We are taking the rest of the month off for the holidays! If you place your order now it will be filled after the first of the year. Thank you! Dismiss
(Domestic) packages ready to send, from us to you!
Dear Friends,
We have just completed a major update of our international shipping rates. The changes reflect new postal rates as of 2021, and a shift to US Postal Service International Priority Mail Express as our preferred means of shipping our products to other countries. This change enables us to provide insurance for larger shipments (limited under regular International Priority Mail), and to continue to provide service to a number of countries, such as Australia, where the USPS has suspended non-express mail services due to the pandemic’s impact on the global transportation network. We also believe this service will allow packages to be delivered more quickly.
Of course, this means, our international shipping prices will be changing. However, we’ve found that adding detail to our tables and using more up-to-date information means that in many cases, we can charge less for shipping larger orders than we did before despite the upgrade in service. So if you’ve been holding back on ordering things you need for your fall and winter projects, this might be good news all round!
Our domestic shipping rates have not changed. We are keeping open the possibility of adding more options for shipping, but we still find that the US Postal Service provides the most economical service, even for international destinations. We haven’t lost an order yet!
Thanks for your patience and support as we continue to navigate the global pandemic. Stay tuned for more updates on our autumn activities at Ancient Earth Pigments.
If you recently tried to order one of our unique glass mini-muller and grinding plate sets but found them out of stock, rejoice! We have some more, and are happy to offer them on line for you. The ground glass surface of the 4″x4″ plates and the approximately 1 cm2 working surface of the mini-mullers are perfect for working with small amounts of pigments, in, for example, manuscript illumination. See Anna’s making egg tempera demonstration on our YouTube channel for a demonstration of this set in use.
We hosted a paint-along for the Plein Air Live! conference in April 2021, using video we’d shot near sunset at Loon Point, South of Santa Barbara, CA. Enjoy! Be sure and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more video tutorials and demonstrations! We’d like to have 100 subscribers in order to get a custom channel name, to make it easier for you to share our link. Thanks for watching!
We are pleased to offer a bunch of new products in our online store, available today to coincide with the beginning of the Watercolor LIVE! conference. Ancient Earth Pigments is a sponsor of Watercolor LIVE! VIP attendees receive a gift bag of AEP products! Our new product offerings are coordinated with Linda’s demonstration video, which will be shown Friday 1/29 around 8 PM, Pacific Time. Stay tuned to the blog for a link to see this video on YouTube.
New Pigments Available!
We have several new dry pigments on offer. First, Cote D’Azur Violet is back! This classic mineral earth pigment was part of the original product line of Ancient Earth Pigments, and has returned to our shelves . This subtle violet, made from a mixture ground slate stone from Switzerland, is great for florals, clouds, distant mountains.
Alizarin Crimson is now available. This synthetic organic pigment is the same alizarin chromophore that is found in madder lake pigments, synthesized in the lab for greater lightfastness and versatility.
Turquoise Light is a lovely greenish blue mineral pigment that is now back in stock. The color of our Turquoise Light is similar to the light greenish blue of the #8 Mine turquoise (Nevada).
We are very excited to be able to offer two fantastic historic pigments made from semiprecious lapis lazuli stone. Our Lapis Lazuli pigment is finely ground from South American lapis lazuli, and bears a close resemblance to the brilliant Afghan-lapis based ultramarine blue used by painters like Fra Angelico in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Ultramarine Ash (see upcoming video for a demonstration!) is a byproduct of the manufacture of blue pigments from lapis lazuli, but has a softer, blue-grey color that is very very hard to reproduce. Our Ultramarine Ash, when viewed in bright sunlight, exhibit slight golden sparkle from the pyrite inclusions in the native stone.
New this year to Ancient Earth Pigments are some special brushes Linda found for watercolor applications. We have some squirrel hair / synthetic brushes in sizes #6 and #8, with #10 coming soon – and a very special sheep hair Hake brush that is great for washes.
We’re providing materials and tools for artists who wish to make their own paints. To this end we are introducing a range of tools and supplies for preparing and storing paints. First, we are offering two locally-sourced sanded glass grinding plates in annealed (10″x10″) and tempered (12″x16″) forms, for use with the new Italian #3 Palette Knife and our range of Italian glass and crystalmullers. For those of you working on illumination or with tiny amounts of egg tempera paint, we now have handmade glass mini-muller and 4″x4″ mini grinding plate kits.
Finally, once you’ve made your paints, you’ll need to store them for use in the field or your studio. We are now offering Watercolor PaintPans, Watercolor PaletteBoxes (both in two sizes), and Fill-Them-Yourself Paint Tubes so you can keep your watercolor or oil paints for longer and transport them cleanly and safely. We have a new store category under Tools And Supplies, called Storage, where you can find these specialty tools.
Stay tuned to this blog so you can see Linda’s upcoming demonstration video where she uses some of these new pigments and tools to make watercolor paints, and using them in the field. Feel free to contact us if you have questions or comments about the new products. If you like them, be sure to do a review!
