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Night Glob Artisan Watercolor
Mar. 27th, 2020 01:26 pmWhat do you do when you're quarantined and can't indulge in your due round of therapeutic shopping spree? You buy new watercolors. Out of sheer boredom I decided to invest in some handmade artisan watercolors, which was a bad decision. THEY SUCK. Seriously, why do etsy sellers just mix some pigment with who-knows-what, fill it in pans and ship it as "artisan paint" to customers without ever testing their own product? (It's actually a charitable assumption on my part that they did not test it and ship it anyway...)
Soooo, this was the third time I received seriously bad handmade paint, and always from different sellers. I'm learning. Apparently, with artisan paints it's like in fairy tales: you can live happily in that castle UNLESS you unlock that door. Your marriage is happy UNLESS you give that seal skin back to your wife. Artisan paints are a good investment UNLESS you try to actually paint with them. (The only good handmade watercolors I ever had were those my friend sent me along with that bright yellow sketchbook. Tellingly, she doesn't sell those on etsy.)
I got extremely frustrated, and that's when I had the idea: I don't have to buy shitty paint, I can make my own shitty paint! And that's how Night Glob was created.
What I was going for is a transparent (!) blue-black that's not too saturated, and that most importantly doesn't overwhelm black lines when I paint over them. Basically, I wanted a "shadow color" for my sketchbook, one that works in monochromatic pictures. And because I'm, well, me, I added some sparkle to that, too.
Of course I cheated, because that's just my nature: I didn't just use pigment and that weird-tasting honey from the kitchen (the one that only tastes of sugar, not of honey; finally a good use for that product!) but also mixed some pre-existing watercolors in. My goal was not artisanal purity, I was aiming for watercolor paint that's actually usable. Just for fun, I'm presenting it in a way an etsy seller would do it.
( Pictures behind cut )
Soooo, this was the third time I received seriously bad handmade paint, and always from different sellers. I'm learning. Apparently, with artisan paints it's like in fairy tales: you can live happily in that castle UNLESS you unlock that door. Your marriage is happy UNLESS you give that seal skin back to your wife. Artisan paints are a good investment UNLESS you try to actually paint with them. (The only good handmade watercolors I ever had were those my friend sent me along with that bright yellow sketchbook. Tellingly, she doesn't sell those on etsy.)
I got extremely frustrated, and that's when I had the idea: I don't have to buy shitty paint, I can make my own shitty paint! And that's how Night Glob was created.
What I was going for is a transparent (!) blue-black that's not too saturated, and that most importantly doesn't overwhelm black lines when I paint over them. Basically, I wanted a "shadow color" for my sketchbook, one that works in monochromatic pictures. And because I'm, well, me, I added some sparkle to that, too.
Of course I cheated, because that's just my nature: I didn't just use pigment and that weird-tasting honey from the kitchen (the one that only tastes of sugar, not of honey; finally a good use for that product!) but also mixed some pre-existing watercolors in. My goal was not artisanal purity, I was aiming for watercolor paint that's actually usable. Just for fun, I'm presenting it in a way an etsy seller would do it.
( Pictures behind cut )
