Muller’s Day OFF: a Journey into paint making

Have you heard of a Glass Muller? Well, it's a grinding tool used to prepare handmade paints. Last year, I thought about where my materials come from and what happens before I open a paint tube. A complete manufactured to consumer process is now common for all artists, and we rarely think of it. Where did your tube of paint come from? What's in it? What's the binder?

In the past, artists would need to purchase pigments and binders to create paints on their own before picking up the brush to create. Not to mention figuring out how to store all of your pigments and paint for use. Once tubes and commercial options for artist materials became the social norm, we distanced ourselves from the root of discovering materials on our own. Gaining a deeper understanding of why paint is transparent and another opaque. You may be interested in controlling the use of inert fillers like dextrin (watercolors) or beeswax and aluminum stearate (oil paints). Mixing paint by hand is a lot of work. It takes patience to find the right ratios of a vehicle to pigment for different colors. That being said, I've decided to take on the journey slowly collecting pigment and playing with recipes. My first experience with handmade paints was with Jill Rupinski's color theory course during undergrad at the Pennsylvania Academy of the fine arts. Even then, I was attracted to the chemical process of it all. It felt like the methodic processes that helped me fall in love with printmaking. Now I find myself mulling over a color for an hour and loving it.

I will share some of my paint making adventure with you here, so stay tuned.

My first paint blessing came from my Glass Muller acquisition. I simply mentioned to my artist community that I was interested in mixing my own paints. The next day an artist friend who is also a Glassblower called and said she had a box of glass mullers just sitting in the garage collecting dust. Never underestimate the value and love that exists in a good artist community. I hope you are out there, connecting with more artists. With social media, there is no excuse. Just create and share knowledge.