This video got a little popular! Please wear a mask if you're going to be doing this! A proper respirator would be best but a regular fabric one is better than nothing. The dust particles (glass and pigments) are no good for your lungs. Good thing those are super available now.
And if you're extra concerned, You can also get everything wet with water before and while sanding so the particles don't go flying. Still wear a mask too.
You are extremelysmart and thrifty girl! Lol I just paid $40 for a 2.5" professional glass muller on eBay and paid $20 for a sandblasted quarter inch piece of glass for a grinding plate... Only because I plan on being an artist for life. Lol but your solutions we're legit and very thrifty. And I commend you for your ingenuity. And to be honest you're $2 muller Look to be working just fine.. Even with the $90 ones you will have to stop frequently to scrape off the paint around the edges. I don't think there is any escaping that ...I'm sure you have found this out in the past 4 years. Best of luck and happy painting . Wish I would have seen this video sooner though I probably would have went the cheaper route too lol
I found a cheap way to frost my tools, thought I’d share. I bought a diamond sharpening tool from harbor freight. $11 total cost. I filled my sink with water, gently buffed my glass plate and muller under the water, and after about 10 minutes both were frosted, flat, and kind of professional looking. Easy peasy.
As a precaution, one should wear a mask that is made for handling powders for the pigment, but also for the grinding of the glass to avoid lung problems. It is very easy to inhale powder when handling the pigments. Even when you don't see or feel dust from the pigment it is floating in the air. That applies for glass particles as well since it can cause worse problems in your lungs that even the pigments could. Not just dust mask, but ones with filters that can catch powders that very fine in particle size (microns).
All good points. One specific delineation about her project in this video, she specifically used clay as her "pigment" most natural clays are just dirt. So the only real worry would be inhaling powderized dirt. Not fun, not suggested but not really dangerous.
Nada Makes now that I see my comment years later I feel like I should have preface it with, “I don’t mean to be a butthole”. I really didn’t mean it in a bad way, but now reading it it may have come off like that to some people. I just commented because I was just concerned about not only your lungs, but those if others that might try this method. I didn’t even realize you said the pigment was actually clay, but still any powder in the lungs is just not fun at all. Sorry if it maybe read a little mean, but I assure you it wasn’t meant that way at all!! Thanks for the reply though! 😉
Thanks for this info. 1. Always wear a mask when working with particulate. 2. The broken edges on the base glass plate should be finely edged with any kind of tape, electricians' tape is ideal. 3. You can secure the plate to the table with tape, clamps or you an inexpensive soft rubber mat below. 4. Craft stores sell an inexpensive chemical glass froster, under $20, that you paint, leave and then wipe off. Surface will then have a fine tooth. 5. In the interest of safety (see 1), never sand glass dry, always wet, if using sand paper.
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH! I want to start making my own watercolors as an experiment, but mullers aren’t sold in my country, and shipping anything to my country is an additional fortune since the muller is usually really heavy. This is the perfect solution! I think I have in my house a couple of glass candleholders that are really heavy and hopefully have a flat base (either way, now I now what to look for even if I have to buy something) and the sandpaper trick is genius too! Thank you so much ☺️
one can also use a roughly semispherical stone with flat base, glass paper weight with flat base, small dumbbell with flat steel base, any marble article with flat circular base and many more...
Your video got me looking around the house and I found one of those candles with the silicone sealed rounded glass tops and it works well. Thank you so much!
I've made some out of drinking glasses with really, really thick bottoms and the narrowest foot (the part that holds it up off of the table) on the bottom I can get. Then I grind or sand paper off the foot so it's flat. Fill the glass with plaster of paris or just hold onto the drinking edge if the sides are thick.
I’m going to be using this idea for my watercolor making and when I first looked up how much a real “ muller” was I nearly fell out of my chair your video was amazingly useful!!! I also might try an old wine glass 🍷 and maybe take the top off and use the bottom!!:) your video has legitimately inspired me thank you😊 🙏🏻
I'm so glad that I came across your video! Thank you so so sooo much for making this video! I want to make my own watercolor paints. In my country nobody sells glass muller. I bought all the pigments internationally. I even bought the muller that they use for making medicine. But it didn't work. The paint didn't become smooth but the muller got smooth instead :D I have a perfume bottle with a flat base, I couldn't find silicon carbide and I didn't think the sandpaper would work. I didn't even try it. I think I'm gonna cry a little bit then try your version. :.D These are happy tears don't worry.
Helpful video but no smooth texture in. The machine is essential for a perfect paint. It is necessary to deal with muller for 5 hours for 10 g of paint. Thanks for share!
good idea. i tryed rolling an ordinary glass (of water) over the mix on top of a ceramic tile. it worked pretty well. i was making watercolour paint from a red rock i found close to a waterfall. the final result was a smooth and fine paste with a beautiful colour.
