Ultramarine Blue Pigment- (Free Shipping On Orders 35.00 Or More!)

CLICK THE "LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS ITEM" LINK JUST BELOW TO READ THE FULL DESCRIPTION FOR THIS ITEM.
*************************************************************
Please note not all sizes are pictured.

----> Go here to see all listings for pigments: <----
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NorthernWestStuff?ref=hdr_shop_menu&search_query=pigment
----> Go here to see all listings for dyes: <----
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NorthernWestStuff?ref=hdr_shop_menu&search_query=dye

Please note this is a raw pigment intended to be dispersed into a liquid medium to make paints. Our raw pigments are not meant for use in cosmetics and are not cosmetic grade. Certain pigments disperse more easily than others in certain liquid mediums. For those difficult to disperse into a liquid of your choice, they will need to be ground by a muller or a mortar and pestle into the medium.

Safety note: Handle all dry pigments with care. Work slowly to avoid generating airborne dust and wear a dust mask for extra protection. Also avoid getting the dust all over your hands. Latex gloves are good at providing skin protection without "getting in the way".

This is synthetic Ultramarine Blue. Ultramarine means "beyond the ocean". It's an intense, beautiful, and well known blue pigment. Chemically it is vey close to other ultramarines, a complex sulfur-containing sodium aluminum silicate: Na2OSAl2O3SiO2. It is also chemically the most complex of all mineral pigments. The natural source for ultramarine [blue] was finely ground lapis lazuli. This from Wiki: "Ultramarine was the finest and most expensive blue used by Renaissance painters. It was often used for the robes of the Virgin Mary, and symbolized holiness and humility. It remained an extremely expensive pigment until a synthetic ultramarine was invented in 1826....Synthetic ultramarine is a more vivid blue than natural ultramarine, since the particles in synthetic ultramarine are smaller and more uniform than natural ultramarine and therefore diffuse light more evenly.....Variants of the pigment 'ultramarine red', 'ultramarine green', 'ultramarine violet' are known, and are based on similar chemistry and crystal structure."
Ultramarine blue remains the most widely used of ultramarines, with ultramarine violet the 2nd and perhaps ultramarine pink the 3rd most used. If you're interested in chemistry the structure of the ultramarines is briefly described in Wiki: "Ultramarine is the aluminosilicate zeolite with the sodalite structure. Sodalite consists of interconnected aluminosilicate cages. Some of these cages contain polysulfide (Sn−x) groups that are the chromophore (color centre). The negative charge on these ions is balanced by Na+ ions that also occupy these cages. The nature of the polysulfide dictates the color of the solid. The usual blue ultramarine is thought to contain S−2 as the chromophore. In violet ultramarine and pink ultramarine the chromophore is proposed to be S−4 or S4.
You need only go to the Wiki article and look at the pictures of the synthetic version and the natural version to see the difference. Natural Ultramarine is a paler color of blue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Wiki article on Ultramarine Blue is here (and further down is the Wiki article on Lapis):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarine
"Ultramarine is a blue made from natural lapis lazuli, or its synthetic equivalent which is sometimes called "French Ultramarine". Variants of the pigment "ultramarine red", "ultramarine green", "ultramarine violet" are known, and are based on similar chemistry and crystal structure.....More generally "ultramarine blue" can refer to a vivid blue. The term "ultramarine green" indicates a dark green, barium chromate is sometimes referred to as "ultramarine yellow". Ultramarine pigment has also be termed "Gmelin's blue", "Guimet's blue", "New blue", "Oriental blue" and "Permanent blue"......The beginning of the development of ultramarine blue, artificial was known from Goethe. In about 1787, he observed the blue deposits on the walls of lime kilns near Palermo in Italy. He was aware of the use of these glassy deposits as a substitute for lapis lazuli in decorative applications. He did not, however, mention if it was suitable to grind for a pigment. In 1814, Tassaert observed the spontaneous formation of a blue compound, very similar to ultramarine, if not identical with it, in a lime kiln at St. Gobain, which caused the Societé pour l'Encouragement d'Industrie to offer, in 1824, a prize for the artificial production of the precious color. Processes were devised by Jean Baptiste Guimet (1826) and by Christian Gmelin (1828), then professor of chemistry in Tübingen; while Guimet kept his process a secret, Gmelin published his, and thus became the originator of the "artificial ultramarine" industry."
The Wiki article on Lapis Lazuli is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapis_lazuli
"At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, the finest and most expensive of all blue pigments. It was used by some of the most important artists of the Renaissance and Baroque, including Masaccio, Perugino, Titian and Vermeer, and was often reserved for the clothing of the central figures of their paintings, especially the Virgin Mary......Today, mines in northeast Afghanistan and Pakistan are still the major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are also produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia, and in the Andes mountains in Chile. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the United States, and Canada.....Lapis takes an excellent polish and can be made into jewelry, carvings, boxes, mosaics, ornaments, small statues, and vases. During the Renaissance, Lapis was ground and processed to make the pigment ultramarine for use in frescoes and oil painting. Its usage as a pigment in oil paint largely ended in the early 19th century when a chemically identical synthetic variety became available. Lapis lazuli is commercially synthesized or simulated by the Gilson process, which is used to make artificial ultramarine and hydrous zinc phosphates. It may also be substituted by spinel or sodalite, or by dyed jasper or howlite."

=======================================================================

Reviews

Reviews (36)

Average:

Sep 29, 2024

Wonderful color eager to make paint with

Kim Williams

Sep 1, 2023

Great. Glad to have it.

William

Mar 9, 2023

Jenna Fairson

Jan 7, 2023

Christy

Aug 29, 2022

ichupina