a festival of colors - sourcing colors

April 20, 2019 12:21 PM

If one were to have a Holi-inspired convivium, (people dance around and throw colored powder on each other and become rainbows,) where would they get the colors?

Locally (at regular stores yknow) and on the cheap, preferably.

posted by Sterros to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

Indian grocery store.
posted by holyrood at 12:40 PM on April 20, 2019

It might be helpful to know where one lives (just the continent would be a good start). 'Regular stores' means different things in different parts of the world after all.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:35 PM on April 20, 2019

If you live somewhere that Holi is celebrated, you can buy the powders at stands wherever the main action is happening.

If not, just buy tempera paint powder at your local craft store. It's safe, super cheap, and comes in lots of fun colors. Mix it with cornstarch to make it go farther.
posted by ananci at 4:33 PM on April 20, 2019

Fun fact: tempera powder + water colors concrete forever. I kind of figured that it'd fade like chalk, and no. It was still obvious like a month later. So if you're going to wash it up, do so thoroughly! Otherwise sweep before any light rain turns it into paint.
posted by teremala at 9:17 AM on April 21, 2019

Apparently you can also make it with water, cornstarch and food coloring. Here's a youtube instructional video. This one advises putting in a food processor when it is dry but other videos just show people crumbling the dried cornstarch by hand or with a fork.

Also, I would recommend wearing a hat, glasses, or goggles and taking out contact lenses because no matter what your gulal is made of, it is no fun to get particulate in your eyes.
posted by donut_princess at 2:25 PM on April 21, 2019