This is great. I'm definitely gonna try this once I get into oil paints! Mullers are hella expensive where I live, too. But we have no shortage of thrift shops. Thanks for sharing!
So for the glass plate why not get some of the small rubber disks that are stuck onto furniture feet to protect the floor from scratching. Simple peel off paper and press on application, cheap and come in a few sizes. Made durable enough to handle heavy sofas being dragged around and will only move if you lift it off the table (in your case). And no having to remember an extra item - like when you use a towel or similar. Keep up the great videos - WONDERFUL to have info without the subscribe / like irritation.
So glad I did this search and came across this video! I've been looking for a much cheaper substitute for a traditional/expensive mueller. I too looked on Amazon and came across a couple of things I thought might be good substitutes but haven't purchased/tried them yet. One was a fat round glass tea candle holder. Another is a coffee/expresso tamper. I don't plan to use whatever I find/use with oil paints but with pigments for textile dying and watercolour paints... I hadn't thought of using a flat-solid bottom glass candle holder. Great idea! Also try using still wool pads to "grit up" the glass plate surface. Definitely always use a good thick face mask or respirator (from a hardware store) to protect your lungs and blood stream from the pigment dust. Thanx!!!
Instead of sand paper, one can also use valve grinding paste (use the finer stuff, not the course) which is available for very little money at any automotive store.
I used a $10 (Amazon) 1/2" thick photo paperweight (2" X 3" rectangular piece of glass with smooth edges and a flat bottom) with a shot glass superglued to the top for a handle. Works perfectly. The paperweights are also available on Etsy and various other sites.
Alternative to sandpaper on the glass surfaces: 1) Sandblaster - some art studios use sandblasters to create texture on clay or glass artwork; also used in some automotive work to remove rust. Don't buy one, find someone to let you use theirs to scuff up the glass plate and the bottom of the muller. 2) Glass Etchant cream - can be found in a lot of hobby/craft shops, it will frost the surface of the glass and the base of the muller, giving it a nice texture. Take care, can be toxic or acidic to skin so use gloves and a mask, follow instructions.
just the information i was look for after despsiring at the $70+ price tags across the board on professional mullers. I'm going to check out the thrift stores near me now THANK YOU!! 😺
Ralph Meyer's book "The Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques " originally published in 1940 reviews the mulling of pigments. His book covers many topics. Much of it many may consider minutia but if you are grinding your own pigments, it may contain information you may find helpful or at least interesting. Check your libraries? BTW I did not see any reference that oil pigments could not be mulled. It is possible i could have missed it. LOT"s of information. The cost of a '"real" muller had been a problem that i was trying to solve, for far less expensive. Thanks for the video. Well done..
You could probably use a paper weight? They come in good roundish shapes and you can get them in various other shapes and sizes! I had one with a perfect top part to hold on to.
When I saw the glass plate moving my immediate thought was to put a damp piece of paper towel between the glass and the surface of the table. I use this trick when I’m cutting stuff on a cutting board, it’s not the best solution but it will stop it from sliding everywhere and much cheaper than a non slip Mat!
exelent video. The "professional" stuf is unatural expensive. What you do was verry good. One thing..............the muller AND the glass plate must be flatten wisch each other. Thanks from Belgium.
Have you considered a glass paperweight which is also a ring holder - great for the weight and also comes with an inbuilt handle - if the ground base area is too small just grind it down with an electric sander.
I have come back to this video for a reference. You mentioned using beeswax. I have information this could make problems with the paint holding to the canvas. Odd Nerdrum, a Norwegian artist used beeswax in his early paintings and found after a few years the paint started to sag. In other words, the paint did not grip the canvas and started to run. Because his paintings are commercially sold, he had to reimburse many clients and repaint pictures. Because of this, i think it may be wise to only use linseed oil when making oil paints. I hope this will help.
I loved this video! Thank you for explaining it so nicely. Just one question, does it have to be glass? Cant we use any other material? Its very difficult to find glass material with a flat base.
I wonder if pickling / fermenting weights would work. They are round, heavy, glass, cheap, and have a handle… But I don’t know if the bottoms are smooth.
Limners Guild has small mullers for $30 plus shipping, but this video is great! Since I don't have the $30 bucks right now, this is a good alternative!
Thank you very much for your very helpful video. I would like to start make oil paint and in the beginning I don't want to spend too much. I would like to know where I can find this pigment, I am Brazilian, living in Portugal, and I didn't know it.
This video was great! Thank you so much for sharing your solution to the muller problem- I assume this would work for grinding pigments for watercolor paints as well? Even if not, this was a really helpful video, and I'm going to share it with all of my friends who make paint!
