colours or pigments from vegetables

vikkram · Joined: 02 Sep 2008 Posts: 4 Location: hyderabad, india

Hi, vikkram!

how to make colours or pigments from vegetables and green leaves available , to use them art paintings?

recently my nephew is participating in art competitions on environmental friendly topics. so i want to help her to use some natural colors also which can be made from vegetable matter, for example green from green leaves, etc. i tried making green leaves squeeze but the liquid is very thin and color is very light which is not useful for paintings. how to do it?

The Pook · Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Posts: 2904 Location: Tasmania

Almost all pigments from plants are inferior to synthetic pigments in intensity of colour and lightfastness. They mostly fade quickly. But some may be suitable for some painting and dying purposes. You could experiment with some of the following things:

Coffee, Tea and Cola
Tobacco
Food colouring (for example cochineal)
Curry powder
Mustard powder
Turmeric
Chilli Powder
Saffron
flower petals, flower stamens
Berries & fruits, seeds of fruits, nuts
Skins from dark grapes, or the residue at the bottom of wine
Carrots
Beetroot
Coal ash and soot from candles or lamps
Fungi and Algae (though this could be poisonous)
Madder Root (Rubia Tinctorum) makes red

Most of these will be fugitive (ie not lightfast), even if you manage to extract enough pigment to be useful.

The most durable natural pigments are mineral, not vegetable. Earth colours, reds, oranges and greens can be made from various ochres. Green can also be made from Verdigris (Copper Oxide) by putting vinegar on copper and scraping the oxide off, but this is poisonous. You can also drill into a brick or some rocks and mix the dust with acrylic binder or oils to make red-browns. A good Blue is almost impossible to make from plants, except from very specific species, such as Woad (Isatis Tinctoria) or Indigo (Indigofera tinctorum). The last mentioned plant is a native of India. It makes a deep purple-blue. Blue and purple can be obtained naturally from the shells of some marine molluscs, and from burnt oil or vegetable matter. The best 'natural' blues are unfortunately made from crushing semi-precious stones! You could also try crushing beetle shells.

vikkram · Joined: 02 Sep 2008 Posts: 4 Location: hyderabad, india

thanku very much pook. its really very very valuable information. I'll try to expreiment with this. All the ingredients you have given are available at home so we can easily experiment. I am from INDIA. Thanks for the INDIGO flower i'll find the name of it in local language to get that flower. I already experimented with green leaves paste into a cloth and squeezed to get the green liquid. but it is too lighter and does't get much color with it.
so i started wrongly in the first attempt. I think i need a medium for it. Plz suggest some mediums or binders along with some recipes links for the pigments or colors. thankyou very much.

artlover88 · Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 8 Location: other

I wonder if colours from vegetables (like ognion or carotte) are lasting long...

vikkram · Joined: 02 Sep 2008 Posts: 4 Location: hyderabad, india

I am very much intrested in using natural colors but for the medium/binder it becomes more costlier than readymade artificial colors available in the market. This restricts my trial on these colors. Egg is cheaper binder but we are vegitarians, we even don't like to use egg.

vikkram · Joined: 02 Sep 2008 Posts: 4 Location: hyderabad, india

artlover, what is this "ognion or carotte"?