Gamblin's Reclaimed Earth Colors Set

Reclaiming mine waste into a set of fantastic colors

---

I promised I'd write more about Gamblin's Reclaimed Earth Colors set. As you may recall, the pigments in this set are reclaimed from contaminated water from mining operations—an intensive and probably expensive process. Gamblin details the process on this page (which I encourage you to read in its entirety, as it's a fascinating story):

The process begins with collecting contaminated water in large tanks. To neutralize the water’s acidity, a base is added, then oxygen. This causes the dissolved iron to crystallize and settle. The result: clean water on top and non-toxic iron oxide pigment on the bottom. The clean water is returned to the river where it is safe for aquatic life and the iron oxides are dried into lightfast and safe artist pigment. The pigment is heated to various temperatures to achieve each color.

The set includes three luscious colors. Each resembles colors you are familiar with—they are, after all, earth colors. Rust Red resembles burnt sienna; Burnt Ochre, burnt umber; and Iron Violet, what I would say is a tone of burnt umber. Here's each color, presented first as its masstone, followed by a tint, using titanium-zinc white: