Yeah, iron oxide pigments have been synthesized by the absolute sh*t-tonnalades for hundreds of years! I think they are so f*cking cool, including the whole history, from mining to synthesis.
Used for at least 25,000–30,000 years in prehistoric cave paintings, yellow ochre is one of the most dramatic yellows for interior painting — the most, IMHO.
Yellow iron oxides, which appear almost brown in the raw, when mixed with white are converted into a brilliant and radiant warm yellow, unlike other non-toxic yellow interior pigments — like benzimidazolone, diarylide, or Hansa yellows — which are colder, sometimes even greenish dyes.
In previous lives, I had home improvement businesses for some 20-30 years, and used no other yellow.
In fact, I used no other orange, no other red, no other brown, and no other black pigments than those derived from iron oxide, coined by industry as Mars pigments.
Iron oxide covers the entire spectrum of warm colors from yellow, through orange and red, to brown and black. These pigments are actual microscopic particles of the Earth.
I have a mythical belief that the Sun's light and the Earth's magnetism interact with these pigments, and reflect light like no others — electron spin, polarization, IDK. It's just different.
Unfortunately, the only blue pigment approved for interior painting in the US was thalo blue. I'm not sure what's going on with non-toxic interior blues, nowadays.
Thalo blue is not a particularly pleasant blue, to me. It looks like plastic feels — unlike manganese, cobalt, or French ultramarine blues, for example. Though not FDA-approved for lip products, French ultramarine blue is generally considered non-toxic.
https://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/iron-oxide-pigments/
#iron #oxide #ironOxide #pigments






