot of it, because it's too messy not to prepare for bulk. What I'm saying is, I could totally do this. I couldn't sell them, because I fucking suck at selling even the loveliest of things, but I could do this. Ultimately I'd graduate to making my own pigments out of nature. Trick is in the grind.