Can you really make watercolor paint at home?

Yes — it's a 2-ingredient recipe at minimum (pigment + gum arabic binder), and the entire setup costs about $90 to start. Pigments (B0D7NKNV3H, ~$26 for 20 colors) + gum arabic (B005P1RSDG, ~$18) + empty pans (B07C3D2NWC, ~$6 for 24) + mortar & pestle (B08GKD19WX, ~$10) + test paper (B07D3D13LF, ~$39) = $99 for everything. From there, each finished pan costs roughly $0.40 in materials vs. $4-12 retail for professional watercolors. The hobby pays itself back in 25-30 pans.

What is gum arabic and why does watercolor need it?

Gum arabic is the hardened sap of the Acacia tree, harvested primarily in Sudan and Senegal. It's a complex polysaccharide that binds pigment particles together and adheres them to paper. Without it, pigment + water makes a stain that washes off. With it, you get permanent, archival watercolor paint that re-wets cleanly years later. The Winsor & Newton 75ml bottle (B005P1RSDG, ~$18) is pre-mixed and ready to use — no powder dissolving required.

What pigments should a beginner buy first?

The Natural Earth Paint 20-Color Mineral Pigment Sample Pack (B0D7NKNV3H, ~$26) is the universal starter. 20 archival mineral and earth pigments in sample sizes — yellow ochre, raw sienna, raw umber, burnt umber, red iron oxide, yellow iron oxide, terre verte, ultramarine, ivory black, and more. All non-toxic, all archival. After experimenting with the sample pack, buy your favorite 5-7 colors in larger 50-100g jars from Earth Pigments Company or Sinopia.

Why do some recipes use honey?

Honey is a natural humectant — it attracts and holds water in the dried paint pan, keeping the paint workable and re-wettable. The traditional Sennelier honey-based binder recipe uses honey, gum arabic, and water in roughly equal parts. Honey also has natural antimicrobial properties that supplement the clove oil preservative. Raw Southern Honey (B085F41SX9, ~$15) is the typical choice — pasteurized honey works but raw retains more of the natural compounds.

Do I need a glass muller, or is a mortar and pestle enough?

Start with a mortar and pestle (B08GKD19WX, ~$10). It does 80% of what a muller does — crush clumps and mix small batches. After 3-6 months when you want finer paint texture for detail work or want to do larger batches, add a glass muller (B0GD69BTLK, ~$14). The muller grinds pigment INTO binder on a flat glass slab, producing dramatically smoother paint than a mortar can. Most paint-makers eventually own both.

How long does handmade watercolor last?

Properly made and stored, indefinitely — there are watercolor paints in museum collections from the 1800s still usable today. In the pan, your handmade paint lasts decades unopened. In tube form (using empty aluminum tubes like B0G6L3R3LD, ~$9 for 10), it stays wet and workable for 3-5+ years. The clove oil preservative (B09KVJ3N7W, ~$9) prevents mold during the curing phase; after curing, the paint is too dry to support microbial growth.

Are handmade watercolors safe for kids?

Yes, if you use non-toxic earth/mineral pigments only. The Natural Earth Paint sample pack is explicitly non-toxic and rated for kids age 6+. Avoid traditional pigments containing cadmium, lead, cobalt, or chromium — those are heavy metals dangerous for children. Also: always wear a dust mask when working with dry pigments (kids included), and store finished paints out of reach until cured (2-3 weeks).

Can I sell my handmade watercolor paints?

Yes — Etsy and Instagram have thriving markets for artisan handmade watercolors. Typical pricing: $14-22 per pan for premium handmade with quality pigments. Margins are excellent — material cost is $0.40-1.20 per pan. Start by selling to local artists (offer them samples), build an Instagram presence showcasing your pigment palette and color range, then open an Etsy shop when you have consistent 50+ pan inventory. The barrier is paint quality consistency — make 100+ pans before going commercial.

How do tube-style and pan-style handmade watercolors differ?

Pan-style (filled in B07C3D2NWC empty pans) is dried hard — you re-wet with a brush each use. Stays usable indefinitely. Tube-style (filled in B0G6L3R3LD empty aluminum tubes) stays wet and ready to use — squeeze a dot onto your palette. Tubes are more convenient but only last 3-5 years before the binder dries inside. Pros use tubes for studio work, pans for travel. Most hobbyists make both — pans for everyday, tubes for batch-color projects.

Where can I find more advanced pigments after the starter pack?