I've been finding an alternative for a glass muller too :D The only shop that sells glass mullers in the Philippines don't seem to restock that often so I'm left browsing Etsy (they have some, but the shipping costs made me frown). I thought of just using a glass cup with a flat bottom, but I like your idea more because your can get a more comfortable grip on your candle holder slash paint muller :))
The price of mullers is stupidly inflated! They have nothing special to justify what they charge. I also made one, with a glass, but recently I bought one in a store that sells materials for conservation and restoration, of a reasonable size and with an affordable price, less than 35 euros. It's better, I admit. I take much less time now. :)
Do I need to sand the glass and muller? I plan to make watercolor paints and just want to know if there is a difference if I leave them as is and aren't abraded.
Awesome video! Can you please do a swatch test and show it? I make soap and bath and body products and use Tunisian green clay, do you think that would be ok? I've been wanting to make my own paints for a while! 😁🌷
Yes green clay should work fine! And you can see swatches from all the different pigment videos I make - heres a link for one about brazilian clay since its the closest/ most relevant to your green clay ua-cam.com/video/GkL0W5ckJ6Y/v-deo.html
This was wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to create the video. Have you tried adding wax at all to any of your mixtures? I was thinking of a little cold wax I have on hand. Also a little turps to 'wet" the pigment before starting with the oil? thank you!
Thank you for the lovely comment :) yes ive considered beeswax but never really went through with it - turps would also make things so silky and nice. Im working on a public document compiling all this info that viewers like you have left here and im so excited to be able to share that/ have that be out there for everybody.
@@NadaMakes1 Hello Nada! I did it. I made the oil paint! I made a little mistake when I started and added retouch varnish (which has oil, turp and varnish) but it did no harm. Only a few drops. Then switched to the linseed oil. It was easy! I went outdoors and sanded my shot glass on the sidewalk. I used the backside of an old glass pallet which had some texture. (I'll show you a photo). I put the paint in a small make up container. I've since ordered empty aluminum tubes and a glass pallet. It is really an amazing feeling to make one's own paint! Your voiceover is very nice and I really appreciated your help in getting me started. I would love to receive something when you compile it! Be well, Lori facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10220736475576441&set=pb.1073564900.-2207520000..&type=3
@@NadaMakes1 Hi Nada - you mention the glass moving around. Cesar Santos has a solution for that @5:31 - a wetted paper towel: ua-cam.com/video/9gPOHcbfx4w/v-deo.html
I was actually pretty lucky and I found a tiny paint muller at goodwill for 99 cents. Which I don't need a big one anyway because I don't have that much pigment
Mortar and pestle is for grinding. Mulling is for distributing pigment evenly in a medium. Its like the difference between a blender and mixer. When you're trying to make cake batter, a blender can be used, technically, but a mixer is more useful.
@@NadaMakes1 to be honest the situation is like this... I have now to mortars, a big one of granite.. in this one i crush stones or ceramics i add a bit of water so it is like a paste and no dust in the air Then i have a smaler motar of cermic.. there i get a realy fine pigment i basicaly add some water and mill the dust until it is pigment like the fine starch powder.. i just mill it until it gets dry so i can put the pigment into a bottle So i store the pigments and a piece of its originating material The oigment i use in different ways.. like pan pastel for soft shades with nothing else and then fixative but also with gum arabica as watercolour I plan to make crayons too I also had luke with a gkas plate.. in a secondhand shop they had a big trash bin and there i saw a bid glas plate with vaccuumided rubber in all corners as feets.. and even much cooler.. the upper side is already grinded so that ir looks a bit milky and not transparen.. i think it was a table or maby for hot pans... i habe ask the seller if i can have thus trash and i got it for free I also found a glas to use as grinder.. this was a hard task.. i think i habe seen hunderts of glases in the secondhand shop.. now i feel like an specialist for glas... it took a while to find a glas with a realy plan bottom.. most were not perfect even or only at the boarders and in the center of the bottom rounded inwards.. what i have found seem not to be a drinkglas but maybe a vase tu put a flower in or maybe its for chemical stuff I used it once... Basicaly it worked.. but because the glasplate is grinded and the vase not it always left a bit pigment on the plate that keeps on the glas and can only cet washed out or as i did taken with a brush to test it I could lift the rubverfeets and turn the plate and the other side is plan But then i used the plate as to draw on it.. actualy i have a paper scotched on it and i can draw or put it away... The plate is realy handy also because light can come though it can be uses as grindplate as drawing plate or as light table.. hehe But most pigments i realy grinded with the two motars and then used the oigment as dry water color blocks... i mix the