Can I make purple watercolor paint from boiling Scottish thistle flowers?

Question

Can you make purple watercolor paint by boiling purple-colored thistle flowers?

Samuel Muldoon · Accepted Answer · 2024-03-26 00:43:25Z

2

No, if you boil thistle flowers at 212°F, the resulting solution will turn light brown.

It makes okay light brown water-color paint

answered Mar 26 at 0:43

Samuel Muldoon

1814 bronze badges

Have you tried extracting without the boiling?
– rebusB
Commented Mar 27 at 16:55
1

There are a lot of articles on natural dyes, such as this Wikipedia page but none mention thistles. Some colours just aren't stable enough. Safflower is a yellow thistle that produces a nice yellow dye, but it prefers much warmer weather than Scotland.
– Stuart F
Commented Apr 25 at 9:55

Add a comment |