Thanks maahey, i had seen both reds (minium, and cinnibar)being listed as mercury compounds, and then again sometimes listed as lead and mercury compounds. it never was clearly explained which was which, (but then i was looking in dictionaries, not chemistry books!)

Color is fascinating-- in an other thread, we touched on chrome, and how its name is from all the different colors its salt and compounds from.. (red, yellow and green are the most notable.)

Its kind of interesting, sometimes, today we know so much more about new technology, but which of us could make ink or paint or knows how to make and dye fabric. Our technology is so advanced and it's often cheaper to get things ready made, that we don't know how to do many of the chores our great grandparents had to do.

One interesting hobby that many of the knitting sites i visit refer to, is home dyeing wool. but the dyes are all from KoolAde (an artifically colored and flavored water based drink) Most of the colors in koolade are various coaltar derivities, and the 'flavor' is acedic acid. the acid acts a mordant, and the coal tar dyes color the wool! the wool is heated in a micro wave to get it good and hot, with out any agitation, as you might find in a pot of boiling water. Old chemistry put to new uses!




my other obsession