pigments with gum arabicum and let the paste dry in wide plastic lids fom pet bottles Amazing... we have a building out of sandstone and some brocken oarts were on the ground i grinded them t pigments and now i can paint the buildin on oaper with the original color from that building and if the picture gets old it will look still the same as the uilding because its the same materiak .. so it is exactly as lightfast as the building it self .. haha I also found parts of the red stones on the roof... its fantastic But a problem i have with grinded brown earth.. the pigment is light brown.. but with water it gets very dark and when dry again light.. its hard to figure out its real color while painting it As said i also pkan to do chalk pastels.. i have chalk but this gets very hard and you get crayons for kids to draw a clown onto the street.. its important to mix the chalk with talkum because talkum is not binding and nakes the crayon softer.. so i also boght cheap baby poudre... but i am absolute not happy with that.. i have to organize pure talkum because baby poudre realy stinks like baby poudre and i could not wash this nasty smell entirely out of it... i realy suggest to use pure talkum What may also could be interesting to you.. actualy i am on a camera lucida.. this is an amacing project too... you need a mirror and a transparent glas.. i took a mirror from trash and have cut it in shape and a broken glas from a picture frame... the box i actualy made with the paper from a pizza box.. just to try .. now i search for a nice plate of wood to make it pro... the angle of the glasplate seems to be important.. i think the optimal angle is below 45 degree.. but it depends on what you like to see and how you look into the box... and the box is also important to make it dark inside so the glas will realy turn into a half transparent mirror... there are some but not much camera lucida projects on youtube .. watch them to get familar with it.. i plan my woden box to be dynamic wiht the angle of the glasplate... check this out.. you will like it too ;))
i like your video and i was thinking about mooular because here in nepal this might not found suddenly you talk about candal holder and i feel very happy may be this will .hope so. thank you so much for this video. :).
I maybe short of a kangaroo in the top paddock, but I'm genuinely wanting to know the answer, so here's my question, why does the Muller have to be glass? Could something else be use? Cheers!
Glass isn't porous, and you can see through if their are any bubbles, normally mullers are made of borosilicate glass which is shatter and fire and heat resistant. Metal can be used but it's opaque and hard to see through if mixing same with ceramic and if it were to be dented or scraped that scrape would be permanent. I wouldn't give the muller any scratch coat so to prevent porosity and finer blending, grinding stones are second best option imo since they are used to grind pigment.
Muller is used for paints or water paint not for oils if you want to use it for oil painting then buy one because the texture of that paint doesn’t satisfy me but good idea anyways
This video got a little popular! Please wear a mask if you're going to be doing this! A proper respirator would be best but a regular fabric one is better than nothing. The dust particles (glass and pigments) are no good for your lungs. Good thing those are super available now.
And if you're extra concerned, You can also get everything wet with water before and while sanding so the particles don't go flying. Still wear a mask too.
You are extremelysmart and thrifty girl! Lol I just paid $40 for a 2.5" professional glass muller on eBay and paid $20 for a sandblasted quarter inch piece of glass for a grinding plate... Only because I plan on being an artist for life. Lol but your solutions we're legit and very thrifty. And I commend you for your ingenuity. And to be honest you're $2 muller Look to be working just fine.. Even with the $90 ones you will have to stop frequently to scrape off the paint around the edges. I don't think there is any escaping that ...I'm sure you have found this out in the past 4 years. Best of luck and happy painting . Wish I would have seen this video sooner though I probably would have went the cheaper route too lol
I found a cheap way to frost my tools, thought I’d share. I bought a diamond sharpening tool from harbor freight. $11 total cost. I filled my sink with water, gently buffed my glass plate and muller under the water, and after about 10 minutes both were frosted, flat, and kind of professional looking. Easy peasy.
Broke people: I've been waiting for this one, turn it up
Yay this makes me wanna make a broke art vid, ive picked up a few things since!
As a precaution, one should wear a mask that is made for handling powders for the pigment, but also for the grinding of the glass to avoid lung problems. It is very easy to inhale powder when handling the pigments. Even when you don't see or feel dust from the pigment it is floating in the air. That applies for glass particles as well since it can cause worse problems in your lungs that even the pigments could. Not just dust mask, but ones with filters that can catch powders that very fine in particle size (microns).
All good points. One specific delineation about her project in this video, she specifically used clay as her "pigment" most natural clays are just dirt. So the only real worry would be inhaling powderized dirt. Not fun, not suggested but not really dangerous.
