Chinese Red, Vermillion Pigment - (Contact shop to request actual ship cost for multi items)

CLICK THE "LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS ITEM" LINK JUST BELOW TO READ THE FULL DESCRIPTION FOR THIS ITEM.
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This is a bright beautiful red just as carmine (deeper) or toluidine (similar) red are. Vermillion itself is on the orange side of red. As Wikipedia says, comparing vermillion and scarlet on the traditional color wheel (and in the spectrum of light), that scarlet "is one-quarter of the way between red and orange, slightly less orange than vermilion."
All three are organic pigments, specifically azo organic dyes bonded to inorganic bases. It's very difficult to find an intense inorganic red pigment, highly refined red iron oxide is about the best. These organic red pigments are way more versatile.
A good way to get right to the heart of the color is by comparing a new color with others you're familiar with. Not familiar with all or any? Still, a comparison can be of value. Having all three of the mentioned reds here in front of me in mylar envelopes which serve as a sort of substrate in reverse I've found it works very well as a way to quickly compare colors. It's non-messy and leaves a footprint on exactly the same transparent surface.
Of the three reds carmine is the deepest, darkest, and richest (richest implies high concentration, saturation, intensity, whatever terminology of the particular color theory you study, and this is borne out by a good anecdote related just below).
The vermillion is the "lightest or brightest", and toluidine is somewhere in between the two, closer to the vermillion you'd have to say. The vermillion is bright, the carmine is deep: probably the "tint" of vermillion would make it more transparent than carmine (not a bad/good thing), but that pales in comparison to the sheer saturation of the carmine, its intensity is what makes it more opaque than vermillion or toluidine. Carmine in simplistic terms is more "concentrated" than the other two. Even though it is an organic pigment with some transparency, it has more hiding power and a lesser quantity of it would be needed to achieve good results.
So, that about covers the important parts of this comparison. It went a little deeper than this: the carmine is red-red (my opinion), the Chinese Red Vermillion is a slight orangey tint lighter, and toluidine somewhere between (but has problems I haven't been able to fit in here; if interested, read our not-too-long description of it)

On to the technical properties of Chinese Red, vermillion (CR,V):
Its Color Index number is C.I. Pigment Red 254.
The CAS Number is 84632-65-5.
From { https://www.chembk.com/en/chem/pigment%20red%20254 } and { http://www.artiscreation.com/red.html#PR254 } some synonyms of (CR,V) are: pigment red 2254; DPP red; Irgazin DPP Red BO; Bright Red; Ferrari Red; Lukas Red; Matisse Red Light; Naphthol Red Medium; Permanent Red Deep; Microlith Red; Scarlet Red.
The "art is creation" (AIC) website listed above has the most comprehensive data on colors (thousands of color names), is well organized, and relatively easy to understand for those with average familiarity of the complex soup of color terminology. Because it has so much information under main colors names gathered from various sources (all sources are credited), you will get some contradictory info even under the main color name.
(AIC) says Chinese Red, vermillion (along with oodles of synonyms) falls under the CI Common or Historical name of "Pyrrole Red". It's easy to see where that name comes from when you consider the Chemical Composition listing from that source. It is chemically named "Diketopyrrolo pyrrole (DPP)" and goes on: "DPP pigments are synthesized by reacting a succinic ester with benzonitriles in the presence of sodium methylate in methanol...The resulting reddish yellow to bluish violet pigments show excellent lightfastness and weatherfastness." (AIC) has a Color Description of: "Bright (fire engine red, Ferrari red) mid-shade red...Staining with high tinting strength... Fades, May Dull or hue shift towards blueish". There are several additional (AIC) Side Notes, excerpts are: "Ferrari Red comes from the use of PR 254 as the famous red color of the Ferrari (sports car), from 2000 to 2002...In art materials, it is often used as a synthetic, non-toxic and lightfast replacement for Cadmium Red and Carmine [ the natural kind, produced from insects ]...It is also used to replace the older naphthol reds, organic red pigments that are sometimes only marginally lightfast and weatherfast...Rated with excellent lightfastness in most brands of watercolor that were tested by Bruce MacEvoy of Handprint...There are no known hazards."

There is reference to an anecdote above (it concerns carmine red again, which makes this description about a close second for carmine as for Chinese Red, vermillion!):
Chinese Red, vermillion does not have the staining power (or "hiding power") of carmine red. There is no other pigment (in my experience) that when a particle of the dry powder, completely invisible to the naked eye, will when rubbed with your finger, leave a bright red smear.
Our dispersing person is not a fan of carmine. She says that after dispensing it there will be a "field of invisible particles" spread out over an area around dispensing ground zero that will stain anything placed on them. Her methodology is to cover as large an area as possible with an equally large bed sheet. She is very good and rarely makes a spill that's visible. The sheet is a surface that catches and holds the particles. When finished the sheet looks the same, clean. She wads it up and puts it alone in the washing machine. That method evolved from dispensing on a very smooth enameled wooden table surface, then to a surface covered with large sheets of plotter paper, then to overlapping strips of paper towels, and finally to the bed sheet method.

Reviews

Reviews (15)

Average:

May 15, 2024

Vibrant red pigment as described.

Tamisan Latherow

Oct 18, 2023

Beautiful pigment, fast shipping. Perfect

Ashley

Jul 24, 2023

In good condition I love it

Sam Mercado

Jul 15, 2023

Heather B

Jun 23, 2023

Laura Matthews