Ashton's Autumn%20Wave

Color is a fascinating topic. But not only the cavemen culture gave colors symbolism and meaning. One of the most fascinating histories behind color is that during every age and region, dyes and pigments have been produced depending on available resources.
In particular, the Chinese were thought to manufacture and perfect the use of color tens of thousands of years ago. They also believed in Color Healing and recorded color “diagnoses” through a 2,000-year-old Chinese chronicle called, “The Nei/ching.”
Egypt is emerging region known for its use of color. Modern systems for recycling paint is inspired by the methodological achievements of the Egyptians. Ancient Egyptians believed that color had magical healing powers. Before early cave paintings that were made using iron oxides, the ancient Egyptians developed paints from pigments in the soil, which were yellow, orange, and red.
Prior to the 19th century, the term, “paint,” was only applied to the oil-bound kinds; the kinds bound with glue were called “distemper.” By 1,000 BC, paint development came in the form of varnishes and paints from acacia tree gum. New colors were being discovered during this time, and umbers, ochers, and blacks were readily available.
Painting as an art form was established in Crete and Greece around 1500 BC. It was during this time that the Romans acquired Egyptian color skills. The Romans created the color purple, made using a pound of royal purple dye that required the crushing of 4,000,000 mollusks. The Egyptians created the first new color during this period, known as “Egyptian Blue.”
“Naples Yellow” was discovered around 500 BC. Genuine Indian Yellow was made from concentrated cow urine mixed with mud; it was then sent to London for purification. Sap Green came from the Blackthorn berry, and Sepia Brown from the dried ink sac of squid.
The discovery of mixing two colors together and creating a third was made by Plato. This then changes the manufacture of the color.
Even though color was an obviously important and at times, religious aspect in many cultures, none of these groups named very many colors. Two anthropologists conducted an international study of color naming in the 1960s. Often times, many languages would only have two color terms, meaning white light and black dark. These anthropologists studied 98 languages, and discovered that the largest number of basic color terms were in English, in which we have eleven: white, black, red, yellow, green, orange, blue, pink, purple, grey, and brown. The other millions of color names are “borrowed;” i.e., grape, peach, gold, avocado, tan, watermelon, etc.
What makes up paint is pigment, which is a binder that holds it together. Paint is easily applicable with the right thinners. 5,000 years ago, the first synthetic pigment was made by the Egyptians from grinded down blue grass, also known as “Blue Frit.”
Prior to the 16th century, pigment color greatly depending on dyestuffs, which could be grown in or were indigenous to Europe and similar temperate regions. From 1550 – 1850, only the “natural” dyestuffs were available, but the range of dyestuffs was extended with tropical dyestuffs from Central America, India, etc.
Between 600 BC – AD 400, the Romans and Greeks produced varnishes. Red dye was considered more valuable than gold in another culture across the ocean. This culture was the Aztec civilization, and they practiced Color Healing along with the Chinese.
The Aztec cultured actually discovered “Cochineal red,” which was made using the female cochineal beetle. A million insects were needed to make one pound of water-soluble extract. Red was introduced to Europe in the 16th century by the Spaniards.
“Red lead” was discovered by accident around 2500. Demand for white lead increased, and while it occurs naturally, the demand brought about manmade reproductions Vitruvius, a Roman writer, architect, and engineer, describes what white lead production was like in the 2nd century AD. The Dutch greatly increased white lead availability by the 17th century and reduced cost by inventing the “Stack Process,” which is a chemical process that will cast metallic lead as thin buckles, stacks them up and leaves them for four to sixteen weeks, which changes the blue-grey lead to white lead all white lead paints contain chalk in their undercoats; purer white lead is saved for finish coats.
The first real synthetic dye, “Mauveine,” was discovered by Henry Perkins in 1856. People know realized that many dyes could be made synthetically and relatively cheaply. From that point, linseed oil started being mass produced as well as pigment-grade zinc oxide or, white paint.
Industrialists produced the first washable paint using cast-iron paint mills and zinc-based pigments in the 1870′s; it’s named was “Charlton White.” D.R. Averill of Ohio patented the first ready-mixed paint in 1867, but it didn’t quite catch on.
For ten years, Sherwin Williams tried to perfect a formula in which fine paint particles would remain suspended in linseed oil. They succeeded in 1880 when they developed a formula that greatly exceeded the quality of all available paints during that point in time. Emulsions with similar formulas were marketed and produced as “oil bound distempers.” New paints became available in tins in 1880, along with a large number of colors and were exported all over the world.
In this day and age, we have thousands of colors available to us. From the Egyptians to today’s painting contractors, colors have never been more fascinating.