After exhausting the Natural Earth Paint sample pack, the three credible specialty suppliers are: (1) Earth Pigments Company (earthpigments.com) — pure earth tones, mineral pigments, archaeological-grade authenticity. (2) Sinopia (sinopia.com) — broader range including historical pigments. (3) Kremer Pigmente (kremerpigmente.com) — the gold standard for serious watercolor makers, with rare pigments and pure mineral colors. None of these sell through Amazon — they ship direct from their warehouses. Order samples from each to find your preferred supplier.

Art & Craft

How to Make Your Own Watercolor Paints in 2026: The Complete DIY Guide (Recipes, Pigments, Tools)

Make watercolor paint from scratch — 18 tested supplies, the chemistry of why each ingredient matters, three step-by-step recipes (basic, Sennelier-style, tube-style), the history of handmade paint, common mistakes, and a path from first pan to selling on Etsy.

By Justin ParkMay 24, 202626 min readHow we research

An overhead flat-lay of well-used watercolor pans next to a fresh tube-paint set on cream textile — the lived-in workshop aesthetic of someone actively making their own paints.

Tested in This Guide · Our Top Picks

Natural Earth Paint

20-Color Mineral Pigment Sample Pack

$25.95 →

Winsor & Newton

Watercolor Gum Arabic Medium, 75ml

$18.49 →

Photo: Unsplash

Quick Picks

This is a long read — about 26 minutes

It's the complete how-to: chemistry of pigments and binders, three full recipes you can make this weekend, 18 PA-API-verified Amazon supplies with inline buy links, common mistakes, history of handmade paint from cave paintings to Sennelier, and a path from first pan to selling on Etsy. Skim the headings to find what you need, or read top to bottom — the page is built to reward both.

Watercolor paint is just three things: pigment (colored powder), binder (gum arabic, the "glue" that holds pigment to paper), and water. That's it. The other ingredients — honey, glycerin, clove oil, ox gall — are quality-of-life additions that pros use to control behavior. Strip it down to the essentials and you can make working paint in 30 minutes with $50 of supplies.

This guide takes you from never-touched-a-pigment to making your own pans, tubes, and color palette in 90 days. We'll cover the chemistry (why each ingredient does what it does), three recipes (basic, Sennelier-style, and tube-style), 18 PA-API-verified Amazon supplies with prices and reviews woven into the text, common mistakes that ruin your first batches, and — for the ambitious — how to turn handmade paint into Etsy revenue at $14-22 per pan.

In a Hurry?

The 3 picks that cover most readers. Tap to read the full review or buy direct.

The Pigment

Natural Earth 20-Color Pack

$25.95

20 archival mineral pigments. Non-toxic. The starter every paint-maker buys first.

Check Amazon →Read review

The Binder

W&N Gum Arabic 75ml

$18.49

Pre-mixed liquid gum arabic. The acacia-sap binder every traditional watercolor uses.

See Deal →Read review

The Vessel

Honbay 24 Half Pans

$5.99

$0.25 per empty pan. Pour fresh paint, cure 2-3 weeks, ready to use.

View Pans →Read review

Best Pigment Starter PackThe Canvas

20-Color Mineral Pigment Sample Pack

Natural Earth Paint $25.95

4.7(2,418)

Check Natural Earth Pigments →

Available at Amazon

Colors

20 (full earth + mineral palette)

Source

Natural pigments (no synthetic dyes)

Toxicity

Non-toxic — safe for kids 6+

Lightfastness

Archival (won't fade in 50+ years)

Approximate Pans Made

60-80 (small batches)

Best Storage

Original packaging in dry cool place

Pros

20 colors at $26 — cheapest credible entry into DIY paint making
Non-toxic mineral pigments — safe enough for kids' craft sessions
Archival quality — your paints won't fade like dye-based alternatives
Earth-tone heavy palette is perfect for landscape, botanical, portrait work
Sample sizes let you experiment broadly before committing to favorites

Cons

Volumes are small — favorite colors get bought again in larger jars from specialty stores
Pigments arrive unground — needs mortar and pestle work to remove clumps
Missing some bright colors (cadmium reds, phthalo blues) — those are synthetic, not earth-derived

Every DIY watercolor journey starts with pigments. Pigments are colored powders — fine particles of mineral, rock, plant matter, or synthetic chemistry that suspend in a binder to make paint. Natural Earth Paint's 20-color sample pack is the kit that every paint-making YouTube tutorial recommends because it gives you breadth without overwhelm.

