Cambria Jensen

Friday 12 p.m.
Bio1010

The uses of Biological Materials in Art and Dyes

Throughout history people used numerous amounts of biological materials
in their art work and clothing. Before synthetic dye, that we are now very blessed to
have, people would use natural, organic and inorganic materials for paint and cloth dye.
Examining the artwork and clothing you can see how they expressed their environment,
politics, personal lives, and achievements, with these natural colors.
Caves in Europe show some of the earliest known prehistorical art work,
dating back to 40,000 years ago. The artwork is displayed on the caves' walls, and the
themes commonly portray animals, such as horses, bison and deer. Other subjects are
abstract hands, which is a technique referred to finger fluting, where people traced the
outline of their hands. The artworks in these caves contain the colors red (commonly
multiple hues of red), yellow, and black. The pigments used for these colors contained
minerals, such as manganese dioxide, calcite, kaolin, hematite, and iron oxide. Clay
orche is an Earth pigment that is responsible for these colors. Clay orche has a wide
variety of pigments; hydrated iron oxide pigments include yellow, orange, and brown.
Dehydrated iron oxide or hematite are both minerals which produces multiple hues of
red. For the artist black was produced with charcoal or carbon black, and white was
produced with ground up calcite or kaolin. To obtain these minerals they would locally
dig mines, but according to some evidence shows certain people would travel as far as
25 miles to get the supplies they needed. The minerals would then be ground up by
animal bones into powder. To make the paint for the caves they would combine
powdered pigments with water and a binder. The water was found in the caves, and
contained high amounts of calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is an extender, which
increases the paint volume without changing the consistency; it also can help the
pigment stay longer on the wall. Other extenders used are biotite, feldspar, and ground
quartz. Blood, vegetable juice, bone marrow, animal fats, albumen, or even urine helped
the paint adhere to the wall. Grooves in the wall also helped the paint adhere. Artists
figured out that paints made from the Earthy pigments did not fade as fast as the paints
made from animal fats or vegetable juice. After mixing all these materials together the
artist would then have paint with the color of their choosing. There are many inorganic
materials used in cave art, but the biological components in the paint were just as
important to the artist.
The first written documentation of dye was found in China, dating back to
2600 BC. The colors of dyes were dependent on the geological location, because snails
or insects were found in only specific areas, or the people only used the pigments that
were mined or picked locally.

Purple has a fascinating history. Phoencians started the use of tyrian

purple dying. Then in 715 BC wool dying became an established craft in Rome. Tyrian
purple is known to be worn by royalty. It was forbidden by The Emperors of Byzantium
to wear purple unless you were royalty. The purple dye was made by murex snails
(Murex brandaris) which is a marine snail. Snails were either crushed completely or
their shells were removed so mucus could be gathered from their glands. The mucus
was the main source of the dye. The mucus contained a bromine compound, which is
called tyriverdin, which contains three main chemicals 6,6'-dibromoindigo, 6,6'dibromoindirubin and 6-bromoindigo. Through a series of reactions tyriverdin, or tyrian
purple was the result. When tyriverdin reacts with sunlight it turns into 6,6dibromoindigo, which is the main chemical that makes the mucus purple. The collected
snails were boiled for a couple days in a lead vat. The dye is prepared by mixing the
tyriverdin, salt, and water. The act of making this dye was strenuous and long, the odor
was apparently awful during the long process. Because of the process this dye has
been said to cost more than gold. Most dyes faded in sunlight, but this purple became
darker, which also increased its value. In 1909 a chemist named Paul Friedlnder was
the first to figure out the chemical composition of tyrian purple. Later, a chemist named
William Henry Perkin developed the first synthetic dye.
Blue is harder to find in nature, but indigo, a shrub plant was the main
natural source. There are over 750 species, the two most common species of indigo is
Isatis tinctoria, which is commonly known as woad and indigofera tinctoria which is
indigo. Woad is native to southeastern Europe and was the dominant source of blue.
Indigofera tinctoria is native to Asia. These two species provided the blue pigment used
in dyeing. Woad and indigo are made by picking the plant leaves then kneading them
up, after you would then let them harden for about four weeks. After they became a
hardened substance the leaves would then be crushed and sprinkled with water. The
dampened pigment is left to ferment, which is a technique known as couching. During
fermentation, inidican, a sugar molecule is broken down into indigotine. Indigotine is
what gives off the color blue. After it was done drying the woad was packed into barrels.
Hot water was poured over the woad and so was urine. Then it was left to sit for a few
days before being used as dye. When the dye was ready to be used people would
scrape the inside of the barrels for the pigment.
Red could be crafted a few different ways. Cochineal dye was a common
method to get red pigments, and so was madder. Cochineal is a female scale insect;
their habitat is located on a prickly pear cactus plant, which is native to Centreal and
South America. Cochineal became popular in the 1500s, it was brought to Europe by
Spanish explorers. A wide range of red hues could be obtained from these bugs.
Caminic acid is a protectant on the bug, which causes the red pigment. According to
one source it states that it took 155,000 cochineal insects, which produces 1 kilo of
cochineal dye.
Madder roots is another way to produce a red pigment, evidence shows

that it was grown in 1500 B.C., evidence shows it was common in central Asia and
Egypt. One of the first madder root dyed cloth was found in the tomb of Pharaoh
Tutankhamun. The roots are the source of the color because they contain the chemical
alizarin. Alizarin is closer to a purple shade than a bright reddish-orange. The soil and
age of the root effects the color of the dye. When the dye is being prepared the pigment
is mixed with alkali, alum and chalk. Most dyes went through similar processes while
being made, crushing insects, drying leaves, then the left over pigment would be mixed
with water, and minerals.
Paints have contained various materials throughout history. Like
mentioned before, in prehistorical times the artists used a pigment, a binder a base, and
sometimes an extender. Binders are known as film-formers, it is important to be present
so the pigment can be applied to the cave, canvas, or any other surface. Binders could
consist of animal tendons, hooves, salmon skin, or casein (milk protein). Paints also
need a base such as oil or water, when the solvent evaporates it then becomes the filmformer. Extenders help the paint stay on the surface longer, or they change the volume
of the paint without changing the consistency.
Tempera paints (mixed with gums, or animal fats, or eggs) has been said
to date back to Egypt, but it is hard to tell whether egg tempera was found in the art
works, because it is similar, and there is not reliable evidence. Egg tempera is a type of
paint, which contains pigments mixed with egg yolk. The egg whites have to be
removed because it makes the paint fluffy. This technique became popular in the early
14th century. Artists commonly used eggs because they were readily available and
inexpensive. The paint has a very smooth texture, produces bright colors, and has
lustrous finish. After mixing a batch of egg tempera it is impossible to save it and use it
later because it hardens. Artists would have to wait for the paint to dry before going on
to ensure the paint did not chip.
Egg whites were used in a technique called gilding, the whites helped
attach gold leaf (hammered down gold) to surfaces. It is commonly used for picture
frames, but also used for statues.
Art and dye has been changed and perfected over centuries. The first
paint was used by Stone Age people and the first dye was made with a vast amount of
materials for numerous items. All the pigments discussed contained inorganic and
organic materials. Biological materials were important in the arts and dyes far before
humans knew their chemistry. Synthetic dyes are now in everything, food, clothes,
furniture. Without people going through ridiculous processes to make precious dyes and
paints the world surrounding us would be plain and uncreative.