Est. 1911 / Attercliffe

# Colour is a
material before
it is an effect.

We mill dry pigment and sell it by the kilo, unbound and unadulterated. What you do with it afterwards is your business.

PB 28, batch 26-114. Ground to 4 µm on Tuesday.

1911
  Milling since
11
  Blues in stock
4 µm
  Finest routine grind
1 kg
  Smallest order

## In stock this week

1. Index Pigment Family Origin Grind Price
2. PB 28 Cobalt Blue Blue Synthetic oxide 4 µm£142 / kg
3. PB 29 Ultramarine Blue Synthetic 3 µm£38 / kg
4. PB 27 Prussian Blue Blue Synthetic 2 µm£46 / kg
5. PB 15 Phthalo Blue Blue Organic 1 µm£52 / kg
6. PBr 7 Raw Umber, Cyprus Earth Natural, washed 9 µm£18 / kg
7. PY 43 Yellow Ochre, Roussillon Earth Natural, levigated 11 µm£24 / kg
8. PR 102 Red Oxide, Sinopia Earth Natural, calcined 8 µm£21 / kg
9. PBk 9 Bone Black Black Calcined bone 5 µm£29 / kg

## Four steps, eleven days

1. I

   ### Source

   Earths from six quarries we have bought from for longer than any of us has worked here. Synthetics from two makers, both named on the label.

2. II

   ### Wash and levigate

   Natural earths are settled through four tanks over eleven days. What comes out of the last tank is what we sell.

3. III

   ### Mill

   Roller mill for the earths, jet mill for anything under 3 µm. Grind is measured on every batch and printed on the tin.

4. IV

   ### Draw down

   Every batch is drawn down beside the retained standard in daylight. If a colourist can see the difference, the batch goes back.

Number 3 roller mill, in service since 1957.
Bay 2. Everything here is sold by weight, not by story.

## Matching

Send a chip, a fragment, or a photograph of a wall you cannot remove. We will mill against it and send three drawdowns before you commit to a kilo.

Conservation work is quoted separately and always includes the analysis: what we think the original was, how confident we are, and what we would use instead if the original is now illegal.

We do not tint to a screen value. If your reference is a hex code, we will ask you for something physical first.

Standards for PB 28, drawn down in daylight, kept for forty years.

## Ordering

Works
  Effingham Lane, Attercliffe
  Sheffield S9 2QP
Write
  mill@cobaltworks.example
Counter
  Mon to Thu, 08.00 to 16.00. Bring a container.
Post
  1 kg minimum, 25 kg maximum per parcel.

## Three ways a pigment goes wrong

Not adulteration, which is rare. These are the everyday faults that make a batch unusable.

01

### Grind drift

Two microns coarser and the same pigment reads paler and chalkier. Grind is measured on every batch and printed on the tin.

02

### Moisture

Earths take up water and cake. Warehouse bays are checked weekly and anything above six per cent goes back through the dryer.

03

### Settling

A tinted mix separates in the tin. That is the pigment behaving, not failing, and it is why we sell dry and let you bind it.

## Binders we stock

Sold alongside the pigment because people ask, and because the wrong binder wastes good colour.

1. Binder For Unit Price
2. Linseed, cold pressed Oil paint 1 L£24
3. Stand oil Glazes 500 ml£19
4. Gum arabic, solution Watercolour 500 ml£16
5. Rabbit skin glue Distemper, size 1 kg£31
6. Casein powder Limewash, secco 1 kg£28
7. Acrylic dispersion Modern media 1 L£22

## Ordering questions

Is one kilo really the minimum?
  Yes, and it always has been. A cutting quantity is how people find out whether they want twenty-five.
Can you match a historic colour?
  Send a chip or a fragment. We will mill against it and send three drawdowns, with a note on what we think the original was.
Are your earths natural?
  The ones marked natural are washed and levigated only. The synthetics say so on the label, with the maker named.
Do you ship abroad?
  Within Europe, yes, up to 25 kg a parcel. Some pigments are restricted in some countries and we check before taking money.