ORIGIN AND DEFINITION OF COLORS.
Alumina—One of the earths containing aluminum.
Aureolin Yellow—A transparent, delicate medium yellow. Is a nitrate of cobalt.
Amber—A mineralized pale yellow, and sometimes reddish or brownish resin of extinct pine trees.
Ambergris—A morbid secretion of the spermaceti whale of solid opaque ash color.
Aniline—A substance obtained from indigo and benzol, a product of coal tar.
Amaranth—The unfading flower; a color inclined to purple.
Antwerp Blue—A transparent color lighter than prussian blue; splendid to mix with yellow for greens and tints.
Bronze Blues—Made by mixtures of ferro and ferricyanides of iron and potassium or sodium. Bronze blue, so called for its bronzy effect. It is an opaque, deep blue, used almost exclusively by printers.
Bronzes—Are pulverized gold, brass, copper and aluminum. Can be dyed with aniline colors such as violet, green, etc.
Bone Black—Made by charring bones which are then finely ground. Semi-transparent.
Burnt Sienna—Raw sienna when burnt yields a brownish orange, quite transparent.
Buttercup—Common species of ranunculus, having bright yellow cup-shaped flowers.
Bistre Brown—Obtained from soot of wood fires. A deep citron brown.
Cerulean Blue—A compound of oxides of tin and cobalt. Opaque, azure blue.
Claret—A red wine color.
Carmine—A very deep toned crimson red, of the lake family.
Cobalt—A mineral of grayish color, and a metal obtained from it, which in the state of oxide yields a permanent blue pigment.
When cobalt blue is unobtainable substitute ultramarine blue.
Cobalt Blue—A deep, rich, transparent blue of violet hue. Is often substituted for ultramarine.
Cobalt Green—Semi-transparent bluish green. This color and cobalt blue are of French origin, and the process of manufacture is practically the same.
Cadmium—A metal related to zinc; produces a bright semi-transparent yellow or orange hue.
Chrome Yellows—Made by precipitation of potassium bichromate, with lead acetate, varying in shade from pale yellow to deep orange. They are opaque, and of good covering strength.
Chinese White—A semi-transparent white of zinc oxides, equally as white as flake white.
Chrome—(Chromium). A metal which produces many colors and semi-colors. Chrome green now takes the place of the dangerous arsenical green pigment that was formerly used in printers’ ink, enamel and wall paper.
Chrome Greens—Are a mixture of chrome yellow with blue.
Carbon Black—Soot formed with natural gas and forced through finely woven silk. One thousand cubic feet of gas being required to obtain one pound of black. Opaque.
Crimson Lake—Transparent red, similar to carmine, but less scarlet.
Cremnitz White Lead—An opaque white. Made permanent by coating with varnish.
Coal Tar Dyes—Are derived from coal tar by distillation and other chemical processes.
COCHINEAL
Much credit is due the cochineal as most all of our brightest reds can be attributed to them.
Scarlet and crimson furnish the base for carmine and lake. It requires seventy thousand dried bodies of this small insect to equal one pound of color.
The task of gathering cochineal is a tedious one. They are gathered by gently brushing them into cloth sacks with brushes made of fur just before egg laying time, as only the bodies of the female can be used. At this period they are scarlet, the brightest of all reds. Later they assume a deeper cast called crimson.
Dye is a colored substance which can be made soluble in either water or oil.
Dragon’s Blood—A resinous substance from the East Indies. A dull semi-transparent red.
Emerald—A stone or gem of bright green.
Fawn—Light brown.
Flake White—A carbonate of lead. An opaque fine white.
French Blue—An artificial imitation of ultramarine, discovered by French chemists early in the nineteenth century. It is more transparent than the original, and an excellent imitation.
Gypsum—A mineral found in a compact state and crystallized state, as alabaster, or in the form of soft, chalky stone which by heat becomes the fine white powder known as plaster of paris.
Geranium Lake—A bright transparent red of bluish hue, also of yellowish hue. Should not be mixed with earth pigments such as raw sienna, ochers, umbers, etc. Geranium lake if a coal tar product is more permanent than if obtained from other sources.
Gamboge—A gum resin from trees, native of Ceylon. Is a bright transparent yellow of little depth.
Gallstone—Rich deep toned fugitive yellow from the gall bladder of oxen. Yellow carmine can be substituted.
Heliotrope—Flower of a grayish purple color.
Ivory Black—A rich transparent black, from charred ivory.
Indigo Blue—Deep blue from the leaves of the Indigofera plant of India.
Intense Blue—Purified Indigo blue.
