The new pigment in town. I managed to successfully pull a decent amount of pigment from the Iron Springs Formation sandstone that makes its way into a small hole in my yard that’s designed to catch it.
I didn’t think the pigment would be released from the sand through levigation, but it was. There might be a little bit of grit left, so I’ll use my set of EISCO test sieves to make sure I have only the finest powder left before I turn this into watercolor paint.
The last two photos show the sand in its cleaned, raw state in my hourglass and in the jar as pigment. You can see the difference in the texture. The sandiness is long gone. Only the velvety pigment remains.
Now, I have two pigment colors to work with, both freely available in my own yard: the deeper Moenkopi Formation pigment and the lighter Iron Springs Formation sandstone pigment.
If you’re an artist and you want some of my pigments, let me know. Once I have enough, I can send small amounts to folks. I’d love to see the pigments in your work. I also have wild clay and depigmented sand that can be used as grog for pottery.
Images: 1. The sandstone pigment on a small woven rug. Notice the moon shadow the jar is casting on the pigment, which complements the sun pattern in the rug. 2. The sandstone pigment (left) and Monkopi pigment (right). 3. A close-up of my sandstone hourglass. I use it every morning to enter into geological time. 4. A closer shot of the sandstone pigment. You can see the difference between the texture of the pigment and that of the sandstone in the hourglass.
Dana Henry Martin 