Think of the colour red and most likely you will find yourself thinking of the big emotions and that is why artists like it so much. Red is an extremely dominant colour and even a small piece in a painting will catch your attention. It is the colour most often associated with powerful feelings such as love, passion and anger as well as heat, fire and blood. Cadmium red is a very strong, warm and opaque red and in the early part of the 20th century became a natural replacement for the distinctive but toxic vermilion.
Cadmiums have the broadest range of hues derived from any of the inorganic pigment groups. These hues range from pale to golden deep yellows, light fiery to deep oranges through to light bright scarlets to deep reds and maroons.
Moving Into The Red
It was some time after the introduction of cadmium yellow that cadmium red began to appear. The early reds were made by heating the cadmium yellow together with selenium. In 1919 a patent was registered for the production of cadmium orange and cadmium red. The method for this production was to mix cadmium salt solutions with alkali and alkaline earth sulphides and, in turn, to heat the resultant precipitate. For those of us who might not have been paying attention in our chemistry lessons: a precipitate is the solid material or collection of particles that is left in a solution after a chemical reaction and, not surprisingly, the process itself is called precipitation.
Advanced Production Techniques
The production of modern, high performance cadmium red is an expensive and lengthy process requiring only the purest raw materials to produce the best possible colour.
Transforming the cadmium metal into a usable pigment means it undergoes several carefully controlled chemical reactions and procedures using various ingredients including mineral acids, sodium sulphide flakes, water, and selenium. Towards the end of the process heating takes place to create the pigment and it is in this heating process that the quality and hue of the final pigment begins to form. The emerging pigment is then ground down into tiny particles – these grinding processes affect the way the pigment interacts with light. Fine particles have a good diffused reflection and produce a colour that is very strong and vibrant.
Safety
Cadmium itself is a heavy metal and is toxic but cadmium pigments are not classified as dangerous for use in line with EC classification. The level of soluble cadmium in the pigments is so low that no hazard warnings are needed and they pose no greater risk after swallowing or breathing in than other pigment types. Cadmium pigments are restricted for certain applications but this restriction does not apply to artists’ colours.
Go Red
Cadmium red will add brightness, strength, opacity and maybe a touch of passion to any artist’s work and is now widely regarded as a viable alternative to the erratic and toxic vermilion either natural or synthesised. Available from Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour: Cadmium Red and Cadmium Red Deep.
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