You are totally right! Im sorry I didnt say anything about how sketch that was
Nada Makes now that I see my comment years later I feel like I should have preface it with, “I don’t mean to be a butthole”. I really didn’t mean it in a bad way, but now reading it it may have come off like that to some people. I just commented because I was just concerned about not only your lungs, but those if others that might try this method. I didn’t even realize you said the pigment was actually clay, but still any powder in the lungs is just not fun at all. Sorry if it maybe read a little mean, but I assure you it wasn’t meant that way at all!! Thanks for the reply though! 😉
sweet
@@tainadelcaribe
Thanks for this info. 1. Always wear a mask when working with particulate. 2. The broken edges on the base glass plate should be finely edged with any kind of tape, electricians' tape is ideal. 3. You can secure the plate to the table with tape, clamps or you an inexpensive soft rubber mat below. 4. Craft stores sell an inexpensive chemical glass froster, under $20, that you paint, leave and then wipe off. Surface will then have a fine tooth. 5. In the interest of safety (see 1), never sand glass dry, always wet, if using sand paper.
Brilliant frugal idea. You can also find an old discarded flat microwave glass tray if not cheap from yardsale or thrift store.
i've been looking for a cheaper alternative for a glass muller, and your ideas look great!
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH! I want to start making my own watercolors as an experiment, but mullers aren’t sold in my country, and shipping anything to my country is an additional fortune since the muller is usually really heavy. This is the perfect solution! I think I have in my house a couple of glass candleholders that are really heavy and hopefully have a flat base (either way, now I now what to look for even if I have to buy something) and the sandpaper trick is genius too! Thank you so much ☺️
This is the absolute BEST DIY, cost-effective art solution I've ever seen. Thank you for sharing!!
You can also use a coffee tamper in a pinch . Usually found in any restaurant supply store or cooking specialty store .
Thank you very much. Well explained, and you have a calming and clear voice for doing teaching videos.
one can also use a roughly semispherical stone with flat base, glass paper weight with flat base, small dumbbell with flat steel base, any marble article with flat circular base and many more...
Your video got me looking around the house and I found one of those candles with the silicone sealed rounded glass tops and it works well. Thank you so much!
I've made some out of drinking glasses with really, really thick bottoms and the narrowest foot (the part that holds it up off of the table) on the bottom I can get. Then I grind or sand paper off the foot so it's flat. Fill the glass with plaster of paris or just hold onto the drinking edge if the sides are thick.
Sanding the bottom is the time consuming part tho!
Lisa Wintler-Cox a dremel or fellow artgoer with a sander can definitely make that problem go away.
I’m going to be using this idea for my watercolor making and when I first looked up how much a real “ muller” was I nearly fell out of my chair your video was amazingly useful!!! I also might try an old wine glass 🍷 and maybe take the top off and use the bottom!!:) your video has legitimately inspired me thank you😊 🙏🏻
Ah im so happy to hear this, literally the reason i made the video! Happy mulling :)
I bout fell out of my chair too… even eBay is off the charts..$$$!
I'm so glad that I came across your video! Thank you so so sooo much for making this video! I want to make my own watercolor paints. In my country nobody sells glass muller. I bought all the pigments internationally. I even bought the muller that they use for making medicine. But it didn't work. The paint didn't become smooth but the muller got smooth instead :D I have a perfume bottle with a flat base, I couldn't find silicon carbide and I didn't think the sandpaper would work. I didn't even try it. I think I'm gonna cry a little bit then try your version. :.D These are happy tears don't worry.
Ah I had the same problem when I came up with the idea, im so glad it solved a problem for you! Did you end up trying it out? did it work??
@@NadaMakes1 I'm gonna try it soon. I'll tell you how it goes :)
Helpful video but no smooth texture in. The machine is essential for a perfect paint. It is necessary to deal with muller for 5 hours for 10 g of paint. Thanks for share!
good idea. i tryed rolling an ordinary glass (of water) over the mix on top of a ceramic tile. it worked pretty well. i was making watercolour paint from a red rock i found close to a waterfall. the final result was a smooth and fine paste with a beautiful colour.
Ooo that seems like an even more convenient fix! Will def try out I do enjoy simple effective things :)
This is great. I'm definitely gonna try this once I get into oil paints! Mullers are hella expensive where I live, too. But we have no shortage of thrift shops. Thanks for sharing!
So for the glass plate why not get some of the small rubber disks that are stuck onto furniture feet to protect the floor from scratching. Simple peel off paper and press on application, cheap and come in a few sizes. Made durable enough to handle heavy sofas being dragged around and will only move if you lift it off the table (in your case). And no having to remember an extra item - like when you use a towel or similar.
Keep up the great videos - WONDERFUL to have info without the subscribe / like irritation.
