Indian yellow aka PY153 aka Nickel Dioxime Yellow, Full process video of making watercolor paint
Channel: Dirty Blue Tube
Date: 2023-01-09

In this video you'll see what you can expect from learning in my classes. I'm already sharing some inside info here, as well as a trick or two. 

This beautiful pigment is PY153, Dioxime yellow, my Indian yellow. 

This is not the Indian yellow you might have heard of, that's been banned for over a hundred years. 

The origin of indian yellow is one of a questionable nature.
The story goes that the original pigment. which was used in the 16th-19th century, was made from dried cows urine who were only fed with mango leaves. Due to the fact that these cows suffered from malnutrition of this diet, this pigments was stopped being used.
Although science found out that urine of an animal origin was a main component of the pigment, there is no record on how these were produced.

The name purree was also used for Indian yellow in it's raw form. These balls of pigment were imported into Europe where artisans cleaned and washed these and sold them as pigment powder to be used by the artists. Johannes Vermeer as well as Van Gogh were amongst others artists who used this original pigment.

The pigmentI use, PY153, was also know in paint brands as "new gamboge"
Gamboge is made from resin won from various trees in east Asia. This resin is collected in bamboo canes and then left to dry with rods of gamboge as a result. Since a level of toxicity and poor lightfastness, gamboge was replaced with modern pigments

PY153 was also used under different names, Indian yellow also being one of them. Since 2012 the production of this beautiful yellow pigment has stopped, and paint brands have replaced this color with other single pigments or a mix of yellow and orange pigments.

#handmadewatercolors #handmadeartsupplies #artsupplies #handmadepaint #makingcolors #handmade #watercolor #art #paint #history #arthistory #color #ny20 #driedcowsurine #indianyellow #yellow #purree #lightfast #lovelycolors #unique #artisanal #historical #watercolorpainting #gumarabic #artisan #watercolorlove #watercolorpalette #aquarelle #pigment #smallbusiness #color #py153 #bright #nickeldioxime #lightfast #extinctpigment #discontinuedpigment