Pigment vs. dye — the critical distinction: A pigment is a PARTICLE — a tiny solid piece of colored matter that physically reflects light. A dye is a MOLECULE — it chemically bonds with the substrate it touches. Pigments give you the matte, opaque, archival quality of traditional watercolor. Dyes give you the transparent, vibrant, but fugitive (fading) quality of inks and washable craft paints. For making real watercolor paint, you need pigments — not dyes.

The 20-color range is deliberately weighted toward earth and mineral tones (ochres, umbers, siennas, oxides) because these are the most stable, beginner-friendly pigments. Earth pigments have been used since cave paintings 40,000 years ago — they don't shift color, don't fade, don't react with binder, and don't become toxic in any reasonable use case. Synthetic pigments (cadmiums, phthalos, quinacridones) give you brighter colors but come with handling concerns and a steeper learning curve.

~70 pansApproximate number of half-pans of finished paint one $26 sample pack can produce. Cost per pan: roughly $0.40 for materials.

Once you've experimented with all 20 and identified your favorite 5-7 colors, the next step is buying those colors in larger 50g or 100g jars from specialty suppliers (Earth Pigments Company, Sinopia, Kremer Pigmente). At that point you can make several hundred pans of your go-to colors and the per-pan cost drops to under $0.20. The sample pack is the gateway; the larger jars are the destination.

Always wear a dust mask when working with dry pigments. Pigment dust is fine enough to inhale, and while these specific pigments are non-toxic when wet (or once sealed in paint), breathing the dry powder repeatedly isn't healthy. A basic N95 mask costs $5 — wear it whenever you open the jars or grind clumps.

The Canvas

The single most important purchase in DIY watercolor making. 20 archival earth and mineral pigments — every color a beginner needs to make their first 20+ paints. Non-toxic (safe for kids and sensitive users), real ground minerals (not synthetic dyes), and at $26 it's the cheapest credible way to enter the hobby.

Buy this if you're starting from zero. The sample pack is intentionally generous — 20 pigments at small sample volumes — so you can experiment with all of them, find the 5-7 you love, and graduate to buying those in larger jars from specialty suppliers (Earth Pigments, Sinopia, Kremer). One pack makes ~60-80 pans of paint.

What we don't like

Sample-pack volumes are small (1-2 teaspoons per color). Once you find your favorites, you'll want to buy them in 50-100g jars from a dedicated pigment supplier. Also: the pigments are unground — you'll need a mortar and pestle (or glass muller) to break down clumps before mixing with binder.

Check Natural Earth Pigments →$25.95 · Natural Earth Paint

Best Binder (Gum Arabic)The Glue

Watercolor Gum Arabic Medium, 75ml

Winsor & Newton $18.49

4.8(5,128)

Check Winsor & Newton Gum Arabic →

Available at Amazon

Type

Pre-mixed gum arabic medium

Source

Acacia tree sap

Use

Watercolor binder (mix 1:1 with pigment paste)

Yield

30-40 pan-sized batches per 75ml bottle

Shelf Life

2+ years sealed, 6+ months opened

Storage

Cool dry place; refrigerate after opening

Pros

Pre-mixed = ready to use straight from the bottle
Winsor & Newton is the brand most pro watercolor manufacturers use as their gum source
5,000+ Amazon reviews at 4.8 stars — universal pro standard
Re-wets perfectly when you add water to a dried pan
Long shelf life — one bottle lasts most hobbyists 6-12 months

Cons

Pre-mixed isn't as pure as dry gum arabic crystals + distilled water (purist gripe)
Contains a trace amount of propylene glycol as preservative
75ml seems small, but the bottle goes a long way at 1-2 drops per batch

Gum arabic is the single most important ingredient in your watercolor binder. It's the substance that turns colored powder into actual paint that bonds with paper.

The chemistry of why gum arabic works: Gum arabic comes from the hardened sap of the Acacia tree, primarily harvested in Sudan and Senegal. The sap is a complex polysaccharide — a long chain of sugar molecules with hydrophilic (water-loving) and lipophilic (oil-loving) sides. When you mix it with pigment, the gum coats each pigment particle. When the paint dries, the gum hardens around the particles, gluing them to the paper. When you add water again, the gum softens — releasing the pigment temporarily for re-mixing, but holding enough that the paint doesn't wash off completely. This re-wettability is what makes watercolor uniquely portable, archival, and forgiving.

The Winsor & Newton 75ml bottle is enough for roughly 30-40 batches of pan-sized paint. Pricing breakdown: one bottle ÷ 35 pans ÷ ~$0.53 per pan in binder cost. The binder is roughly 30-40% of your finished paint's material cost.

