About the Colour Makers House

The Colour Makers House rebuilt in 1677 as a Hostelry called the Black Boy over the foundations of a medieval hall house. The House, a few steps away from the centre of the former county town (until 1974), is down the side street - High Wiend (part of the medieval town defences). 

Appleby, regarded as one of the prettiest towns in Northern England. Between the castle, numerous fine historic houses line the road. Leading down to the town full of independent shops and the riverside church.

The border town nestles in the sparsely populated Eden Valley beneath the highest fells of the North Pennines (ANOB). Surrounded by dramatic countryside of the Lake District to the West and the Yorkshire Dales to the south.



The House

The Restoration House is full of fascinating original features. A surprisingly grand historic staircase, with a macabre secret. Leading upstairs to the artist's studio specialising in fine architectural portraits.

The Art Shop 

On the ground floor

Pigments

The back wall displays a wide range of colour pigments. They are broken down into three areas.

Local Earths

Local colours are eco-friendly pigments made from local rocks and earths on site.

European Earths

Beside them are a range of natural coloured earths from around Europe.

Historic & Modern Synthetic Pigments

This part of the display is the most eye-catching section with a small range of bright colours

Inks

We have a range of pigmented inks, dip nib and fine-liner pens beside a range of art pads and canvasses.

Pigment and Paint Making Room

This is where we process raw earth and rocks into pigments that are superfine through a historic process called levigation.

We reduce rocks to a fine powder using a hammers and coarse sieve before agitating them in water and then let the coloured water settle over hours and sometimes days then remove the clear water.

Once the moisture has evaporated fine particles are ground and sieved then and are then ready add to various mediums to turn into a range of paints.