September 13, 2012

Homemade Tempera Cakes?


In my mind...anything is possible!  However, when it comes to figuring it out....things don't always come to fruition.  I am trying to make my own tempera cakes.  TRYING being the word!  I've tried letting them air dry. I've tried baking them.  I've tried adding dish soap.  I've tried adding extra powdered tempera to the liquid tempera.  So far, nothing has worked.  I tried Googling it, but found nothing.  Anyone out there tried to make their own tempera cakes?  How did it work? What did you do? 


It does look cool...but not what I wanted!!!!!!!!

15 comments:

  1. Hi Ted, I have Had success with using baby food jars and just letting the paint dry out for a week or two. Also it might be the brand of paint you are using. (washable doesn't work at all)I have used prang,blicks and crayola.

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  2. I made some of my own Tempera cakes last year that worked out fairly well. Like you, I used low-cost metal cupcake tins as a mold. In a smoothie blender, I blended 3/4 cup liquid Tempera paint, with 3/4 cup powdered Tempera, 1/4 cup of water. I poured the mixture into my cupcake tins and placed them on an air conditioner vent in my art room. It took nearly two weeks for them to air dry. This process seemed to work out pretty well for me. The mixture of powder and liquid Tempera yielded some pretty exciting "fresh" colors. I made those cakes last summer and we are still getting mileage out of them this year. I have no idea where the powdered Tempera came from. I inherited it from a previous art teacher. It looked like it was from about 1962. I was thinking of whipping up some new hues, maybe I'll do a tutorial on what worked for me.

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  3. Hi MrE, What do you use tempera cakes for? I have boxes of tempera powder in the store room from before my day. None of the teachers want it anymore, too much bother I suppose.

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  4. Yes, the mixture of liquid and powdered tempera should work fine. I too have the powdered on hand, and some of it is old, but it never goes bad! It's always a great thing to have on hand when you run out of liquid and need just a dab for a project. Good luck with the tempera cakes. I think I'll make some too! Cynthia

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  5. I have often wondered if I just dropped wet tempera into paint pallets and let it dry out for a long time if we could basically use it as tempera cakes...

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  6. Please let me know if you make a discovery. I'm on the hunt myself...I have tons of powdered tempera from the previous art teacher and would love to figure out how to transform them.

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  7. Please let me know if you figure this out. I am on the hunt myself, and I cannot find anything that is beneficial! I'll keep you posted how my own recipe creations are going.

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  8. I have just mixed the powdered tempera with water and divided it into the muffin tins and let it air dry. It has always worked for me!

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  9. I use powdered tempera to make homemade chalk, color popcorn, colored cornmeal, etc. You can also mix it with flour and water to create a puffy paint.

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  10. I'm going to try this recipe and add a bit of plaster to see if it will harden. I remember making chalk with pigment and plaster in college. Janice

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  11. I found one on google recently. It says the ingredients are
    4 tbsp. baking soda
    2 tbsp. of white vinegar
    1/2 tsp of corn syrup
    2 tbsp. cornstarch
    and gel food coloring for bright colors.

    Then you mix the baking soda and vinegar together, next add in corn syrup and cornstarch and stir until it is dissolved. Lastly add color and add to your tray continually mixing so it doesn't harden up. This is more of a watercolor recipe but I am a traveling teacher and no matter what supplies are expensive!!

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  12. I love to talk to the students about egg tempera, used in many Medieval paintings. You know where I am going with this...I brought in eggs, had students pair up to break the eggs and add powdered tempera, and mix it. Voila, we had egg-tempera colorful bird paintings. Just be aware of any friends who have egg/albumen allergies.

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  13. I am also interested in making tempera cakes, I'm experimenting with mixing in powdered Gum Arabic as a binder. It should make it more resistant to cracking and smoother to paint with. I've used it with other powdered pigments, just not tempera.

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  14. I have read about glycerin and honey as binders too...honey may not dry all the way would make a moist cake.

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