Renee from Spokane WA asks USAQ Sue,  “Do you make your own watercolors or if they are imported?”

Yes Renee. USArtQuest makes our watercolors…from scratch!  In fact, those who have known us for years, knows that we used to teach how to make them.  But, we knew that if we made them for you, we could control the ingredients and quality of the product. We began making them about 7 years ago, and continue to develop new colors and  new varieties of watercolor, even now.

It all begins in the powder room. There are buckets and buckets and boxes and boxes…as well as a few drums of beautiful raw materials.  These are the various pigments, sparkling mica pigments, as well as other dry and wet ingredients.  Each one is carefully weighed, measured, then mixed to make each color. We often make smaller batches to test colors.  

Here are a few test buckets of color, from the metallic palette line.

Palettes are made in the assembly area, and here are ‘trays’ of palettes all set out. They have received labels on the bottom and are waiting for the watercolors.

The first color has been poured and there are nine more to follow.  It is a laborious process.  We could use a more mechanized process, but we made a business decision many years ago to keep as many people employed as possible.  While we have a few real ‘tools’, the process is all handmade and hand poured.

After all the colors are poured, the trays are moved into a heat/humidity controlled room. We  weigh the palettes to find out if they are properly dried. 

After drying, they require their lid and label before casing them for shipments. This Stargazer palette is one of five different palettes made.

 To find out more about our watercolor palettes, please go to www.usartquest.com and look for projects using them, and technical sheets with lots of good info about using our watercolors. 

Thanks for the great question. I look forward to hearing more, so don’t forget to write.