Making red paint is a fairly simple process that only requires a few ingredients. The main ingredient is a red pigment or dye that provides the color. Common red pigments used in paint include cadmium red, iron oxide red, and vermilion. Beyond the pigment, you’ll need a binder to hold the pigment together and allow the paint to stick to surfaces. Typical binders used in paint include oils like linseed oil or walnut oil and acrylic polymers. With just these two components – pigment and binder – you can make a basic red paint. However, most paint recipes also include some additional ingredients to modify the paint’s properties like viscosity or drying time. Once you understand the core ingredients and how to mix them, you can easily make red paint at home.
Choosing a Red Pigment
The key component that gives red paint its color is the red pigment. There are a variety of natural and synthetic red pigments used in paints. Here are some of the most common options:
Cadmium Red
Cadmium red is a synthetic inorganic red pigment made from cadmium salts. It produces a vivid orange-red color and is known for its excellent tinting strength and opacity. Cadmium red has been used by artists since the 18th century and remains a staple pigment for oil and acrylic paints. However, it is also toxic, so care should be taken when using it.
Iron Oxide Red
Iron oxide red, also known as Mars red, is a naturally occurring inorganic pigment made from iron oxide. It produces earthy, deep red tones and has been used since prehistoric times in cave paintings. Iron oxide red is opaque, lightfast, and non-toxic. Common varieties include red ochre and Venetian red. Iron oxide reds are commonly used in oil and acrylic paints.
Vermilion
Vermilion is a synthetic mercury sulfide pigment that produces a brilliant orange-red color. It has been prized as a pigment since ancient times and was very expensive to produce. Today, synthetic versions are made using safer ingredients. However, vermilion still has issues with toxicity and lightfastness. It’s primarily used for art restoration rather than new paint production.
Organic Red Dyes
Organic dyes extracted from plants, insects, and minerals can also produce red pigments. Common red dyes used in paint include madder lake, carmine, and alizarin crimson. Plant-based dyes like madder tend to have lower tinting strength than synthetic pigments. But they can produce attractive transparent glazes. Insect-based dyes like carmine have brilliant red color but are more expensive.
Selecting a Binder
The pigment particles need to be mixed with a binder to form an adhesive paint. The binder sticks the pigment onto surfaces and determines qualities like the paint’s finish. Common binder options for red paint include:
Drying Oils
Drying oils like linseed oil and walnut oil are classic binders used in oil paints. They produce a glossy, slow-drying paint that allows blending and color mixing on the canvas. Drying oils yellow over time which can affect the paint color. They also require solvents like turpentine for thinning and cleanup.
Acrylic Polymer
Modern acrylic paints use acrylic polymer emulsions as the binder. They dry quickly to a matte or glossy finish, resist yellowing, and clean up with water. Acrylics also permit color mixing but dry fast, requiring a quick painting style. Polymer modified versions can increase paint flexibility and working time.
Gum Arabic
Gum arabic is a natural binder made from the sap of acacia trees. It is used in watercolor paints to suspend the pigment particles. Gum arabic allows paints to rehydrate and it increases transparency. But it produces a less durable paint film compared to oils and acrylics.
Here’s a comparison of common paint binders:
| Binder | Properties |
|---|---|
| Drying Oils | Glossy finish, blendable, yellows over time |
| Acrylic Polymer | Dries fast, matte or glossy finish, water-based |
| Gum Arabic | Transparent paint films, rehydratable |
Additional Ingredients
Beyond the pigment and binder, you can add extra ingredients to achieve desired paint properties:
– Solvents like turpentine or mineral spirits help thin oil paints for applying thin layers. They also clean up oil paints.
– Co-polymers modify acrylic polymers to increase paint flexibility or working time.
– Drying agents like cobalt dryers accelerate the drying time of oil paints. Useful for underpainting layers.
– Fillers like chalk increase the paint’s opacity and texture. They also reduce costs.
– Emulsifiers help binders like gum arabic disperse in water to form an emulsion.
– Preservatives prevent mold or bacterial growth to extend shelf life.
– Surfactants reduce paint’s surface tension for better flow and leveling.
– Thickening agents like carrageenan or cellulose modify viscosity. Useful for heavy impasto techniques.
So in summary, adding ingredients like solvents, emulsifiers, driers etc. allows you to customize the paint’s handling, appearance and shelf life.
Creating the Paint
Once you have selected the ingredients, it’s time to combine them into paint. Here is a step-by-step process:
1. Measure out the pigment powder and binder in the desired ratio. A typical starting point is 20% pigment to 80% binder by weight.
2. Thoroughly mix the dry pigment and binder together. For oil paints, use a palette knife on a glass palette. For acrylics and watercolors, stir in a container.
