Non-toxic (edible?) Watercolor Palette

[nickej]

I was reading through some of the discussion regarding disposal of wastewater, and my question is related but different. I'm looking for a list of watercolor pigments that are as environmentally neutral as possible. I'm going to be sketching in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks and I can't be certain it will be possible to dispose of water in a totally responsible way.

Some of the colors are obvious--siennas, ochres, iron-black, titanium white--but I'm looking for as broad a palette as possible within the constraints of, well, edible or nearly so. The place I'm going to has rivers that are an opaque and vivid blue from all the dissolved copper salts, so I'm looking for as broad and bright a range as possible. Heck, if I hunt hard enough, I could probably make my own paint from the riverbanks, but a little more convenience would be good.

Any suggestions?

[AMIEN]

I was reading through some of the discussion regarding disposal of wastewater, and my question is related but different. I'm looking for a list of watercolor pigments that are as environmentally neutral as possible. I'm going to be sketching in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks and I can't be certain it will be possible to dispose of water in a totally responsible way.

Some of the colors are obvious--siennas, ochres, iron-black, titanium white--but I'm looking for as broad a palette as possible within the constraints of, well, edible or nearly so. The place I'm going to has rivers that are an opaque and vivid blue from all the dissolved copper salts, so I'm looking for as broad and bright a range as possible. Heck, if I hunt hard enough, I could probably make my own paint from the riverbanks, but a little more convenience would be good.

Any suggestions?

nickej,

What an interesting question ... but one with no easy answer.

In our stumbles around the web, we've come across companies that make totally "green" artists' materials. You might try to Google various terms related to that.

But we have to say we wouldn't eat a paint no matter what -- because unless we make it ourselves we have little idea of what else a manufacturer might put in one. We do know, for instance, that mildewcides and/or preservatives are used in water-based paints: would you eat that?

We have a suggestion: Use the colors you want to use, don't eat them, and don't worry too much about them. You will be using a vanishingly small amount. If you want to be totally friendly to the environment, carry a plastic bottle into which you can empty your wash water for safe-keeping until you can get to some city; there, find a government office that will tell you how to safely dispose of the waste. You may find that where you are, no one cares much about that, but you never know -- at the least, someone will appreciate your care.

A second suggestion: Use only "earth colors," including a bluish black, and make studies that have extensive written notes about the actual hues you're looking at. Back home, use the brighter colors. "Bright" is a relative term, anyway: Something looks bright when it's next to something that's dull. You could also keep that in mind.

[llawrence]

The trip to Costa Rica has probably come and gone by now, but it might be worthwhile for those of us interested in more sustainable art materials to expand on this subject.

The earths, iron oxides and titanium white mentioned are all pigments that might be called "edible-safe" (except for the umbers, manganese oxides). Titanium white is used in toothpaste, sunscreen and lip gloss. Some other possible inclusions in the list:

Bone or ivory black should be fine.

Ultramarine blue as I understand has actually been approved for use in food: that blue icing on birthday cakes is generally ultramarine. There are other ultramarines as well, green, violet and pink.

Homemade lake pigments, such as those made from madder, cochineal or weld should be safe - cochineal is another substance approved by the FDA for use in food. However, as Amien mentioned, you never know what other ingredients might be included in commercial artists colors. In watercolors Winsor & Newton makes a rose madder genuine, and Sennelier makes a carmine genuine (cochineal), but both may contain tin, which is toxic. (In the case of the Sennelier carmine genuine, I'm fairly certain of it due to the paint's hue and brightness.)

Chromium oxide and viridian, though made from the very toxic potassium dichromate, are in their pigment form chromium(iii), which is stable and is included in nutritional supplements. (This one I'm less sure of, but they should be safe enough.)

Zinc oxide is used in calamine lotion and in supplements. Non-toxic. Chalk also works as a less-opaque white in watercolors.

Some odd ones:

Egyptian blue, though made from copper, is supposed to be extremely stable and insoluble.

Maya blue, natural and also very stable, would be a perfect choice for Costa Rica! Natural indigo by itself would be fine too.

(Prussian blue I'm not sure of, since it does contain cyanide. It's supposed to be stable and insoluble, but I've read a couple of chemists disagree about the reliability of that - and if heated sufficiently, it will release cyanide gas. Just for fun I think I'd keep it off the list, but some might consider it acceptably non-toxic.)

One could have a fairly full gamut of colors if one were willing to make some sacrifices in the lightfastness department, especially in the reds and yellows. Of course, if one were merely making sketches and comps for later work, that shouldn't be a problem at all!