Indian Yellow—Deposit obtained from the urine of the camel. A beautiful yellow.
Indian Red—An earth pigment of Bengal. Ranges in color from a light, bright red to a dark red of purplish hue; nearly opaque; mixes well with all other colors except indigo. When genuine Indian red and indigo come into contact with one another, they soon assume a faded shade resembling rust.
Indian red substitute may be mixed with indigo substitute in safety; tints made are more permanent than obtained from the originals.
Lake Colors—The term “lake” as applied to color pigments, has reference to the method of manufacture. The pigment is produced by the saturation of a base with a dye in it, which is then ground in varnish.
Avoid mixing lake colors with raw earthen pigments if permanency is desired.
Lamp Black—Is made by burning creosote or tar oil. Opaque.
Lacquer—A varnish which has the appearance of enamel.
Maroon—A brownish crimson or claret color.
Mauve—A brilliant red violet, of the lake group. Also of a bluish violet hue. The most fugitive of all colors.
Marigold—Several composite plants bearing golden-yellow flowers.
Magenta is a brilliant blue-red color derived from coal tar.
Madder red is obtained from the madder plant roots, a climbing perennial.
Mastic—Resin from a tree of southern Europe, yielding a varnish.
Mummy Yellow—The ancients obtained a dark yellow pigment by grinding mummified human bodies.
Naples Yellow—A pale semi-opaque, straw colored yellow.
The greenish hue of prussian blue may be neutralized with a touch of crimson lake.
New Blue—Pale ultramarine.
Prussian Blue—Of German origin. A deep blue, possessing a greenish undertone. A transparent and good covering pigment.
Pure Scarlet—An iodide of mercury. More brilliant than vermilion and opaque.
Pipsissewa—An evergreen plant bearing waxen flesh-colored flowers.
Permalba White—A fine opaque white for artists, etc. Contains neither lead or zinc. Can safely be mixed with ultramarine and all other pigments. A product of an American manufacturer.
Red Lead—Used on iron prevents rust. Is an inexpensive product of lead, largely used as barn paint. Possesses good covering qualities.
Rose Madder or Madder Lake—A beautiful transparent rose color of a clove or flesh pink hue. Alizarin, a coal tar product, now affords a better substitute than the original pigment obtained from the madder plant.
Raw Sienna—An ocherous transparent earth pigment of orange yellow, from Toscany.
Saffron—A bulbous plant, the stigmas of which are used as a coloring. Yields an orange red extract.
Some blacks are precipitated oxide of iron and aniline black made from coal tar dye with the addition of blue to offset the natural grayish cast.
Spruce—A name given to several species of pine trees. Shades vary, but the general hue is between a light yellowish brown and yellowish orange.
Sepia—A brown substance taken from the sepia cuttle fish. This dark inky substance which he emits into the water thoroughly screens him from enemies.
Scarlet Lake—A transparent red of scarlet hue.
Snuff Brown—Pulverized tobacco.
Sienna—An ocherous earth. Sienna yields an orange yellow tint; burnt sienna a reddish brown.
Turquoise—A stone or gem of greenish blue.
Tantalum—A rare metallic element obtained as a black powder from several minerals.
Imitation Ultramarine Blue—Is made by heating together, China-clay soda, sulphur and charcoal.
Umber—a soft earthy pigment of an olive brown color in the raw state; burnt umber has a reddish hue and oftimes called turkey umber.
Ultramarine Blue—A rare and durable sky blue obtained from the mineral lapis-lazuli, a stone found in Asia. The tedious mechanical process of extracting the color, makes it the most costly of all pigments.
Ultramarine Ash—Bluish gray of azure hue, residue of ultramarine.
Venetian Red—A semi-transparent bright red with little orange.
Vine Blue—Is made from charred vine twigs. Is imitated with acetylene gas.
Vernis Martin—French name for imitation of Chinese and Japanese Lacquer, which resembles enamel. Brought to perfection by the Martin brothers in the reign of Louis XV of France.
Vandyke Brown—Prepared from a bituminous ochre. A slow drying, rich, semi-transparent brown, so named in honor of the eminent artist, Vandyke. Very sensitive to sunlight; requires a liberal amount of japan dryer.
Vermilion Red—A sulphide of mercury. Varies in hue from crimson and scarlet to deep orange. Opaque.
White Lead—A hydrated carbonate of lead, obtained as a dry powder. Opaque; covers well.
Whitewash—A composition of lime and water, or of whiting.
Yellow Ochre—An earth pigment varying in color from a light yellow to an orange brown; possesses little transparency.