So glad I did this search and came across this video! I've been looking for a much cheaper substitute for a traditional/expensive mueller. I too looked on Amazon and came across a couple of things I thought might be good substitutes but haven't purchased/tried them yet. One was a fat round glass tea candle holder. Another is a coffee/expresso tamper. I don't plan to use whatever I find/use with oil paints but with pigments for textile dying and watercolour paints... I hadn't thought of using a flat-solid bottom glass candle holder. Great idea! Also try using still wool pads to "grit up" the glass plate surface.
Definitely always use a good thick face mask or respirator (from a hardware store) to protect your lungs and blood stream from the pigment dust.
Thanx!!!
Instead of sand paper, one can also use valve grinding paste (use the finer stuff, not the course) which is available for very little money at any automotive store.
I used a $10 (Amazon) 1/2" thick photo paperweight (2" X 3" rectangular piece of glass with smooth edges and a flat bottom) with a shot glass superglued to the top for a handle. Works perfectly. The paperweights are also available on Etsy and various other sites.
i would doubt that the crazy glue would hold up when grinding really tough pigments with little oil.
Alternative to sandpaper on the glass surfaces: 1) Sandblaster - some art studios use sandblasters to create texture on clay or glass artwork; also used in some automotive work to remove rust. Don't buy one, find someone to let you use theirs to scuff up the glass plate and the bottom of the muller. 2) Glass Etchant cream - can be found in a lot of hobby/craft shops, it will frost the surface of the glass and the base of the muller, giving it a nice texture. Take care, can be toxic or acidic to skin so use gloves and a mask, follow instructions.
This is awesome! Ill compile it into a doc im making full of all our collective knowledge, thank you :)
just the information i was look for after despsiring at the $70+ price tags across the board on professional mullers. I'm going to check out the thrift stores near me now THANK YOU!! 😺
Ralph Meyer's book "The Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques " originally published in 1940 reviews the mulling of pigments. His book covers many topics. Much of it many may consider minutia but if you are grinding your own pigments, it may contain information you may find helpful or at least interesting. Check your libraries?
BTW I did not see any reference that oil pigments could not be mulled. It is possible i could have missed it. LOT"s of information.
The cost of a '"real" muller had been a problem that i was trying to solve, for far less expensive. Thanks for the video. Well done..
You could probably use a paper weight? They come in good roundish shapes and you can get them in various other shapes and sizes! I had one with a perfect top part to hold on to.
When I saw the glass plate moving my immediate thought was to put a damp piece of paper towel between the glass and the surface of the table. I use this trick when I’m cutting stuff on a cutting board, it’s not the best solution but it will stop it from sliding everywhere and much cheaper than a non slip Mat!
exelent video. The "professional" stuf is unatural expensive. What you do was verry good. One thing..............the muller AND the glass plate must be flatten wisch each other. Thanks from Belgium.
thank you! I also was thinking of looking for some holders in a dollar store (want to try to make metallic watercolors, a newbie though ))
Brilliant. Thanks Nadia
Excellent info for an enameller also. Thank you.
Have you considered a glass paperweight which is also a ring holder - great for the weight and also comes with an inbuilt handle - if the ground base area is too small just grind it down with an electric sander.
I have come back to this video for a reference. You mentioned using beeswax. I have information this could make problems with the paint holding to the canvas. Odd Nerdrum, a Norwegian artist used beeswax in his early paintings and found after a few years the paint started to sag. In other words, the paint did not grip the canvas and started to run. Because his paintings are commercially sold, he had to reimburse many clients and repaint pictures. Because of this, i think it may be wise to only use linseed oil when making oil paints. I hope this will help.
Get a Dremel or a driller and get a metal brush attachment to sand the glass.
Thats a great idea, thanks!
I dont find it awful at all! Also you did such great work! The build-up on the sides will happen with all mullers 😅
I loved this video! Thank you for explaining it so nicely. Just one question, does it have to be glass? Cant we use any other material? Its very difficult to find glass material with a flat base.
totally going to try this out! thank you!
I wonder if pickling / fermenting weights would work. They are round, heavy, glass, cheap, and have a handle… But I don’t know if the bottoms are smooth.
What about using coffee tamper as a muller 🤔 will that work? 😊
You can find ultra fine silicon carbide (and lots of other inorganic chemicals for pigments) in bulk from almost any ceramics artist supply company.
Amaaazing, this is exactly what I've been looking for, thank you sooo much!!!!
Glad it was helpful!
this video was really helpful, thanks!
Glad it was helpful! thanks :)
A damp piece of paper will stop the glass plate from sliding. Thank you for the tips.
Limners Guild has small mullers for $30 plus shipping, but this video is great! Since I don't have the $30 bucks right now, this is a good alternative!
Nada....PURE GENIUS! Thanks for the great idea.
