"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> Art stores usually have oil paints based on these exact pigments, which is
> amazing given that they're based on lead, chromium, mercury, cadmium, etc.

What a toxic array!

Do they still sell lead-based pigments in art stores?  I was surprised when I
read an art book in the mid 1970s that recommended white lead primer, but that
book was written in 1955.  Modern whites are based on titanium, which is safe
enough to use in toothpaste.

Chromium produces a moss green pigment.  This form is trivalent, so your art
studio need not be declared a toxic waste site.

Vermillion is historically a mercury pigment, but I personally have never seen a
"vermillion" with mercury in it.  Perhaps the genuine article had been
discontinued by the mid 1970s.  (Wikipedia says that mostly only the Chinese
make the stuff nowadays.  Not surprising.)

Cadmium pigments range from deep red to vermillion to yellow.  I don't know what
chemical process selects the hue.  Lately, I've noticed cadmium "hue" paints,
which suggests that "cadmium" paints are using a less toxic substitute nowadays.

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