pigments

Photos of pigments and their sources.

[pig-mint]

" Kermes is a red dye derived from the dried bodies of the females of a scale insect in the genus Kermes, primarily Kermes vermilio. The Kermes insects are native in the Mediterranean region and live on the sap of the Kermes oak. They were used as a red dye by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The kermes dye is a rich red. It has good colour fastness in silk and wool. It was much esteemed in the medieval era for dyeing silk and wool. Post-medievally it was replaced by other red dyes. It is no longer in use today. “

[pig-mint]

Neighborhood Beat: Williamsburg's Guerra Paint & Pigment (2009)

Guerra Paint is now located in Manhattan at 510 E 13th St

[pig-mint]

I don't see anything here related to mints or pigs. Why the misleading name?

:D

[pig-mint]

The leaves of the woad plant (Isatis tinctoria) were used to make blue dye in Europe until the introduction of indigo from India, which contains the same dye but in higher concentration.

Pictured from left to right: woad flowers, Mel Gibson painted with woad in Braveheart, wool dyed with woad, woad leaves being weighed and powdered dye

[archiemcphee]

Today the Department of Awesome Natural Wonders transports us to the awe-inspiring vistas of China’s Mount Danxia, home of the Danxia Landform or Danxia Scenic Area. The word Danxia means rosy cloud. Located outside Zhangye City in northwest China’s Gansu Province, this amazing landscape is made of colourful layers of red sandstone and conglomerates that were compressed over many millions of years, buckled by tectonic movement, and eroded by eons of wind and rain.

In 2010 the China Danxia was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We’re pretty sure that some of the photos you seen here have been enhanced to look like something from the Land of Oz. When we look at them we can’t help but think of magnificent mountains made of ribbon candy. Mmm… candy mountains…

Visit The Huffington Post to view even more photos of this awesome region.

[via TYWKIWDBI and The Huffington Post]

[pig-mint]

Ivory black was originally made from ground charred ivory [tusks and teeth, typically of the elephant but also of the hippopotamus, walrus, pig, mammoth, sperm whale, and narwhal*] , but is now made from ground charred animal bones [other than tusks, teeth, skulls, and spines], called bone char. The resulting pigment is called bone black and ivory black interchangeably. Real ivory black is considered a richer black than than bone black, and is still made in small quantities from mammoth tusks. Bone char is also used to remove color from sugar, and to filter fluoride and heavy metals from water.

Pictured: a piece of carved elephant ivory, bone char produced from cattle bones for use in water treatment, bone black pigment, a list of sugars that are not produced using bone char, mammoth tusks for display

[itsokaytobesmart]

Where the colors of fireworks come from

Happy 4th of July, American friends! Here’s a little chemistry lesson on where the colors in fireworks come from.

Is that not enough for your sponge of a brain? Then here’s a more detailed video on explosive chemistry from Byte Size Science!

(↬ Boing Boing)

[pig-mint]

Bright Prussian blues, pasty greens, muted periwinkles, rich aquas and pale violets, yet they are all one color, united by a name and an ancient tradition.

Haint Blue originated in the deep American South. Today, in cities and towns throughout the south, one will find these blues and greens tints on shutters, doors, porch ceilings and windowsills, gracing many historic homes. The pretty blues and greens compliment any grand old Victorian mansion, but the first painted strokes of Haint Blue adorned not the homes of the rich, but the simple shacks of African slaves.

Known as the Gullah or Geechee people, the original Haint Blue creators were descendants of African slaves who worked on rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia. Many of their ancestors came from Angola, which may be where the name originated. They are well-known for preserving their African heritage more than any other African American community. They kept alive the traditions, stories, and beliefs of their ancestors, including a fear of haints.

(continue to full text...)

[pig-mint]

Sepia pigment is extracted from the ink sac of cuttlefish of the genus Sepia. The ink is composed primarily of melanin.

Pictured: a bottle of Hakase sepia ink, a drawing of a cuttlefish in sepia ink [by Phineas X. Jones], a Sepia cuttlefish, fresh cuttlefish ink

[pig-mint]

Carmine, also known as cochineal or crimson lake, is made from carminic acid, which is traditionally produced by cochineal insects [Dactylopius coccus, which are scale insects, and often incorrectly referred to as beetles], and more recently is also produced by genetically engineered microbes. The dye originates from Peru and Mexico, where it has been in use for approximately 1500 years. The insects are boiled in ammonia, and alum is added after filtering. In addition to its use as a paint and dye, carmine is used as a food dye, but can cause allergic reactions in some people.

Pictured: carmine pigment, cochineal insect, Zapotec nests [to trap cochineal insects] on nopal cacti, a worker in a cooperative textile factory in Teotitlan del Valle grinding cochineal insects

[ilovecharts]

Ten Colors That Have Faded Away

via jessethevictor

[pig-mint]

Iron gall ink was made from adding iron (typically ferrous sulfate) to gallotannic acid derived from oak galls, growths created by gall wasps laying their eggs inside the leaf buds of oak trees.

Pictured: oak marble galls, ferrous sulfate, the effects of acidic iron gall ink on linen paper, ground galls being strained, bottles of iron gall and sympathetic ink, gall wasp, a fresh oak gall cut open

[pig-mint]

In ancient Rome, Tyrian purple was made from a bromine-based mucus secreted from the hypobranchial gland of certain species of sea snail. It was rare and expensive, and its use was often restricted to royalty. Reconstructions of the color made today can only approximate the ideal Tyrian purple.

Pictured: a murex snail, a vial of pure bromine, a modern reconstruction of Tyrian purple dye

[pig-mint]

Mummy brown or Egyptian brown "was originally made in the 16th and 17th centuries from white pitch, myrrh, and the ground-up remains of Egyptian mummies... It fell from popularity in the early 19th century when its composition became generally known to artists." The pigment sold under this name today is made from "a mixture of kaolin, quartz, goethite and hematite."

Pictured: The mummified King Tutankhamun entering a CT scanner, pitch, myrrh, goethite, hematite, modern mummy brown pigment

[pig-mint]

Rose madder is made from the roots of the madder plant, sometimes with added mineral salts such as alum. The color is neither lightfast nor permanent, and is more expensive to make than similar synthetic pigments, but there is still enough demand for it to keep it in production. However, for most applications it has been replaced with alizarin and quinacridone pigments.

Pictured: madder roots, potash alum, rose madder pigment

[pig-mint]

Chrome green naturally occurs in the mineral eskoaite, but is manufactured using chromite heated with sulfur or "by the decomposition of chromium salts such as chromium nitrate or by the exothermic decomposition of ammonium dichromate." 

Pictured: pure chromium, eskolaite, chromite, sulfur crystal, chrome green pigment

[pig-mint]

Ultramarine blue was originally made from the rare stone lapis lazuli, but is now made by baking five different chemicals together in a kiln.

The raw materials used in the manufacture are: 

iron-free kaolin, or some other kind of pure clay, which should contain its silica and alumina as nearly as possible in the proportion of SiO2:Al2O3 demanded by the formula assigned to ideal kaolin (a deficit of silica, however, it appears can be made up for by addition of the calculated weight of finely divided silica);

anhydrous Na2SO4 [sodium sulfate]

anhydrous Na2CO3 [sodium carbonate]

powdered sulfur; and

powdered charcoal or relatively ash-free coal, or colophony in lumps.

Pictured: an elephant carved from lapis lazuli, kaolin clay, sodium sulfate, sodium carbonate, powdered sulfur, powdered charcoal, and ultramarine blue pigment