None of this is meant to be taken as a suggestion to grab a tube of paint and down the hatch. As I think the original poster intended, edibility might simply be a rough guideline to the general ecological toxicity of substances. Any other colors I missed?

[AMIEN]

The trip to Costa Rica has probably come and gone by now, but it might be worthwhile for those of us interested in more sustainable art materials to expand on this subject.

The earths, iron oxides and titanium white mentioned are all pigments that might be called "edible-safe" (except for the umbers, manganese oxides). Titanium white is used in toothpaste, sunscreen and lip gloss. Some other possible inclusions in the list:

Bone or ivory black should be fine.

Ultramarine blue as I understand has actually been approved for use in food: that blue icing on birthday cakes is generally ultramarine. There are other ultramarines as well, green, violet and pink.

Homemade lake pigments, such as those made from madder, cochineal or weld should be safe - cochineal is another substance approved by the FDA for use in food. However, as Amien mentioned, you never know what other ingredients might be included in commercial artists colors. In watercolors Winsor & Newton makes a rose madder genuine, and Sennelier makes a carmine genuine (cochineal), but both may contain tin, which is toxic. (In the case of the Sennelier carmine genuine, I'm fairly certain of it due to the paint's hue and brightness.)

Chromium oxide and viridian, though made from the very toxic potassium dichromate, are in their pigment form chromium(iii), which is stable and is included in nutritional supplements. (This one I'm less sure of, but they should be safe enough.)

Zinc oxide is used in calamine lotion and in supplements. Non-toxic. Chalk also works as a less-opaque white in watercolors.

Some odd ones:

Egyptian blue, though made from copper, is supposed to be extremely stable and insoluble.

Maya blue, natural and also very stable, would be a perfect choice for Costa Rica! Natural indigo by itself would be fine too.

(Prussian blue I'm not sure of, since it does contain cyanide. It's supposed to be stable and insoluble, but I've read a couple of chemists disagree about the reliability of that - and if heated sufficiently, it will release cyanide gas. Just for fun I think I'd keep it off the list, but some might consider it acceptably non-toxic.)

One could have a fairly full gamut of colors if one were willing to make some sacrifices in the lightfastness department, especially in the reds and yellows. Of course, if one were merely making sketches and comps for later work, that shouldn't be a problem at all!

None of this is meant to be taken as a suggestion to grab a tube of paint and down the hatch. As I think the original poster intended, edibility might simply be a rough guideline to the general ecological toxicity of substances. Any other colors I missed?

llawrence,

We have only two comments. 1.) "Non-toxic" is an unregulated term -- no law defines it. We abhor its use.
2.) Don't eat your paints!

[llawrence]

Okay, how about "less toxic" then? That doesn't seem like too abhorrent a phrase…

As I think I mentioned above, it isn't about eating paint - I'm sure most of us haven't done that since preschool or so - it's about which pigments one could feel comfortable with not having a particular disposal procedure. For instance, if one were traveling to the bush in Costa Rica and wanted to feel okay about dumping brush water.

I like your point about fungicides and preservatives - to be really sure you'd want to make and tube your own paint, or only use companies that specifically state that they don't use such.

[AMIEN]

Okay, how about "less toxic" then? That doesn't seem like too abhorrent a phrase…

As I think I mentioned above, it isn't about eating paint - I'm sure most of us haven't done that since preschool or so - it's about which pigments one could feel comfortable with not having a particular disposal procedure. For instance, if one were traveling to the bush in Costa Rica and wanted to feel okay about dumping brush water.

I like your point about fungicides and preservatives - to be really sure you'd want to make and tube your own paint, or only use companies that specifically state that they don't use such.

llawrence,

Here's the problem: define "toxic." In order to do that, we'd have to analyze the entire product and, separately, each of its components. No manufacturer does that, nor do they want to because of the cost. Nor do they want "non-toxic" to be regulated, since school systems demand that products for their schools be labeled "non-toxic," and US and international school systems are the largest market for art materials. We just don't like using the term without this sort of explanation. Gives one pause, yes?

The best we could say about the toxicity of materials, to us or the environment, is "until testing is done, we don't know." That is why we advise artists to treat all their studio waste products as harmful to the environment.

" ... [I]f one were traveling to the bush in Costa Rica and wanted to feel okay about dumping brush water. ... " that would be an individual decision. At the great dilution of colorants with water in that case, it probably wouldn't matter. But we'd carry an extra plastic bottle ...

As for preservatives and fungicides, we'd have to ask the companies because they don't normally put out that kind of information. Some preservatives are OK.