3. Gradually add the wet ingredients like oil, polymer medium or water while mixing continuously.
4. Use solvents, mediums or water to adjust the paint consistency. Aim for the thickness of heavy cream.
5. Transfer the paint to sealable containers like jars. Scrape any excess off the palette knife.
6. Allow oil and acrylic paints to dry thoroughly before use. Watercolors can be used immediately.
7. Remix before using the paint after storage to redistribute pigment settlement.
Follow basic studio safety practices when handling pigments and solvents during the paint making process. With the right ingredients and careful mixing, you can create your own rich, red paint!
Common Recipes
Here are some example recipes to make one cup of red paint using different mediums:
Cadmium Red Oil Paint
– 2 tablespoons cadmium red pigment
– 5 tablespoons linseed oil
– 3 tablespoons turpentine
Mix the cadmium red powder with linseed oil first. Then gradually thin with turpentine to reach ideal consistency.
Iron Oxide Acrylic Paint
– 3 tablespoons iron oxide red pigment
– 5 tablespoons acrylic polymer emulsion
– 2 tablespoons acrylic gloss medium
Stir together pigment and acrylic polymer. Add gloss medium and thin with water as needed.
Madder Lake Watercolor
– 1 tablespoon madder lake dye
– 2 teaspoons gum arabic powder
– 6 tablespoons water
Dissolve gum arabic in water first. Then mix in madder lake pigment to create watercolor.
Tinting Strength
An important consideration when making paint is “tinting strength” – how much pigment is needed to color a given amount of binder. Pigments with higher tinting strength provide more color with less material. Here is a comparison of tinting strengths for common red pigments:
| Pigment | Tinting Strength |
|---|---|
| Cadmium red | High |
| Vermilion | High |
| Iron oxide red | Moderate |
| Organic reds | Low-Moderate |
Synthetic pigments like cadmium and vermilion provide the strongest tinting for their mass. Natural iron oxides require more material to reach full opacity. Organic reds have lower tinting strength but are useful for transparent glazing techniques.
Color Properties
Beyond basic red hue, different pigments have unique characteristics:
Hue – Where the color falls in the red-orange-violet spectrum. Cadmium red leans orange while madder lake is more violet.
Value – How light or dark the color is. Vermilion is bright and high value. Iron oxide red is darker and lower value.
Opacity vs. Transparency – Opaque paints completely block what’s underneath. Transparent paints allow underlayers to show through.
Staining – Staining paints get absorbed into the painting surface for longer-lasting color. Non-staining paints can be lifted or reworked.
Granulating – Pigment particles separate in water for varied textures. Useful for watercolor.
Miscibility – How well the paint mixes and blends with others. Important for mixing clean secondary colors.
Testing different reds in swatches is the best way to understand their unique properties. Balancing opacity, transparency and hue is key to mixing rich secondary purples, oranges etc.
Types of Red Paint
While the core ingredients remain similar, red paint comes in many forms for different uses:
Artist Paints
High quality with concentrated pigment loads. Suitable for fine art in oil, acrylic, and watercolor formats. Available in tubes or jars.
Student Grade Paints
Use filler extenders to reduce cost. Lower pigment concentration with weaker tinting. Good for beginners exploring color mixing.
Craft Paints
Contain lower grade pigments but useful for crafters. Offered in wide variety of premixed colors. Quick drying and water soluble.
House Paints
Practical paints with mid-grade pigments to cover wall and trim surfaces. Formulated for application by brush, roller or spray.
Automotive Paints
Engineered for coating metal car bodies.offer great durability. Require spraying through special equipment.
Industrial Paints
Coat industrial surfaces like bridges, trains, or machinery. Withstand extreme conditions over time. Single component or two-component urethanes.
Uses for Red Paint
Red paint has endless applications thanks to its vibrant visual impact:
– Historically used in art by masters like Michelangelo, Matisse, Rothko
– Brightens up walls, furniture, crafts, canvas, posterboard and more
– Give a slick hot rod or sports car a bright cherry red paint job
– Use as an underpainting layer for flesh tones in portraits
– Simulate fire, explosions, or dramatic lighting in stage sets
– Apply over primers and sealers as a durable final finish coat
– Mix with yellows and blues to produce a complete palette for painting
– Shows up distinctly against green foliage in figurative landscape painting
– Contrast with blues in nautical and maritime themed paintings
– Allow children to explore color mixing and blending
With its bold presence, red paint brings energy and passion to artwork across many mediums and subjects. From classical fine art to household DIY projects, red is a vivid, versatile color.
Conclusion
Creating your own red paint is an enjoyable process that allows for endless customization. With a quality red pigment, suitable binder, and well-mixed preparation, you can produce vivid paint with properties tailored to your artistic needs. Red paint offers a timeless, dynamic color to enliven any creative endeavor. Experiment and play with different reds in your artwork and unlock their expressive potential.
