The Aboriginals managed to find a way to makes most colours of paint, all from natural methods as this is all they had at their disposal at the time.
To make all of their paints, the aboriginals had to find a base to mix the colours with, in order for the pigments to be easy to use and spread, but also to help the colouring stick to things.
For this, they used some ingredients that today we would never even dream of using, such as bodily fluids like saliva and blood, or thick liquids they could obtain from nature such as eggs and tree sap.
I have made a list of the materials they used to make each colour:
- Green - different types of plants to make different shades.
- Black - charcoal
- White - clay chalk and ash
- Red/orange/brown - ochre, this was found in rocks stained by iron.
As a school project, I remember that we had to make paint made from natural substances, and they worked surprisingly well!
