Description
BlackBlackWhite set consists of 3 different blacks and one white half-pan in a tin – Mars Black (PB11), Pyrolusite (PBk14) Shungite (PBk6), and Zinc oxide white (PW4).
Mars black is the heaviest of all blacks – this makes it strongly granulating black on watercolor paper.
I am Mars Black. Some call me Black Iron oxide and my code word for some is Fe3O4. I am the heaviest black and this makes me the King of Granulation. I can granulate everything. This is my superpower. Add me to any color, to any mix and I will make it look alive and mysterious.
Pyrolusite is the softest and most transparent of all blacks. It allows muting any color softly.
I have been with humans since Neanderthal times. They used me for starting a fire. And of course for decorating their home walls in caves. I am silky and flowing on paper but remember that I can start a fire. The fire of love in your heart. I am pyrolusite.
Shungite is the blackest of all – truly black when you need it.
I am Shungite from Karelia, Russia. Artists call me also carbon black. Karelian people use me in healing – they say I am 2 million years old and can give you the positive energy from the eternity old rocks. And Peter the Great established the first SPA in Russia in Karelia due to my purifying power. Now I am getting ready to travel around the world and who knows I might purify your palettes and art.
Zinc Oxide white allows muting any color to the white making it less intense and giving a soft pastel feel.
My name is Zinc. Zinc Oxide. I am as old as civilization. I am mentioned in ancient Greek writings as a medicine and the first pills found on the Roman ship Relitto del Pozzino, wrecked in 140 BC were made of the zinc carbonates hydrozincite and smithsonite. Now you can find me in breakfast cereals as a mineral. But before that medieval alchemists burned me in the air to create philosophers’ wool. Don’t ask what it is. Ah. Yes. Paints. I was first mulled into painting only around 1835 as Chinese white. Since then every notable artist has used zinc white – including Van Gogh, Munch, Picasso, and Malevich. In other words, and I don’t want to sound too lofty, I don’t understand how you could survive without me so long. Yes, I am a part of winter bird mixes but you all need a bit of good old medicine. Especially during the avitaminosis period in spring.
Mixes nicely with other natural and human-made pigments. For best performance add a few drops of water some minutes before starting to work with it. It will reactivate the pigment and will be more fluid.
All our watercolors are handmade from pigment or pigment mixes, binders, and essential oils as conservative. The vegan binder is made by ourselves from gum arabic, vegetable glycerin, and water. Our watercolors have a flowery scent, with lemongrass as the top note and sandalwood in the base note.