Colour can become part of the material rather than something applied afterwards. Pigment is added to the wet mix, so the colour runs through the whole object — chip an edge and the colour is still there underneath.
That changes how you work. You are not painting a finished piece, you are deciding the colour before the object exists.
Making a colour test
Never colour something you care about first. Colour a small tile, and learn what the pigment does.
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Fix everything except the colour
Same ratio, same mould, same total weight, same mixing style. If two variables change, a test tells you nothing.
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Add pigment to the water, not the powder
Disperse the pigment into the measured water and mix it through before the powder goes in. It distributes far more evenly than adding it to a mix that has already come together.
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Mix thoroughly, then stop
Streaks mean the pigment has not dispersed. Keep mixing until the colour is even — and then stop, because extra mixing is extra air.
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Pour, set and demould as normal
Nothing about the process changes because there is colour in it.
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Label the tile
Write the pigment, the amount and the ratio on the back of the piece or on a tag beside it. An unlabelled test tile is a nice object and a useless record.
Colour changes as it dries
A wet mix and a dry piece do not read the same. Mineral materials generally lighten as they lose moisture, so a colour judged in the container will not be the colour you end up holding.
Judge colour only on a fully dry test piece, in daylight, next to whatever the object will live beside. This is why the test tile exists.
Building a palette rather than picking a colour
- Two colours teach more than one
- A single colour tells you what that pigment does. Two, cast side by side in the same form, tell you how the palette behaves — which is what you actually need for a set of objects.
- Partial mixing is a technique, not a mistake
- Stopping short of full dispersion gives movement through the body of a piece. Done deliberately and recorded, that is marbling.
- Keep an offcut library
- A shelf of labelled test tiles becomes the most useful thing in your workspace within about a month.
Questions people ask
Can I colour a piece after it has set?
You can treat the surface, but that is a different result. Pigment in the mix colours the whole body; anything applied afterwards sits on top and behaves like a coating — it can wear, and a chip shows the material underneath.
Why is my colour uneven through the piece?
Almost always incomplete dispersion. Adding pigment to the water before the powder, and mixing until the colour is genuinely even, fixes most of it.
It can also happen if a coloured mix is poured in two stages with a pause between them.
Can I mix two pigments together?
Yes, and it is the fastest way to get a colour that is yours rather than ours. Record the proportions — an unrepeatable colour you love is a frustrating thing to own.
Will the colour fade?
Lightfastness testing is not complete, so we are not making a durability claim. Until it is, treat coloured pieces as you would any decorative object and keep them out of continuous direct sunlight.
