Red Paint

[wobs]

I hear that red paint fades more quickly than other colours (or at least appears to). Is this phenomanon equally applicable to paints favoured by PP members or is it just evil oil based ones that fade a lot?

 

[chuckey]

In Norway there are cliff paintings (in red) that are over 2000 years old and seem to have lasted well. There are a mass of red wooden buildings in Norway and the pigment seems to last well. For short life I would go for black as its "overheats " in the summer else wise the durability of the paint would not be determined by the pigment, rather by the UV resistance of the binder.
Frank

 

[Penners]

I don't think you can make a universal statement that "red fades faster". It all depends on what dyes or pigments have been used to create the colour.

Here's an interesting treatise on the subject: http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1998-11/912228411.Ch.r.html

 

[philpjuk100]

I have noticed blue paint also seems to fade in the sun.We saw a frenchman in carcasone painting a replaced window sill with a pot of french blue paint,then mixing it with a little white on a pallette and an almost dry brush "faded" the edges to match his other sills,clever these french!

 

[Penners]

I have a method for making paint look old, faded and peeling that involves far less work than that.

 

[wobs]

I don't think you can make a universal statement that "red fades faster". It all depends on what dyes or pigments have been used to create the colour.

Here's an interesting treatise on the subject: http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1998-11/912228411.Ch.r.html

Cheers for that. Not sure I took it all in, but will read it again in the future.

Further investigations reveal:

Our colours come from pigments. These are solid particles, usually ground-up earth, clay. The colours do not dissolve in the paint, the particles are suspended in the solution. The colour of the pigment is generally natural, the natural colour of the mineral. Carbon is black. Iron oxide, or rust to you and me, is red. These colours, being inherent in the material, do not fade. The natural yellowish clay known as raw sienna will retain its colour for at least 20,000 years. We know this from the French and Spanish Palaeolithic cave paintings. Our pigments come from various sources and constitute a range of natural earthen tones. But to make up all manner of colours, we have to rely on some unnatural colours. These are pigments that have been dyed. We try to keep these to a minimum. However, before we all start congratulating ourselves at being so environmentally conscientious, the vast majority of customers want a "light" colour. In other words, lots and lots of white. And white isn't natural. Typically, paints ordered from us vary from 3 to 10 parts white to 1 part everything else. One day there will be an environmentally friendly rating for each colour.

http://www.linseedpaintcompany.co.uk/ourcolours.html
So promising on the linseed paint front.

And a history of so-called non-fading reds:
http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/repairs/painting/Paint-Making-Color-Grinding/The-So-Called-Permanent-Or-Non-Fading-Reds-In-Oil.html

And a fascinating article/advert from the Reading Eagle (23rd October 1923):
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19231010&id=lZ0hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wJkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5935,1899107

 

[DaveBrigg]

Has anyone tried adding their own pigment to limewash for internall walls? Not a commercially prepared one, something you have cooked up yourself. I'm not keen on adding ox blood, but would beetroot juice make a nice red or pink? Could food colouring or powder paints be used?

 

[robgil]

i found some old red bricks around my cottage that i intend to crush to a powder and use to colour limewash , i have also got some old yellow pamments that i intend to do the same with.
i know that in ye olden days of old they would put the same detergent used to clean clothes into lime wash , this coloured the lime wash blue and was said to keep flies away , my kitchen and bathroom walls and my upstairs ceilings are still covered in blue lime wash.

 

[Moo]

I have no knowledge about vegetable colourings in limewash, but do know that when they are used to dye yarns they are very prone to fading.

 

[biffvernon]

There are a mass of red wooden buildings in Norway and the pigment seems to last well.

That's Falun Red, a copper/iron/zinc-containing mineral pigment from one particular location in Sweden.

Buy it here: http://www.falunpaint.co.uk/

 

[Penners]

I believe Falun Red was originally just a by-product from copper mining.

It's almost the signature of Sweden - red-painted timber buildings are everywhere.