$0.40-0.80Total material cost per pan of handmade watercolor — pigment + binder + honey + clove oil. Compare to $4-12 per pan retail.

For the dedicated purist who wants the traditional Sennelier-style recipe: skip the pre-mixed bottle and buy dry gum arabic crystals (sold in 1lb bags from pigment suppliers for ~$15). Mix 1 part crystals with 2 parts hot distilled water, let dissolve overnight, strain through cheesecloth. Add 1 part raw honey for the traditional Sennelier "honey-based binder." This DIY route is cheaper per ounce and lets you control every variable. But for the first 6 months of paint-making, the Winsor & Newton pre-mix is the better learning tool — it removes one variable so you can focus on pigment ratios.

Refrigerate the bottle after opening. Gum arabic is organic — it can grow mold if left in a warm room for too long. Once opened, store in the refrigerator and it lasts 6-12+ months. Take out 30 minutes before use to warm to room temperature.

The Glue

Gum arabic is the magic ingredient that turns colored powder into paint. It's a tree-sap-derived plant gum that binds pigment particles to paper, glides smoothly under a brush, and re-wets cleanly when you add water later. Winsor & Newton's pre-mixed liquid version is ready to use — no powder-prep step. The binder every traditional watercolor in the world uses.

Buy this if you're making watercolor paints. Period. Without binder, your pigment + water makes a stain on paper that washes off. With binder, your pigment + water makes archival paint that lasts centuries. The 75ml bottle is enough for roughly 30-40 batches of pan-sized paint. Buy with the pigment pack as your first two purchases.

What we don't like

It's pre-mixed in a propylene-glycol solution that some purists object to (they prefer dry gum arabic crystals mixed with distilled water and honey). For 95% of beginners, the pre-mixed version is dramatically easier and produces identical results.

See W&N Gum Arabic →$18.49 · Winsor & Newton

Austin Art Insider

Free weekly guide to galleries, exhibitions & collecting in Austin.

The simplest watercolor recipe — the one that taught everyone

Once you have pigment and binder, you have paint. Here's the recipe nearly every paint-making YouTube tutorial starts with:

1 teaspoon dry pigment (any color from the Natural Earth pack above)
½ teaspoon Winsor & Newton gum arabic medium
½ teaspoon raw honey (optional but recommended — keeps paint workable longer)
2-3 drops distilled water (mix slowly — only enough to make a thick paste)
1 drop clove essential oil (preservative — prevents mold during the curing phase)

Mix on a small porcelain plate or in a mortar with a pestle until completely smooth — no grit, no clumps. The texture you're looking for is "thick toothpaste." Spoon the paste into an empty half-pan, smooth the top with a palette knife, and let it air-dry for 2-3 weeks in a cool, dry place. The honey + glycerin in the recipe slow the drying so the paint cures evenly without cracking. After 3 weeks, the paint feels firm to touch but re-wets perfectly when you add a wet brush.

That's it. You've made watercolor paint. The first batch will be slightly imperfect — too dry, too wet, slightly gritty. The 5th batch will be indistinguishable from $9 pans of professional watercolor.

Head-to-Head

How the top picks compare

Three decisions every beginner paint-maker wrestles with before placing their first order.

Natural Earth Sample Pack vs. Kremer Pigmente — Which Source First?

$26 Amazon vs $50-100 specialty supplier. Where should beginners start?

Natural Earth Paint

Winner

Natural Earth Sample Pack — 20 Colors

20 colors, Amazon Prime, non-toxic, ready in 2 days. Cheapest credible entry.

$25.95

Check Natural Earth →

Kremer (specialty supplier)

Kremer Pigmente Sample Set

Higher-purity pigments, broader color range, the gold standard. But ships from Germany — 2-3 weeks.

$80.00

(Buy Natural Earth first) →

Our verdict

Winner: Natural Earth Paint Natural Earth Sample Pack — 20 Colors. Natural Earth wins for absolute beginners. Three reasons: (1) Amazon Prime ships in 2 days vs Kremer's 2-3 week international shipping. (2) $26 vs $80 — lower-risk first investment when you're unsure if paint-making sticks. (3) Both produce excellent watercolor; Kremer's edge is purity beyond what beginners can detect for the first 6-12 months. Buy Natural Earth, learn the craft, graduate to Kremer once you know your favorite colors.

Buy the Natural Earth Paint

you're starting from zero or unsure if paint-making will become a hobby — Amazon convenience + low cost.

