NEW!Holbein Artists' Watercolor - Pearl Silver Blue, 15 ml Tube

Pigment Information

This color contains the following pigments:

PB15-Phthalo Blue

PM1-Aluminum

Pigment Name

PB15-Phthalo Blue

Pigment Type

organic

Chemical Name

copper phthalocyanine

Chemical Formula

C32H16CuN8

Properties

Phthalo Blues are pure and clean primary blues with superior covering power. They have a very high tinting strength and tend to overwhelm other pigments, but if color strength can be controlled, they make predictable mixed colors. In oil form, blues are very deep and slow drying. When mixed with other colors or if chlorine is added, Phthalo Blue quickly tends towards green. When using alone, mix with some white, as Phthalo Blue can be semi-transparent and almost black on its own. It is among the most compatible of modern colors with mineral colors and is considered more reliable than Prussian Blue, while sharing the same physical and color properties. Phthalo Blue is a good color for glazing.

Permanence

Phthalo Blues are completely lightfast and stable and are permanent for all paint uses. They are currently used in inks, coatings, and many plastics due to their stability and are considered a standard pigment in printing ink and the packaging industry.

History

Developed by chemists using the trade name Monastral Blue, the organic blue dyestuff now known as Phthalo Blue was presented as a pigment in November 1935 in London. Its discovery was accidental. The dark color was observed in a kettle where a dye was being made from a British dyestuff plant. The demand for such a pigment came from commercial printers who wanted a cyan to replace Prussian Blue.

Pigment Name

PM1-Aluminum

Pigment Type

inorganic

Chemical Name

aluminum

Properties

Powdered aluminum is used to create silvery metallic and interference effects.

Permanence

Aluminum powder is lightfast, but it must be protected from oxidation. Under normal conditions, aluminum metal is protected by a thin layer of oxides that forms on the metallic surface.

History

Although aluminum is an abundant element in the Earth's crust, it was a semi-precious metal until the late 19th century, when an electrolytic process was developed for extracting aluminum from the mineral oxide forms in which it naturally occurs.