Several weeks ago, in my newsletter, I mentioned wanting to make my own watercolor paints using this recipe, but using a custom-made box for a travel set. Well, I did it. I bought a couple different plastic hinge-lidded containers, the kind that click shut. One was a bobbin case and the other a pencil box. I made additional dividers by hot gluing in pieces of plastic from washed-out food containers. Then I mixed the paint base and poured it into the compartments. Right away I could tell that I should have spent more time gluing because the paint base was getting through. I kept going anyway. I added the food coloring to each compartment and mixed it with a plastic stick. The clear containers made it easy to see where I needed to keep stirring. I filled each compartment to within a millimeter or two of the top, and I'm so glad I did. By the time the paints were set and the excess liquid on the top soaked up with paper towels (a fun art project in itself), it was actually much lower. There was a little color mixing because of the gaps, but it wasn't too bad.
Goen and I did a test of the paints yesterday. They look pretty good. A couple of the colors weren't as dark as I would have liked, so next time I will add more food coloring to those. It's really trial and error with this if you're not measuring precisely and keeping notes (which I'm not). The pencil box set is our at-home set and holds several paintbrushes. The bobbin case is my travel set to take to the park or wherever. I'm still trying to figure out how to make my own paintbrushes that can unscrew to go in the case and then screw back together and be long enough to use. I'll let you know what I come up with. In the meantime, definitely give this watercolor activity a try.