Pigments through the Ages

              
/ azh • uh • rite /
Azurite 
 
   

     
 

  1.  Overview  
  2. History
of use
 
  3. Making the
pigment
 
  4. Technical
details
 
  
  How Azurite is made:
        
Source:
Natural mineral (at Mineralogy Database) found in many parts of the world in the upper oxidized portions of copper ore deposits, often near malachite, the green basic carbonate of copper.


Natural variety of pigment
Mineral azurite is simply ground, washed, and sieved. Coarsely ground azurite produces a dark blue, while finely ground azurite produces a lighter tone.
19th century recipe
Dissolve the copper, cold, in nitric acid (aquafortis), and produce a precipitation of it by means of quicklime, employed in such doses that it will be absorbed by the acid, in order that the precipitate may be pure oxide of copper, that is, without any mixture. When the liquor has been decanted, wash the precipitate and spread it out on a piece of linen cloth to drain. If a portion of this precipitate, which is green, be placed on a grinding-stone, and if a little quicklime, in powder, be added, the green color will be immediately changed into a beautiful blue. The proportion of the lime added is from 7 to 10 parts in 100. When the whole matter acquires the consistence of paste, desiccation soon takes place.

  The ground pigment:   
        
Pile of ground Azurite:


Other blues        
(intro) - Azurite - Cerulean Blue - cobalt blue - Egyptian blue - Indigo      
Prussian blue - smalt - Ultramarine        

 Sections:  

  purples  

  blues  

  greens  

  yellows  

  oranges  

  reds  

  whites  

  browns  

  blacks  

    
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