How to make your own Paint from Old Bricks and Charcoal | Demonstration by Alastair Blain

In this video you will learn how to make your own paint in four easy steps.

You need:
• A morter (or a hard rock)
• A piece of an old brick or charcoal
• Linseed oil
• Palette knife
• Glass of water

Step 1: Grind the brick (or charcoal) into pigment
Step 2: Pour the pigment in a jar of water to filter out levigation
Step 3: Decant the lighter pigment and let it dry
Step 4: Grind linseed oil into the charcoal pigment with palette knife

This video will also give you advice on which other raw materials you can use to make paints, including animal fat as a substitute for linseed oil.

Demonstration by Alastair Blain who was accompanied by Jan-Ove Tuv.
Filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum

SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS!
Fergus Ryan, Shaun Roberts, Viorel Trandafir, Matthias Proy, Dean Anthony, Jon Harald Aspheim, Børge Moe, Diego, Alastair Blain, Anders Berge Christensen, Eivind Josten, Erik Lasky, Fernando Ramirez, Francisco Salvacao, Herman Borge, Hårek Jordal Andreassen, Iver Ukkestad,
Jack Entz Warner, Jared Fountain, Marion Bu-Pedersen, Maurice Robbins, Michael Irish, Stacey Evangelista, Tonelise Rugaas, Trym Jordahl, Yngve Hellan

*

Would you like to get access to the full segment and more exclusive content from The School of Apelles?
✨ Become a $10 patron:

Check out our other channels:

Visit our facebook page:

[simonlinser]

Ive mined various minerals as a rock hound and thought about making paints before, but i just realized, one could just mine old paint and grind it up, there's s bunch of it everywhere.
Also one time i went to a place in California that was like work spaces and i got some paint chips that were from a paint booth, hundreds of layers of different color paint. They call it fordite, and some of it is sought by wood turners because it can be used to make pens and it looks really cool.

[anoccasionaldream]

Great to see your process:-) even though I use a lot of bright and even fluorescent colours in my art I'm also fascinated with earth colours. And I always loved natural colours of your art!

Yesterday as I wantched aother video about earth pigments I suddenly remembered how I was drawing in childhood right on the bricks of my grandmother's house! The bricks of the house were white and I drew a piece on each one with pieces of coal and sometimes small pieces of various colours of burnt red bricks which were scattered all around the house:-) I was finding subtle differences of these colours and texture and consistency .. I was finding ways to create art in any circumstances from anything around me ..

And as I watch this video it popped up in my memory even brighter:-)

[neanderthalnonsense]

Ive been dabbling with natural earth pigments very similar to this fellow. A great binder to use is egg yolk. Great Video.

[mujo]

bro with the long hair is chill as hell lol bravo.

[robhead]

Ok. Im hooked. What a gift! Thank you!

[oddstr]

How about grinding it wet to avoid the dust?

[jimcortez]

You can stabilize hand made oil paint, with the addition of a small amount of amber varnish, provided the resin content is at a sufficient level. It is actually quite amazing, what that substance will do for paint.

[wilderagudelo]

Quisiera ver como utilizan estos pigmentos en una obra

[Zaggrippas]

Greetings from Sweeden 👋🇸🇪😃❤ Best video ever!

[riot.]

this is so cool. can't wait to make it.

[CarlWinter-oyuf]

Whats the solvent ? linseed oil ? petroleum ? thinners ? alcohol ?

[CarlWinter-oyuf]

I import a lot of TITANIUM WHITE OIL PAINT is there a way to DIY this paint ?

[yvonneackerman]

Que clase de madera se quema?? Para obtener charcol? Cómo se llama esa piedra que le. Echaste agua? Fue solo agua? What kind of Wood do You need fgr make black ink only water or alcohol tooo?¿

[CarlWinter-oyuf]

How do you get colour pigments (cadmium red /yellow /blue etc ? )

[jacquelineford]

What’s the purpose of adding charcoal? ❤

[CarlWinter-oyuf]

Wow --thankyou --you certainly know your mineral & earth pigments --I am a wildlife painter---60 years --in Africa----would like to grind my own oil pigments ----ochre and lapis are common here --so is malachite ---I will try to grind some down to powder & add linseed oil ---will send you some of my canvases pics ---give me your email. !

[Yskip]

Is there a school for this. What is the name of the teachers.

[victoralosi]

Old clay brick is the best, .grind in water

[rutbrea]

One needs to reside in a cabin or hut somewhere outside the cities apartments to do something like that, otherwise one would be disturbing the neighbors. It's good to know, don't get me wrong. I actually would love to make my own paint 🙂. Thanks for sharing.

[erickf]

So basically the same process as making charcoal/carbon pencil leads except the "lead" has more water to dissolve it into a paste