Vermilion

/ vir • mill • eon /

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How Vermilion is made:

Origin: mineral (cinnabar) and artificial Mineral cinnabar (at Mineralogy Database).
 

Natural minerals:

The main source of cinnabar is Almaden, Spain but deposits can also be found across Europe,China, Japan, California, Mexico and Peru.

Natural variety of pigment The mineral was crushed and purified by washing and heating.Two methods however emerged in its manufacture; that of the dry method, which was used by ancient alchemists and the wet method, which was developed in England, Germany and America.
Artificial variety of pigment Mercury is combined with molten sulfur in weight proportions of five to one, forming black amorphous HgS (a'-form), which is broken up and sublimated in earthenware pots, where its crystal structure reconfigures into red crystals (a-form).

The ground pigment:

Pile of ground Vermilion

 Sections:  

  purples  

  blues  

  greens  

  yellows  

  oranges  

  reds  

  whites  

  browns  

  blacks