After having tested my liquid silk paints that I have used since the beginning of my silk flowers painting learning, convenient and effective, I tested powder pigments that I found by chance crossing the streets of Venice, at Arcobaleno, pigments and artists supplies shop (pigments, supplies for painters, beads, calligraphy accessories, etc…), located in the San Marco area, 3457, calle de le boteghe.
Here are the advantages of pigments:
– The big advantage of the pigments is that we can dilute them as much as we want to obtain a lighter or darker color. In fact, the more we add water (or alcohol, because they can be diluted with these 2 liquids), the more the color will be light.
The big advantage of alcohol is that it evaporates faster than water so that it permits to go faster to the shaping of petals and leaves step.
I have bought pipettes in order to add water little by little and to note my dosing (number of drops added).
You have to check that the pigments that you have are well crushed, if not you have to put them in a mortar or to crush them again with a glass muller on a polished marble or glass sheet.
– They permit to cold tint all sorts of natural fibers (therefore perfect for silk regarding myself).
– They can be mixed to binder such as lime, wax, paint, plaster, etc… to color according to the dosing and binder chosen (in fine arts, decoration).
– The pigments can be mixed together to have a different tint (although this shop, as you can see on the photos, offers a large choice of gradation of hues).
– They have not a lifespan unlike the liquids paints.
– We can also find natural pigments.
– The quantity of paint that we can get from a jar is bigger than a liquid one because of their dying power.
By testing these pigments, I find that the colors are equally beautiful as the liquid ones.
The only drawback is that they are more difficult to use and require experience to do exactly what you want, to get the particular shade you want and to manage their dilution.
To use the pigments in a convenient way, nothing is better than keep the small jars of jam or honey to prepare their liquid version in advance. Clever, isn’t it?
Here are the advantages of the liquid silk paints that I use (Marabu Silk and Javana):
– A large choice of shades,
– They are lightproof,
– They fix with an iron,
– These paints are fluid and shiny,
– They can be mixed together to get new shades,
– They can be diluted with water to get lighter shades.
Concerning the paints that are used in the books of Sayoko Yasuda, they are small jars with an integrated pipette for the mixture that she advises to make her flowers and foliage. They are written in a table at the beginning of each design. It is very useful if you want to make her flowers as they are on the photos.
When I started my flower making learning, I already invested in my tools, fabrics, books and other supplies. The paints of Sayoko are rather expensive and that’s why I didn’t bought them. In all case, we notice that the mixtures of these paints give stunning and particular colors.
The jars are small and I thought that it didn’t last much because I wanted to make many flowers.
I also wanted to keep a certain freedom regarding the choice of colors of my flowers and not to follow exactly the recipe, to let my inspiration of the moment to guide me.
