For as long as I’ve been interested in art I’ve been interested in pigments. Where do they come from? How can I use them? Are they toxic or somewhat safe? How can I gather or make my own? The idea is intimidating and also, for me anyway, there is a hint of “Why bother?” Because I can order any art supply I want and usually have it on my doorstep in 24 hours to a week.

But there is a part of me deeply interested in where stuff comes from and the ancient, and often, women’s wisdom of pigments and dye stuff. Knowledge often handed down from mother to daughter, and occasionally son, or father to daughter or son. But mainly dye stuff and the related pigments, was women’s wisdom.

A little over 2 years ago the algorithm fed me a video about making ink from black walnut husks. Then Make Ink went on sale. Then I saw videos on how to process the husks off black walnuts. The universe (algorithm) basically told me that finding and using pigments was not that hard, actually.

I dove in. I made pokeberry ink. Really lovely amazing magenta, but if not gone through the lake process and washed, full of sugars that mold like crazy. But also, not lightfast for art. But when mordanted with alum on fabric, stays a lovely shade of pink.

I gathered bricks and rocks and experimented with turning them into ultra fine powders to make watercolors. It took some practice but I started to make wastercolors that actually stuck to the page and weren’t super shiny. I started to create watercolors that were fun to use.

Then I dove into acorn caps. Sweet jeebus, acorn cap ink is a lovely shade of warm tan.

Then I decided that I needed to find black walnuts in my area. I put out a call and a fellow artist pointed me toward a strip of road with sidewalks surrounded by black walnuts. I gathered a few pounds and made some of the most gorgeous warm brown ink and casein paint ever. But I know I have more to learn.

A secondary quest on my trip around my area seeking out pigments to make art with is what do I make with the pigment itself. I always assumed making oil pastels would be out of my reach. But I learned how to make watercolors and soft chalk(free) pastels. I also learned how to make lamp black and my own drawing charcoal. It is ridiculously easy and incredible looking.

Then I started seeing recipes pop up for making oil bars/oil sticks/drawing oils/pigment sticks or whatever you want to call them. The recipe was simple- add oil paint to a blend of white wax and linseed oil. Then I started to see recipes for making them out of pigment powders.

I ordered the iCrayon *oil sticks to see if I’d like them, and oh boy do I ever. They are like oil pastels but they dry and you can work on a piece over time and build up some amazing layers. So I KNEW I had to make my own, especially since the “real” versions are hellishly expensive.

This is where I am now. I ordered all the stuff to make my own oil drawing sticks. I’ve been watching EVERYTHING I can find on them. Helen Cryer, if you aren’t watching her outside of this, you should go and watch everything on her YouTube. Her stuff is great. She and I are pretty much on the same page with what materials we love but also our styles of work. Love her channel so much.

​Last night I set out to start my process of making my first oil drawing sticks, and I’m hooked. It takes some trial and error and I’m really looking forward to diving into this in a lot more depth.

I also went ahead and ordered some pigment powders in colors that I can’t find easily locally or that are lightfast,. Mainly blue, bright yellow, red and magenta.

I also want to see if I can rejuvenate some of those dried out Rubens oil pastels.  Can I melt them, blend them with wax and oil and get them creamy again? Will that turn them into oil sticks? We will see. Can I make my own custom colors of oil pastel? Oh I think I can.

I’ll share my process which is slightly different from Helen’s, but also very similar. The first video will likely be mixing and making my own colors of oil pastels as well as an attempt to rejuvenate them.

*The iCrayon oil drawing sticks are mislabeled as oil pastels. They have a very strong odor, at first, but as the package has been opened the odor of my box has dissipated a lot. All that said- they dry fast, literally overnight. Which if you have used oil paints, you know this means they have some sort of drying agent in them. This means they may not be the safest thing to use in an enclosed space or if you have any sort of solvent sensitivity. I’m planning on a full review of them, but the Frugal Crafter already has one up and her views are similar to mine. Also, the packages have the wrong thickness of foam in them and they aren’t properly sealed so they arrive looking like Amazon kicked them around the warehouse and occasionally missing a stick. Honestly it’s pretty much buyer beware with them and being willing to send them back if they are missing a stick or are damaged. I find this very annoying.