Pressed pigments

Problem with pressing - I have pans, I have pigments - but not enough palettes! So I turned one old CD case into a palette: it's flimsy and will scratch terribly but until I get decent ones it'll have to do. You will not believe the trouble I had finding adhesive magnets for this thingy! I had to get it from Helsinki, a craft shop from Jumbo. One small A6 sheet cost me close to 4 euros.

Anyway, here's the pretty (it'll get bigger once you click on it):

Left to right: 1st row: Sparkling Violet (C), Apple Green Pop!, Pure Purple, Fine White
2nd row: Black Amethyst, Indian Blue, Hot Mama, Angel Wings
3rd row: Blackstar Red, Patagonian Purple, Grape Parfait, Apricot
4th row: Blackest Black Matte Tone, Blackstar Blue, Mauve Satin (C), Merlot Gold (C)
*C means The Conservatorie, rest are TKB Trading's pigments

I've made the majority of them for someone else, six in the lower left corner are my own. I'm still puzzled by the pressed pigments - I put the exact same amount (volume) of pigments in each, mixed it with press base and pressed - and the pans are filled differently. Hot Mama (you'll recognize it from the pic, I'm sure) shrank the most while Fine White filled the pan abundantly.

artificial light, featuring some different colors 

CD kaantest saab paleti teha küll aga see on üks nõrk ja väsind asi, või vähemalt saab seda paari kuu pärast olema : plastik kriipub ära ning läheb koledaks, samuti kipuvad need kaant kinni hoidvad nagad murduma. Aga hädaabinõuna käib kah. 
Lauvärvide pressimine ise on kaunis räpane töö - laud pulbriga kaetud, segamiseks kasutatud tikud ja lusikad kördiga koos - mida oksiidirikkamad pigmendid, seda jubedam. Ja seekord pressisin veel neist kõige hirmsamat - puhast musta raudoksiidi tsipakese ultramariinsinisega. Seda on nahaltki raske kätte saada, ka lauvärvina kasutamisel oleks parem, kui meigialuskreemid jms kenasti krundiks oleksid. 

Pressing

Pressing pigments is fun. Loads of fun! I've been doing it last week, 4-6 colors at a time, too tired to make the entire batch at once. After all I have over 100 pigments to press - I do not even have enough pans for them all. And the palette can comfortably fit only 28 of them. It looks so neat with the partition, I do not have the heart to pull it out - without it the palette could fit 40 colors.

Pressing is easy, most pigments do your bidding without any fuss. Just remember to go easy on the pressing medium! Less is more... because more will just end up as oily goo.

Stuff you need for pressing:

• pigments
• pans
• pressing tile or suitable coin
• pressing medium
• hairpin or toothpick
• pipet 
• syringe
• high % alcochol
• kitchen paper
• if have weak hands, a pressing tool
• rubber gloves (it's a messy job)
• eventually: a palette would also be nice.

Lift some pigment onto the pan, drop 1-2 drops of pressing binder (I use TKB Trading's MyMix Clear Pressing Medium and a pipet) in the pan (get the pans with a pressing tile or two, do not bother with the press packs, those special handles are not comfortable), sprinkle some alcohol (80% vodka from a syringe, anyone?) until the pigment is wet (more wet then  the "liquid sand" consistency, make it into nice goo - easier to mix this way). Place kitchen paper over the pan, place the pressing tile nicely on top and press down. Excess liquid will be immediately sucked out by the paper tissue, repeat pressing with a fresh dry tissue and lay the fresh eyeshadow out to dry for 12-24 hrs. Done.

Now, the unpressable baddies are the sparkly colors. 24K Gold is unpressable, needs some mixing medium in a powder form too, liquid mixing medium alone will not work. All you are left with is some very greasy looking glitter... Other colors behaving this way are Storm and Limerick.

For some reason I cannot comprehend, WinterRose and Brown Coco are also acting up and seem to have difficulties staying pressed... as soon as I touch the pigment with my brush it tries to leave the pan, all of it. It just crumbles out of the pan. Blackest Black matte tone also dried up in a funny way, showing little cracks on the surface. Metallics on the other hand press like a dream... So do the MyMix colors I recently acquired. 

MyMix Clear Pressing Medium is mostly silicones, not good  for some people. You do not have to use it, it's also possible to use fractionated coconut oil or jojoba oil  or some other oil for pressing but the downside is - those might go rancid in a year or so, jojoba a little sooner... Solution would be adding a small amount of preservatives but then what's the point of the entire DIY business? Same stuff is available in any store, already pressed and nicely packaged.

PS! The Irish Eyes Collection had two colors that bled whilst pressing (colorant dissolved in alcohol): Dublin and Lucky Green. They bled blue. Next to them is the unpressable glimmering Limerick.