Making Watercolors

Next week we're working on an art project that uses watercolors,

so I've been testing ways to make larger batches.

I think the individual watercolor cases are fun for small or abstract art, but with a whole page needing to be filled in I knew those weren't going to do the job.

I know you can buy watercolor tablets to mix in water, kind of like those dye tablets you get when you do Easter eggs. I'm not sure how other people make watercolors, but since I like trying to use what I have on hand before buying something new, I took out my tempera paints and just added water.

I used our dollar store muffin tins to hold the paints. They were perfect for this!

If you've worked with tempera paints before, you know that you always have some that are a little runny, and some that are a little thick. I have experienced this with the cheap and the higher end brands alike. So I found that I couldn't add a standard unit of measured water to each tin cup, as the paints themselves weren't consistent to begin with. This is really a trial and error effort. Every color needed a different amount of water and mixing. I just had to keep at each of them until they 'felt' right to me. Someone else might like them more watery or thicker than me, though.

I liked the end result and did a test painting from a project listed on Art Projects for Kids to see how the colors worked. I think the kids will be able to use these really well when we do our project next week.