Watercolour S1 Lamp Black (753)

Lamp Black (753) Ivory Black is a cool, semi-transparent blue-black with a slight brownish undertone and average tinting strength. It mixes well with any colour and creates a range of dull greens when mixed with yellow. Ivory Black is denser than Lamp Black. Yellow Ochre provides artists with earth tones from cream to brown. Its transparency varies widely from opaque shades to more transparent ones, which are valued for their use as glazes. PY42 is made from synthetic iron oxides. PY43 is made from natural iron oxide.

Pigment Name: PBk9 Ivory Black

Ivory Black is a cool, semi-transparent blue-black with a slight brownish undertone and average tinting strength. It mixes well with any colour and creates a range of dull greens when mixed with yellow. It has good properties for use in oil, can be slow to dry in oil form, and should never be used in underpainting or frescoing. Ivory Black is denser than Lamp Black.

Chemical Name: carbon + calcium phosphate

Permanence: Ivory Black is very lightfast and has good permanence, though it is considered the least permanent of the primary black pigments.

Toxicity: Ivory Black has no significant hazards.

History: Ivory Black is a carbon-based black first named Elephantium and described in the 4th century BCE as produced by heating ivory scraps in clay pots to reduce the ivory or bone to charcoal. The deviation in names is because the more expensive varieties of this pigment were made by burning ivory, and the less expensive ones by burning animal bones. In the 19th century, the name Ivory Black was finally permitted to be applied to Carbon Black pigments made from bone. Genuine Ivory Black is rare in modern times due to the protection of ivory, and the synthetic variety produced today was discovered in 1929. Bone Black is made as an industrial pigment.

Alternate Names: Animal Black, Blue Black, Bone Black. Paris Black is an inferior grade of Ivory Black. It was incorrectly labelled as Frankfort Black.

Pigment Name: PY43 Yellow Ochre

Yellow Ochre provides artists with earth tones from cream to brown. It has good hiding power, produces quick-drying paint, and can safely mix with other pigments. Its transparency varies widely from opaque shades to more transparent ones, which are valued for their use as glazes. If gypsum is present, Yellow Ochre is not suitable for frescoing. (See Brown Ochre, PY43.) PY42 is made from synthetic iron oxides. PY43 is made from natural iron oxide.

Chemical Name: iron(III)-oxide, hydrated

Permanence: Yellow Ochre has excellent permanence because ochres are some of the most permanent pigments available.

Toxicity: Yellow Ochre is non-toxic unless it contains manganese.

History: Ochre comes from the Greek word ochros, meaning pale yellow. It was one of the first pigments used by human beings, and evidence of its use has been found at 300,000-year-old sites in France and former Czechoslovakia.

Alternate Names: Chamois, Iron Yellow, Mars Orange, Mars Yellow, Minette, Ochre, Sil, Yellow Earth, Yellow Oxide. Varieties of Yellow Ochre include Brown Ochre, Flesh Ochre, Roman Ochre, Spruce Ochre, and Transparent Gold Ochre.