Ah thank you
Loved watching this. Thank you for taking your time to share with everyone/
You are so welcome! Im glad you enjoyed it :)
Thank you for the tips!
Thank you very much for your very helpful video. I would like to start make oil paint and in the beginning I don't want to spend too much. I would like to know where I can find this pigment, I am Brazilian, living in Portugal, and I didn't know it.
Nice ideas!👍🏼
This video was great! Thank you so much for sharing your solution to the muller problem- I assume this would work for grinding pigments for watercolor paints as well? Even if not, this was a really helpful video, and I'm going to share it with all of my friends who make paint!
Buy some no skid pads from the furniture isle of your local store. It’ll keep the glass plate from sliding around while you’re mulling
Thank you for giving me some nice ideas=3Gotta go thrifting=3
This is so amazing thank you!
brilliant ideas thanks
Thank you for this, all the tips and tricks are really helpful for a poor artist! 😅
You're so welcome!
I love this so much!
I've been finding an alternative for a glass muller too :D The only shop that sells glass mullers in the Philippines don't seem to restock that often so I'm left browsing Etsy (they have some, but the shipping costs made me frown). I thought of just using a glass cup with a flat bottom, but I like your idea more because your can get a more comfortable grip on your candle holder slash paint muller :))
The price of mullers is stupidly inflated! They have nothing special to justify what they charge. I also made one, with a glass, but recently I bought one in a store that sells materials for conservation and restoration, of a reasonable size and with an affordable price, less than 35 euros. It's better, I admit. I take much less time now. :)
Do I need to sand the glass and muller? I plan to make watercolor paints and just want to know if there is a difference if I leave them as is and aren't abraded.
It really helps add more shearing force if its sanded! otherwise it just pushes things around a bit too much and not mix them fully
This is a pretty late to the party comment but for anyone who is interested silicone carbide grit is sold as rock tumbling grit usually the 60/90 one
Awesome video! Can you please do a swatch test and show it? I make soap and bath and body products and use Tunisian green clay, do you think that would be ok? I've been wanting to make my own paints for a while! 😁🌷
Yes green clay should work fine! And you can see swatches from all the different pigment videos I make - heres a link for one about brazilian clay since its the closest/ most relevant to your green clay ua-cam.com/video/GkL0W5ckJ6Y/v-deo.html
Wow, you have really helped me! Grazie mille!
This was wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to create the video. Have you tried adding wax at all to any of your mixtures? I was thinking of a little cold wax I have on hand. Also a little turps to 'wet" the pigment before starting with the oil? thank you!
Thank you for the lovely comment :) yes ive considered beeswax but never really went through with it - turps would also make things so silky and nice. Im working on a public document compiling all this info that viewers like you have left here and im so excited to be able to share that/ have that be out there for everybody.
@@NadaMakes1 Hello Nada! I did it. I made the oil paint! I made a little mistake when I started and added retouch varnish (which has oil, turp and varnish) but it did no harm. Only a few drops. Then switched to the linseed oil. It was easy! I went outdoors and sanded my shot glass on the sidewalk. I used the backside of an old glass pallet which had some texture. (I'll show you a photo). I put the paint in a small make up container. I've since ordered empty aluminum tubes and a glass pallet. It is really an amazing feeling to make one's own paint! Your voiceover is very nice and I really appreciated your help in getting me started. I would love to receive something when you compile it! Be well, Lori facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10220736475576441&set=pb.1073564900.-2207520000..&type=3
@@NadaMakes1 Hi Nada - you mention the glass moving around. Cesar Santos has a solution for that @5:31 - a wetted paper towel: ua-cam.com/video/9gPOHcbfx4w/v-deo.html
I was actually pretty lucky and I found a tiny paint muller at goodwill for 99 cents. Which I don't need a big one anyway because I don't have that much pigment
Let me know when you find the solution of the moving glass.
Ive been using those things you put under carpets, been working fantastically great
You are a god send
Why can't you use a marble mortar and pestle?
I just ordered a small glass one to try, but its not the same because one probably does not a flat surface area to do the job efficiently and evenly.
Mortar and pestle is for grinding. Mulling is for distributing pigment evenly in a medium. Its like the difference between a blender and mixer.
When you're trying to make cake batter, a blender can be used, technically, but a mixer is more useful.
Cool.. i will do this.. i am facing the same problem and have acces to the same solution
Did it end up working for you?
@@NadaMakes1 to be honest the situation is like this...
