Ahh.. drat.It's still soft. And not pretty at all. I'll see how it develops over timeI'll try again eventually...View attachment 81384
A tip, both oxides and ultramarines are trickier to incorporate than micas. You might try some color experimenting with smaller cavity molds. If you use a palette knife and a piece of smooth glass or acrylic, and mix the powder with just a little oil, you can really smush out all the little lumps. I used to only incorporate oxides this way, I didn’t think it would work with ultramarines, but it does. (Thank you @Mobjack Bay!) I’ve been doing color experimenting with oxides and ultramarines all winter, 50 g samples, and have been having a lot of fun. My goal is to get reproducible results. A couple examples here. The numbers are percentages of colorant by weight as a portion of the oil. The codes are probably self explanatory - but in case not they are
UMPUR - purple ultramarine -
UMB - blue ultramarine -
TD - titanium dioxide
HCO - hydrated chromium oxide.
I make sixteen samples at a time, because I found two molds at goodwill of this shape with eight cavities each and I just like them. I use a base color, like the blue ultramarine, and mix enough for all sixteen, and then vary the other colorants by tiny amounts. A jewelers scale is necessary to measure hundredths or grams.
Oh - for oxides, I premix them in small bottles at a 3:1 ratio with oil and a drop of vitamin E to try to prevent rancidity. I add a stainless nut or two to help mix when I shake them. That way when I’m adding (for example) .05% of titanium dioxide I’m not measuring minuscule amounts of TD and mixing them.
Keep experimenting.