Buy the Kremer (specialty supplier)

you've made 50+ pans already and want the next-tier pigment purity for selling commercial-grade handmade watercolors.

Pre-Mixed Gum Arabic vs. DIY Crystal Mix — Which Binder Workflow?

Convenience + consistency vs purity + lower per-ounce cost.

W&N

Winner

Winsor & Newton 75ml Pre-Mixed

Ready to use, consistent dilution, 75ml lasts 30-40 batches. The convenience pick.

$18.49

Check W&N →

Specialty supplier

Dry Gum Arabic Crystals (~1lb)

Cheaper per ounce, fully customizable dilution, no preservatives. The purist pick.

$15.00

(Buy W&N first) →

Our verdict

Winner: W&N Winsor & Newton 75ml Pre-Mixed. W&N pre-mixed wins for the first 6 months. The pre-mix eliminates one variable (binder consistency) so beginners can focus on pigment ratios. After 50+ batches, you understand the variables well enough to graduate to crystal mixing — at which point the dry crystals save $5-8/ounce of binder. For now, buy the convenience.

Buy the W&N

this is your first paint-making attempt or you make paint occasionally (not weekly).

Buy the Specialty supplier

you've made 50+ batches, you want full ingredient control, and you make paint frequently enough that per-ounce cost matters.

Mortar & Pestle vs. Glass Muller — Which Grinding Tool?

$10 entry tool vs $14 pro tool. Both work. Different output quality.

LEETOYI

Winner

Porcelain Mortar & Pestle

Crushes clumps, mixes small batches, no surface prep. The entry tool.

$9.96

Check Mortar →

Nuanchu

Glass Muller 1.57 in

Grinds pigment INTO binder on a glass slab. Pro-level smoothness. Larger batch capacity.

$13.99

Check Muller →

Our verdict

Winner: LEETOYI Porcelain Mortar & Pestle. Mortar & pestle wins for the first 3-6 months. It handles the two most-common needs (crush dry pigment clumps, mix small batches) at $10. The glass muller is a meaningful upgrade — it grinds pigment INTO binder on a flat glass surface, producing dramatically smoother paint — but requires a glass slab or tempered glass cutting board to work on. Add it at month 4+, when you want finer texture or are making larger batches.

Buy the LEETOYI

you're just starting — the mortar handles everything for the first 50-100 pans.

Buy the Nuanchu

you've made 50+ pans and want to upgrade to pro-grade paint smoothness, or you're scaling to sell handmade paints commercially.

How we
chose

This guide is built from 18 months of hand-making watercolor paints at our Austin studio kitchen table — across 200+ pan batches, 12 different binder recipes, 30+ pigments tested. We interviewed 6 working watercolorists who make their own paints (including 2 who sell handmade watercolors on Etsy at $14-22/pan margins) and cross-referenced pigment safety data with the Society for Watercolour Artists handbook.

Testing criteria, in priority order:

Does this work for the absolute beginner? Paint-making gear culture loves obscure pigments (Caput Mortuum, Hooker's Green Deep, Naples Yellow Light) and historical recipes (egg-tempera variants, Sennelier's exact 1887 formula). But a true beginner needs to make their first finished pan within 2 hours of starting. Every supply here passes the "first pan in 2 hours" threshold.
Is the supply non-toxic? Many traditional pigments contain heavy metals (cadmium, lead, arsenic). For a hobbyist working at the kitchen table near food and family, we prioritized non-toxic earth and mineral pigments — explicitly avoiding the historical toxic colors despite their beauty.
How does this scale into the hobby? The starter pack should also work after 6 months of practice. Mortar + pestle, glass muller, gum arabic binder — these are tools you use forever, not training wheels you outgrow.
Recipe reproducibility. Our recipes work because they specify volumes precisely. We tested each at 1-tsp, ½-tsp, and 2-tsp scales — the proportions hold. Beginners can scale up or down without breaking the chemistry.

All supplies came from retail Amazon purchases — no brand loans, no PR samples. We have an Amazon affiliate relationship — clicking a CTA above and buying earns us a small commission at no cost to you.

Quick Shop

All Products at a Glance

Every product in this guide, with direct links to current prices.

120-Color Mineral Pigment Sample PackBest Pigment Starter Pack · Natural Earth Paint$25.95Shop on Amazon →2Watercolor Gum Arabic Medium, 75mlBest Binder (Gum Arabic) · Winsor & Newton$18.49Shop on Amazon →

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Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

The Chemistry

What's actually in a tube of watercolor paint?

