Clay Paint

The same fired red clay as the Red Clay Mask, ground to a pigment. Iron oxide is what makes it red, and it is the oldest colour humans have used — the Lascaux paintings are this, give or take thirty thousand years.How to useMix with water for a wash, or with an acrylic or egg binder for something that stays put. On raw canvas or paper it sinks in and dries about two shades lighter than it looks wet, so test a corner before you commit.

Stevensite from the Moulouya valley, the same clay as the Rhassoul mask. It grinds to a warm grey-brown that sits between the ochres and the greens and keeps both of them honest.How to useMix with water or a binder. It is the most forgiving of the five to layer — it goes translucent thin and solid thick without going muddy in between.

The same rose kaolin as the Pink Clay Mask. Kaolin is a two-layer clay, which makes it fine, soft and far less greedy for water than the others here.How to useMix thin for a wash or thick for body. Because kaolin is so fine it covers more flatly than the ochres, which is either exactly what you want or exactly what you do not.

French green clay, the same as the Green Clay Mask. Green earth has been the underpainting colour for skin tones since the Italian primitives — it is what sits under the warm colours and keeps them from going pink.How to useMix with water or a binder. Thin it right down for an underlayer; nobody is meant to see this one on its own.

The same white kaolin as the White Clay Mask. Chalky, very fine, and the one you reach for to lift the other four rather than to paint with on its own.How to useMix into any of the other pigments to lighten without dulling, or use it straight as a ground on raw canvas.

A plain oak A-frame, built to be stood on a floor that gets clay on it. No tilt mechanism and no mast crank — three legs, a shelf, and a thumbscrew, which is all an easel has ever actually needed.How to useOpen the frame until the back leg takes weight, set the canvas on the shelf and bring the thumbscrew down to the top edge. Wipe the shelf before it dries; clay comes off oak with a damp cloth and will not come off at all once it has set.