I have now to mortars, a big one of granite.. in this one i crush stones or ceramics i add a bit of water so it is like a paste and no dust in the air
Then i have a smaler motar of cermic.. there i get a realy fine pigment i basicaly add some water and mill the dust until it is pigment like the fine starch powder.. i just mill it until it gets dry so i can put the pigment into a bottle
So i store the pigments and a piece of its originating material
The oigment i use in different ways.. like pan pastel for soft shades with nothing else and then fixative but also with gum arabica as watercolour
I plan to make crayons too
I also had luke with a gkas plate.. in a secondhand shop they had a big trash bin and there i saw a bid glas plate with vaccuumided rubber in all corners as feets.. and even much cooler.. the upper side is already grinded so that ir looks a bit milky and not transparen.. i think it was a table or maby for hot pans... i habe ask the seller if i can have thus trash and i got it for free
I also found a glas to use as grinder.. this was a hard task.. i think i habe seen hunderts of glases in the secondhand shop.. now i feel like an specialist for glas... it took a while to find a glas with a realy plan bottom.. most were not perfect even or only at the boarders and in the center of the bottom rounded inwards.. what i have found seem not to be a drinkglas but maybe a vase tu put a flower in or maybe its for chemical stuff
I used it once...
Basicaly it worked.. but because the glasplate is grinded and the vase not it always left a bit pigment on the plate that keeps on the glas and can only cet washed out or as i did taken with a brush to test it
I could lift the rubverfeets and turn the plate and the other side is plan
But then i used the plate as to draw on it.. actualy i have a paper scotched on it and i can draw or put it away...
The plate is realy handy also because light can come though it can be uses as grindplate as drawing plate or as light table.. hehe
But most pigments i realy grinded with the two motars and then used the oigment as dry water color blocks... i mix the pigments with gum arabicum and let the paste dry in wide plastic lids fom pet bottles
Amazing... we have a building out of sandstone and some brocken oarts were on the ground i grinded them t pigments and now i can paint the buildin on oaper with the original color from that building and if the picture gets old it will look still the same as the uilding because its the same materiak .. so it is exactly as lightfast as the building it self .. haha
I also found parts of the red stones on the roof... its fantastic
But a problem i have with grinded brown earth.. the pigment is light brown.. but with water it gets very dark and when dry again light.. its hard to figure out its real color while painting it
As said i also pkan to do chalk pastels.. i have chalk but this gets very hard and you get crayons for kids to draw a clown onto the street.. its important to mix the chalk with talkum because talkum is not binding and nakes the crayon softer.. so i also boght cheap baby poudre... but i am absolute not happy with that.. i have to organize pure talkum because baby poudre realy stinks like baby poudre and i could not wash this nasty smell entirely out of it... i realy suggest to use pure talkum
What may also could be interesting to you.. actualy i am on a camera lucida.. this is an amacing project too... you need a mirror and a transparent glas.. i took a mirror from trash and have cut it in shape and a broken glas from a picture frame... the box i actualy made with the paper from a pizza box.. just to try .. now i search for a nice plate of wood to make it pro... the angle of the glasplate seems to be important.. i think the optimal angle is below 45 degree.. but it depends on what you like to see and how you look into the box... and the box is also important to make it dark inside so the glas will realy turn into a half transparent mirror... there are some but not much camera lucida projects on youtube .. watch them to get familar with it.. i plan my woden box to be dynamic wiht the angle of the glasplate... check this out.. you will like it too ;))
i like your video and i was thinking about mooular because here in nepal this might not found suddenly you talk about candal holder and i feel very happy may be this will .hope so. thank you so much for this video. :).
Aw im really really happy to hear that it was useful for you! Id had the same problem :)
Thanks for sharing your annovative aidea
i love it
fan from vietnam
I maybe short of a kangaroo in the top paddock, but I'm genuinely wanting to know the answer, so here's my question, why does the Muller have to be glass? Could something else be use? Cheers!
I think they use glass because glass doesn't react to most chemicals, so as ceramic
Plastic Muller are available gio but of you bond pigments with fat tempera, that can contains turpentine or petrol or White spirit,
It can demage plastic
Glass isn't porous, and you can see through if their are any bubbles, normally mullers are made of borosilicate glass which is shatter and fire and heat resistant. Metal can be used but it's opaque and hard to see through if mixing same with ceramic and if it were to be dented or scraped that scrape would be permanent. I wouldn't give the muller any scratch coat so to prevent porosity and finer blending, grinding stones are second best option imo since they are used to grind pigment.
It doesn't have to be glass but it has to be hard and durable. Marble and similar hard rocks are also used for mulling paint.
yeah...glass mullers are so expensive
AlO2 mullers are so much cheaper and have a hardness of 9, but you'd better use them on AlO2 surface.
What is AIO2
I bought a cheap small one on aliexpress for some 10 dollars.
Muller is used for paints or water paint not for oils if you want to use it for oil painting then buy one because the texture of that paint doesn’t satisfy me but good idea anyways
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