Formulating vermilion: a year of hand-mixed red

In 2024 I set myself a rule: one hand-mixed shade a day, swatched on white card, dated and filed. By the end of the year there were 212 cards and one red I kept returning to.

Why vermilion

It flatters almost every undertone because it sits between orange and blue-red. Sheered out it reads as flush; packed on it reads as fashion.

“A signature shade is just the colour you stopped being bored of.”

The base recipe

• 01Two parts cosmetic-grade red iron oxide
• 02One part warm orange lake
• 03A drop of mixing medium per gram
• 04Pressed with a spatula on a steel palette, never a brush

The full study will be exhibited at the studio next spring.