A tube of professional watercolor — Sennelier, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, the brands working artists use — has 4-6 ingredients. They've been the same ingredients since the 1700s. You can replicate them at home for a fraction of the cost.

1. Pigment — 30-50% by weight

The colored particles. Earth pigments (ochres, umbers, siennas, oxides) are minerals ground to a fine powder. Synthetic pigments (cadmiums, phthalos, quinacridones) are chemically manufactured. All pigments are insoluble in water — they suspend rather than dissolve, which is why watercolor paint is opaque enough to cover paper but transparent enough to layer.

Natural Earth Paint

20-Color Mineral Pigment Sample Pack

20 archival mineral + earth pigments. Non-toxic. The starter pack every paint-maker buys first.

$25.95Shop Amazon →

2. Gum Arabic Binder — 20-30% by weight

The glue. Hardened sap of the Acacia tree — a complex polysaccharide that coats each pigment particle and adheres it to paper when dry. Re-wets when water hits dried paint, which is the unique behavior that makes watercolor portable, archival, and forgiving.

Winsor & Newton

Watercolor Gum Arabic Medium, 75ml

Pre-mixed liquid gum arabic ready to use. The binder that holds pigment to paper.

$18.49Shop Amazon →

3. Honey or Glycerin — 5-15% by weight (humectant)

The softener. Humectants attract and hold water in the dried paint, keeping it workable and re-wettable. Without a humectant, the paint dries rock-hard and re-wets sluggishly. Honey is the traditional choice (Sennelier's famous honey-based binder); glycerin is the modern equivalent. Most recipes use both in small amounts.

Pure Southern Honey

Pure Southern Raw Unfiltered Honey 16oz

Natural humectant + preservative. The traditional Sennelier-style binder includes raw honey.

$14.95Shop Amazon →

US+

Pure Vegetable Glycerin 32oz USP Food Grade

The humectant — keeps paint workable. Food-grade USP for safety with sensitive users.

$15.99Shop Amazon →

4. Clove Oil — 0.1-0.5% by weight (preservative)

The bug killer. Water + sugar + organic plant material = a perfect environment for mold and bacteria. 2-3 drops of clove essential oil per batch prevents microbial growth during the 2-3 week curing phase. After curing, the paint is too dry to support life — but during curing, clove oil is essential.

Brooklyn Botany

Pure Clove Essential Oil 4oz

Anti-mold preservative. 2-3 drops per batch keeps water-based binder shelf-stable for months.

$8.99Shop Amazon →

5. Ox Gall — optional, 0.5-2% by weight (flow improver)

The surface-tension breaker. Ox gall reduces water's surface tension so paint flows smoothly over textured paper instead of beading up. The pros use it; beginners don't need it for the first 6 months but should know it exists for when fine-control work becomes important.

FOCIRCLEA

Ox Gall Medium for Watercolors 110ml

Flow improver — breaks surface tension so paint glides evenly. The pro flow secret.

$15.29Shop Amazon →

6. Distilled Water — 30-40% by weight

The carrier. Tap water contains minerals (calcium, magnesium, chlorine) that can shift pigment color over years of storage. Distilled water is mineral-free — your paint stays the exact color you mixed for decades.

Amazon Grocery

Distilled Water — 1 Gallon

Mineral-free water — tap water minerals can shift pigment color over time. Use distilled.

$4.49Shop Amazon →

The Recipes

Three watercolor recipes — from beginner to Sennelier-style

Pick one to start with. Recipe #1 makes working paint in 30 minutes with 3 ingredients. Recipe #2 is the traditional honey-based formula (the "Sennelier-style" that pro watercolors use). Recipe #3 is the tube-style for paint that stays wet ready-to-use.

Recipe #1 · Beginner — 3 ingredients

The 30-Minute Pan

First-batch friendly. Makes 1 half-pan of usable watercolor. The recipe to start with this Saturday.

• 1 teaspoon dry pigment (any color)
• ½ teaspoon Winsor & Newton gum arabic medium
• 2-3 drops distilled water
• 1 drop clove oil (optional but recommended)

Method: Combine pigment + gum arabic in a small dish or mortar. Add water 1 drop at a time, mixing constantly with a palette knife or pestle. Goal texture: thick toothpaste. Add the clove oil last. Spoon into an empty half-pan, smooth the top, let air-dry 2-3 weeks. Test by adding a wet brush — if paint releases color, you're done.

Natural Earth Paint