Alchemy in Appleby at the Colour Makers House
The Colour Makers House, 2 High Wiend, Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, CA16 6RD
Imagine walking into a room lit by oil lamps and candles, with low beams adorned with bottles of coloured liquid. In the middle of the room, workbenches with bowls of bubbling liquids in front of an old range. Across the room are boxes of coloured clay, molehills and stones waiting to be transformed into ochres. Sheets of copper and lead are ready to be converted into cosmetics for faces and powdering wigs. The 17th-century house is full of period features and a remarkable historic staircase leading upstairs to the artist's studio, which specialises in architectural portraits. Some of these works will be exhibited. On the ground floor is the Traditional Artist's Colourman's shop, featuring shelves of jewel-like colours with which artists like Turner and Constable would have been familiar. Watch artists create pigments from natural materials, such as rocks and earth, in the pigment room. We fascinate visitors, including children, with demonstrations that utilise alchemy principles to create medieval green and blue verditer pigments. Both pigments were in use by artists and decorators between the 16th and 18th centuries. We will demonstrate how pigments, traditional watercolours and other paints are traditionally made.
Timings & Tours
- Friday 12 September:
- 1100 & 1300
- Saturday 13 September:
- 1100 & 1300
- Sunday 14 September:
- 1100 & 1300
- Monday 15 September:
- Available subject to demand: 1100 & 1330
- Tuesday 16 September:
- Available subject to demand: 1100 & 1330
- Wednesday 17 September:
- Available subject to demand: 1100 & 1330
- Thursday 18 September:
- Available subject to demand: 1100 & 1330
- Friday 19 September:
- 1100 & 1300
- Saturday 20 September:
- 1100 & 1300
- Sunday 21 September:
- 1100 & 1300
Location & directions
The Colour Makers House, 2 High Wiend, Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, CA16 6RD
- Directions:
- High Wiend is off the main street of Boroughgate beside the Post Office in the town centre.
- Contact on day:
- Mark Hilsden
- Telephone number:
- +441768353530
Booking information
- Pre-booking requirement:
- Pre-booking not required
Accessibility details
The first floor is accessible only by shallow stairs and a single handrail. The old historical building's first floor is uneven, so please be careful. The Pigment Demonstration room has a Low Beam of 6 feet (1.8 metres).
Additional information
if staff are available, we will be happy to talk to visitors but not demonstrate, as time is needed to tidy up between demonstrations. The building is historical, some of the beams are pretty low (6 feet / 1.8 metres) in the pigment demonstration room, and the 1st floor is uneven and currently being renovated, so care is needed. The building was not designed for many people to move through, so patience may be required on stairs.
- Max no of people per tour:
- 8
- Est. tour duration:
- 0 hour(s) 45 minute(s)
