Sprouting Wild Ones

These DIY Paints are easy to make, all natural, and so pretty! They’re made with common household ingredients and dyed naturally from food and spices!

School has been closed and we have been social distancing for about two weeks now, and I’m already starting to run out of crafting supplies! I decided we should start figuring out ways to make our own. Turns out making your own paint is super fun and not very hard to do. My daughter and I had fun brainstorming various food items we could use to dye the paint too. I’ll explain how to make DIY Paint and then how to make various all natural dyes to color it with. Enjoy!

What you need for DIY Paints

• Water – You will need 3 1/2 cups of water, divided.
• Cornstarch – One cup of cornstarch is needed as the thickening agent. It also makes it soft and silky.
• Salt – You will need 1/2 teaspoon of regular table salt.
• Gelatin – One tablespoon of unflavored gelatin is needed to firm up the paint. Without it, the paint is usable, but more liquidy.
• Natural dyes – You could use natural food coloring to color your paint, or create dyes from food and spices you probably already have in your kitchen. I will explain how to make your own dyes below.

How to make DIY Paints

• Mix water and cornstarch. In a medium sized bowl, add 2 cups of water and 1 cup and cornstarch, whisk together until cornstarch has dissolved.
• Mix water, salt, and gelatin. In a medium sized saucepan, add 2 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of gelatin, and salt together. Heat over medium heat until boiling.
• Heat and mix all together. While the gelatin mixture simmers over medium heat, whisk it quickly for about 1 minute or until gelatin has completely dissolved. Then add cornstarch mixture to the gelatin mixture. Mix until well-combined.
• Pour into containers. Line up six small glass jars. I used 4 oz. jam jars. Pour an even amount into each jar. You could use a canning funnel to make pouring easier.

• Add natural dyes. Now is the fun part. Add natural dyes to your paints to create whatever colors you desire. Read on for natural color ideas. Food coloring works great if you’re short on time or don’t have the necessary food items to create home-made dyes.
• Use right away. Grab a paintbrush and paper and use your paints right away. If you use it right away, it will work more like water color.
• Chill paint to thicken. Place your home-made paint into the refrigerator for an hour or so to thicken it. Once it is thicker, mix it up, grab a paintbrush and start creating art!

Natural DYE Ideas for DIY Paints

• Red – For red, we used beets. It creates a vibrant pinkish red color, by far my favorite color of the six we made. All you need to do is cut up one whole beet, place it in a small sauce pan, and cover with about a 1/4-1/2 cup of water. Heat until boiling and then simmer for about 5 or 10 minutes. Remove the beets and save the liquid. We used about 1/4 cup of beet liquid for our paint. If you don’t have beets, paprika will work for red as well.
• Orange – Carrots make a beautiful orange color and most likely, even during this pandemic, you probably have carrots in your fridge! I chopped half a carrot, and placed it in the food processor. Pulse on high for about one minute or until the carrot is in tiny, rice-size pieces. Transfer to a cloth and squeeze liquid into a bowl.
• Yellow – Take a look in your spice drawer for vibrant colors. We used turmeric for yellow, but curry could be used as well. We added about a 1/4 teaspoon to our paint.
• Green – We happened to have some kale powder left over from our Shamrock Wall Hangings project, and used about a 1/2 teaspoon for our green paint. However, you could boil and reduce frozen or fresh spinach or kale to use for green as well.
• Blue – This one we had trouble finding. We attempted to use blueberries, but that made purple. We ended up using a few drops of blue Watkins Natural Food Coloring, but red cabbage and baking soda will make blue, we just didn’t have any red cabbage on hand right now.
• Purple – This was another favorite color. Blueberries made our paint such a pretty purple! All we did was add about a 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries to a small saucepan and cooked over medium heat. Simmer for about ten minutes, as it reduces, mash a bit with a fork. Then, pour the soft, mashed blueberries into a strainer to remove seeds and skins and only keep the liquid.

How to Make DIY Paints

These DIY Paints are easy to make, all natural, and so pretty! They’re made with common household ingredients and dyed naturally from food!

Materials

• Cornstarch
• Gelatin
• Salt
• Water
• Food coloring or home-made dyes
• Medium size bowl
• Medium saucepan
• Whisk
• Canning funnel
• 6 stirring spoons
• 6 4-oz jam jars

Tools

Instructions

3 1/2 cups of water, divided
1 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon gelatin
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium sized bowl, add 1 3/4 cups of water and 1 cup and cornstarch, whisk together until cornstarch has dissolved.

In a medium sized saucepan, add 1 3/4 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of gelatin, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt together. Heat over medium heat until boiling.

While the gelatin mixture simmers over medium heat, whisk it quickly for about 1 minute or until gelatin has completely dissolved.

Add cornstarch mixture to the gelatin mixture and mix together until well-combined.

Line up six 4 oz. jam jars and using a cannin funnel, pour an even amount into each jar.

Add natural dyes or food coloring to your paints to create whatever colors you desire. See notes for more information on how to make natural dyes using food and spices.

Place your home-made paint into the refrigerator for about an hour or so to thicken it. Once thick, mix it up, grab a paintbrush and start creating art! If you’d rather use right away, the paint will be more of a water-color consistency.

Notes

NATURAL DYE IDEAS FOR DIY PAINTS
Red – For red, try using beets. All you need to do is cut up one whole medium sized beet, place it in a small sauce pan, and cover with about a 1/4-1/2 cup of water. Heat until boiling and then simmer for about 5 or 10 minutes. Remove the beets and save the liquid. Use about 1/8-1/4 cup of beet liquid. If you don’t have beets, 1 teaspoon of paprika will create an orange-red.

Orange – Carrots make a beautiful orange color. You will need to chop half a carrot into small pieces, and place it in the food processor. Pulse on high for about one minute or until the carrot is in tiny, rice-size pieces. Transfer to a cloth and squeeze liquid into a bowl. About 1 tablespoon of carrot juice will be enough.

Yellow – Using 1/4 teaspoon of tumeric makes the paint a vibrant yellow. Try curry powder if you don’t have tumeric.

Green – Try using about a 1 teaspoon of kale or spinach powder to create green paint. However, you could boil and reduce frozen or fresh spinach or kale if you don’t have kale or spinach powder to use.

Blue – Boiling red cabbage and adding a little baking soda will make blue dye.

Purple – Add about a 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries to a small saucepan and cook over medium heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, as it reduces, mash a bit with a fork. Then, pour the soft, mashed blueberries into a strainer to remove seeds and skins and only keep the liquid.